I dreamed about Cassius that night. Maybe it was because his scent lingered in the blankets, a smell reminiscent of snuffed embers and sultry, dark corners. I dreamed that he had crept onto the bed beside me and that I laid my head against his chest as he rested. I dreamed that I strained to hear the faint beat of his heart and woke up in a cold sweat as I stared at his unmoving body. But moments after I thought I was awake, I realized that I was still in a dream and that not only was Cassius dead, but so was I.
When my eyes finally opened from a troubled sleep, I found that Cassius had never returned to his room. Curiously though, the door to the bedroom was wide open.
“I have to admit,” Quinn said as he walked out from one of the closets and toward the bed. “I was surprised that you spent the night here.”
I sat up in the bed to look at him. “Not half as surprised as I was, if I’m honest,” I said. “What are you doing here?”
“Cassius sent me to tend to you.”
“Tend to me?”
Quinn rolled his eyes. “Pretty sure he locked you in here last night to keep you from either running away or doing something foolish.”
“Or maybe it was to keep himself from doing something foolish,” I mumbled under my breath.
“What?” Quinn asked.
“Nothing. Where did Cassius sleep last night if he didn’t come back to his room?”
Quinn shrugged. “No idea. Does it matter?”
I shook my head, probably a bit too much. “Not at all. I’m just surprised he sent you to check on me. It’s not like anyone here cares if I live or die.”
“I do,” Quinn said with lowered eyes as he set down a fresh outfit on the bed next to me.
I didn’t say anything as I got changed. Quinn turned around to face the fireplace, which had now long-since died out.
“This outfit isn’t going to be at all conducive to dancing; I can tell you that right now,” I said as I hoisted the distressed jeans over my hips and pulled the gray, slouchy sweatshirt down over my head.
“You’re not dancing today,” Quinn said as he turned back around. The look in his jade eyes was no less wanton than it had been with the other, much more revealing outfit.
“Isn’t that the only reason I’m here?” I asked. “And still alive?”
“Entertaining is your duty to Cassius,” Quinn explained. “But when he doesn’t need your service, then you are free to do as you please.”
It only took Quinn a moment to retract his statement. “Okay, well, you’re not free , per se. But you can have time to yourself is what I meant.”
“What do you do with the time you have to yourself?” I asked, curious about what was appropriate for an imprisoned captive to use their free time for.
“I mostly stay within the fae quarters,” he answered.
“Is that where you were last night? I thought I saw you while I was walking back here with Cassius. I was worried that something might have happened to you after his goons escorted you from the main hall.”
Quinn seemed touched by my mention of worry over him. Then he chuckled a bit. “Those weren’t goons,” he said. “They were friends of mine.”
“Friends? They didn’t seem friendly with you at all when they were removing you.”
“We all have our parts to play, Mara.” Quinn’s voice seemed sad and distant. “I was fine. They just took me back to the fae quarters so I wouldn’t interfere with you.”
“What would you have done if you’d have interfered?” I asked.
“Probably anything that kept you from being led back to Cassius’s bedroom.”
We stood facing each other awkwardly for a few minutes before Quinn cleared his throat. “He didn’t, uh…”
“God, no!” I said as I made a face of disgust. I wasn’t sure how much that expression was genuine, though. “He asked me to dance for him, and I refused.”
“What did he do when you refused?”
“Umm, he tried to feed me.” That sounded much stranger coming out of my mouth than I had expected it to. “I refused that, too, so then he just got mad and left. And when he left, he locked me in here. I was tired and hungry, so I ate and went to sleep. That’s all that happened, I swear.”
Quinn exhaled and seemed notably relieved.
“So, what’s on the agenda today then, if I’m not the entertainment?” I asked.
“Cassius told me to help you get adjusted to your new world. So, I guess that means we can do whatever you’d like to do. I know you’re not familiar with things here yet, and you must have a million unanswered questions, so if you’d like, we can just stay here and—”
“I want to see the fae quarters,” I interrupted.
“What? Why?”
“I want to see where you live, and I want to learn about your people.” I definitely didn’t care to know about the vampires. I already knew that I despised them. But I found the fae fascinating. There was definitely some kind of magic going on here, and I guessed that it had something to do with the supernatural abilities of the fae. Besides, I liked Quinn, and I felt safe and unthreatened when I was with him. If I had a day to spend to myself, then I wanted to find out as much about him and the fae folks as I could.
“You sure?” he asked.
“Yep. Positively,” I smiled. I already felt much more at ease just being in jeans and a sweatshirt.
“All right,” Quinn said as he took my hand and we left the room. “But it might not be as fascinating as you think.”
“Trust me,” I said. “This is all way more fascinating than anything I could have dreamed up.”
As we walked through the tunnels together, Quinn explained the hierarchy in Mystreuce and how the people of fae became a subservient race to the vampires as a result of a surprise nighttime attack on their land during a period they had thought was peaceful. It was very clear that the fae weren’t in agreement with the arrangement.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “Why didn’t the fae resist? And why don’t they try to overthrow the vampire’s rulership now? Is it because the vampires are more powerful than the fae?”
“No,” Quinn said sternly. “Fae have immense power, and if we all used it, we could easily overthrow Athan and his goons.”
I laughed at his attempt to steal my very-human terminology.
“It’s because my people are compassionate and afraid. They know that even if we are successful in our attempt to overthrow Athan, that some of the fae will be lost in the process. To us, unlike the vampires, each life is of the highest value, and most fae are not willing to sacrifice our people.”
“So, instead, your people would rather live life as indentured servants?” I asked in surprise.
“Essentially, if it means protecting our own kind from death at the hands of the vampires, then yes.”
That whole ideology didn’t sit well with me. There was no way I would ever give up fighting to get out from under someone else’s control.
“But,” Quinn added as if he had sensed my disapproval at the reluctance of the fae to put up a better fight, “there is change coming.”
“What kind of change?”
“The kind of change that will involve death on both sides, and hopefully, the liberation of my people. We’re here,” he said as he opened the door in front of us.
We stepped inside an open foyer with several corridors that converged onto it. Lining the sides of every hall were several rooms, enough to house a lot of fae.
“How many of you live here?” I asked.
“More than there should be,” Quinn answered.
“And Athan has just as many fae servants, too?”
Quinn nodded.
The fae had changed the look of the foyer and