Dark Matter (28 page)

Her voice held a hint of amusement.
“Let’s take one question at a time, shall we. First of all, you
should be able to conceive, given the right circumstances. Your
eggs are very resistant just like the rest of you, but it is
possible. And second, the humans are the only ones that truly
believe in me. I couldn’t let them struggle forever. Besides, they
want what I do. Why should lords be the only fae to have any
fun?”

She took my hand. I tried to pull my
fingers away from hers, but she held firm.

“
Let go of me.”

She only laughed. The soothing sound
was in direct conflict to who she was inside. “You’re a hypocrite.
You ridicule me for doing what you have been trying to accomplish
since you escaped the sanctuary.”

My eyes flew open, and I glared at her.
“I am nothing like you.”

A self satisfied expression lifted her
face. “That is where you are mistaken. You want to create your own
destiny. I, too, have looked at my life and said, no more. I tire
of being nothing other than a glorified servant. Did you know that
fae women are the true rulers of our kingdoms? But what good does
it do to rule a people that will never change? We live the same
existence for eternity all because we wanted a fast track to
exaltation.”

“
You’re rambling, Ainessa.
If you’re trying to convince me you are the good guy, there’s more
chance of the world exploding in the next second.”

She stood up. “I can see your mind is
set. I ask you to consider one thing before you judge me, though.
What would you do in my place?”

She walked out the door without looking
back at me. It was apparent that she was trying to get my sympathy,
but why?

Rattling sounded in the hall. I pulled
the covers close around me as if they were armor. The lights came
on suddenly. I shielded my eyes, praying that Roger wasn’t the one
twisting the knob. They had taken me back to my cell a few minutes
after Ainessa had left me.

It had only been a little while and I
wasn’t up to fighting anyone else. To my relief, a girl walked
through the door. She had shoulder length dark hair, chocolate skin
so smooth it looked as if it had been poured over her muscled
frame. Her eyes were a startling mixture that some might try to
call hazel just to have something to label them. From what I could
see they had blue, green, grey, and even gold in them. She smiled
at me, setting the fragrant tray in her hands onto the nightstand
beside me. “You must be starving. I brought you a little extra, but
go slow. Your stomach won’t thank you for stuffing in too much at
once.” She smiled crookedly. “Trust me. I know.”

I nodded with a tentative smile and
lifted the lid off the plate of steaming eggs, bacon, and sliced
melon. I started with the toast just in case. I hadn’t realized how
hungry I was and made short work of the bread, swiftly moving on to
the eggs. I glanced at her and asked around a mouthful of food,
“What’s your name?”

Her face went as stiff as the bed I was
on. “Lacey.”

I hid my smile around a gulp of milk.
Here she stood, nearly six feet tall with muscles most linebackers
would envy. She didn’t dress daintily, either. She was wearing
shorts that probably were supposed to hit mid-thigh, but on her,
they were more like daisy dukes, only emphasizing how sculpted her
legs were. She didn’t bring to mind innocence as her name inferred.
She was more like black leather and fishnet stockings.

She shifted a defiant hip. “Yeah, I
know. My name doesn’t fit, but it was the one I was
given.”

I frowned at her. “Why don’t you change
it if it bugs you so much?”

She shrugged. “It’s the only thing I
have to remind me of my mom.”

I knew exactly how she felt. “You know
what? I like it. It suits you just fine.”

She gave me a half-hearted smile and
plopped on the mattress beside me. “You’re nice. You shouldn’t be.
It won’t get you anywhere in here.”

I pointed at my plate and tilted my
head in a silent question.

“
That’s nothing. I have my
reasons for wanting to make sure you are strong.”

“
What’s that?”

She looked around the room as though
self-conscious or paranoid and shrugged. “You up for a little
walk?”

I shoved a forkful of eggs into my
mouth and grabbed the only portable food on the plate before I
attempted to stand up. The blackness returned to the edges of my
vision, and I swayed on my feet, but I was able to stabilize myself
after a few seconds. I looked her in the eyes. “Let’s
go.”

She led me down the bland hall and out
into the bright daylight. If I didn’t know better I might have
thought I was back in Faeresia. The air was humid and hugged my
skin in a thin layer.

Several women sat in a circle under the
shade of a large tree chit-chatting the day away as if they were
friends escaping the drudgery of everyday life. One girl glanced up
and saw us coming. She jumped to her feet and raced over to us. The
rest were quick to follow. Before I knew it, I was surrounded by a
group of smiling faces.

Lacey clapped her arm around my
shoulders. “We might not be much to look at, but we are yours to
command.”

I glanced around, my jaw clenching
tight. “Great,” I said. “Get me out of here.”

They responded with a low hum of
chuckles. Lacey laughed too, “See, girls. What did I tell
you?”

The group swarmed in around me and
began speaking to one another, loudly. I fought the urge to cover
my ears. Lacey bent nearer. “We can’t really talk right now. Too
many ears are listening.”

“
How can anyone hear
anything over this buzz?”

“
You’d be
surprised.”

The noise just stopped and the girls
dispersed in separate directions. Fingers clamped around my arm,
and I was spun so fast I felt dizzy. Roger pulled me away from
Lacey quicker than I had time to say a word.

I pushed at his fingers and tried to
dig in my heels, but I might as well have been fighting against a
bull. He dragged me over to the side yard.

He let go of me, but his eyes pinned me
where I stood. “What do you think you are doing?”

I gave him a level expression. “Meeting
the locals. What’s it to you?”

“
It isn’t anything to me,
but I’m not who you need to worry about.”

I glanced at the red mark on my arm.
“Could have fooled me.”

“
Rayla, you need to be very
careful in here. You can’t trust anyone.”

“
What makes you think I
would?”

“
It’s just that I thought…”
He pressed his lips together and glanced behind us. “Then what were
you just doing?”

I gave him a disgusted eye-roll with an
elongated sigh. It felt good to do it. “Look. I just got out here.
In case you didn’t notice, I wasn’t exactly the one controlling the
conversation.”

He glanced around then shook his head.
“You need to stay away from those girls. They can’t help you. None
of us can.”

I hadn’t missed his implication, but I
had to be mistaken. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He turned away from me and raised his
shirt. “I tried to stop them.” Oozing red welts in a crisscross
pattern covered his entire back.

I gasped, moving closer. “Doesn’t it
hurt?”

He whirled around before I could touch
him. “Of course it does.”

I had no idea what to say at that
point. I couldn’t bring myself to tell him I was sorry. How could I
have stopped them from whipping him? I was unconscious for pities
sake. Besides, he hadn’t exactly been pleasant to be around. I
finally came up with, “Thanks.”

A confused expression skittered across
his eyes before he narrowed them at me. “Well, don’t get too
distraught over the whole thing.”

“
This has nothing to do with
me!”

“
That’s where you’re wrong.
Everything that has happened from the moment you stepped a pretty
little foot on this island has all been about you.”

“
What is that supposed to
mean?” I was getting tired of asking that question. It was starting
to sound like my catch phrase.

He lifted his gaze away from me
momentarily. I followed his line of sight. Lacey was walking away
from us. The other girls were gone. Roger’s jaw clenched before he
looked back at me. “Everything has changed since you got
here.”

“
I’m not about to marry you,
if that is what you’re worried about.”

He laughed then, loud and angry. “You
are nothing but a fool.” I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut
me off. “Save your bluster. We need to go.”

I shook my head at him. “I don’t
bluster.”

“
Yeah, I know. Come on.” He
reached for my arm, but I pulled away before he could grab
me.

“
I can walk fine without
your assistance.”

“
Fine by me.” He started off
the way Lacey had gone.

I looked behind me, scanning for a way
out of this place.

“
Don’t even think about it,
Rayla. I’m aching for a reason to come after you.”

When I turned to look at him, he was
right by me. I recoiled away from him, but he didn’t move toward
me.

He was scary. I hadn’t heard anything
other than the wind.

I glared at him before I started down
the path. I could feel him behind me watching me, but I couldn’t
hear him at all.

After a few minutes, he walked beside
me. We didn’t say a word to each other. At first all I could focus
on was how much of a freak he was, but after a while I realized I
needed to pay attention to where he was taking me. Somewhere in
this compound were the two reasons I had come here in the first
place. I began scanning the area, trying to figure out what the
buildings were used for. They were all centered around a large four
story building that didn’t really look like much if you asked
me.

It was made of faded tan brick with
rows of dirty windows that looked oddly placed as if they weren’t
at eye level. How was it that the richest organization on the
planet was holed up in less than average digs? Somehow I had
expected opulent palaces filled with the worlds lost
treasures.

I glanced up at Roger who was staring
straight ahead with a blank look on his face. I actually found
myself feeling sorry for the louse. He’d never really had a chance
to be a decent person. I still didn’t understand how the order
functioned, but I could just imagine the sort of grooming they used
to turn boys into good little soldiers who wouldn’t question the
absurdity of the life they lived.

He led me up the front stairs of the
big building and through the glass doors. The inside was even more
dilapidated than the exterior with peeling paint and worn out
carpet that looked as if it had been there since the beginning of
the previous century.

We walked down the hall in silence. I
was just fine with that. I had no desire to develop any sort of
relationship with him. For all I knew he was trying to get me to
trust him or, worse yet, make me fall in love with him and his
offended display earlier was just part of his act.

He pushed the right side of a double
door open then ushered me into an enormous room that looked like
the assembly hall at my old high school. An excited hum that could
only come from the shrill voices of young women assaulted me. Roger
guided me ahead of him and silence followed us down the
aisle.

Gazes attached to me like invisible
leeches, but I tried to ignore the rising panic tightening my
insides. I had been greeted with unmistakable awe in the fae realm.
Not so here. These girls were looking at me with hate filled eyes,
not even bothering to hide their contempt.

I was relieved when Roger motioned for
me to take the stairs up to the stage. I kept my gaze glued to the
fraying velvet curtains and took the seat he pointed to. That was
before I realized I had an unobstructed view of the women that
loathed me. That was okay. Now was a great time to pick the grime
out from under my fingernails.

The spaced filled once again with
voices, but this time the tone was lower and hushed to the point of
being absurd. The doors at the back of the room burst open. The two
burley men who seemed to have no names entered the space. The one
I’d christened Frick gave me a long once over. Frack just laughed
at my shudder. I was really beginning to dislike those guys.
Ainessa was the next to enter the room. She had her hand draped
over Mr. Lambert’s elbow, leaning in towards him as if they were
lovers. In fact, that was exactly what they acted like.

I felt my face flush with the heat of
hate as I stared at the two of them. How could he do that to his
wife? Amy Lambert was the sweetest person on the planet. The sharp
sound of vigorous applause snapped me to attention.

I was horrified to see the reaction the
previously hostile crowd was giving them. Why would Elementals
treat these two like royalty? The only thing I could come up with
was they had to have been brainwashed from the day they were born.
These girls probably had no idea they were nothing more than strung
up puppets. I scanned the group looking for any sign of dissention.
Lacey was in the front row clapping louder than anyone else. At
first I thought she was seriously gone like the rest of them, but
the hard-set line of her shoulders told me it was just an act. At
least I hoped it was.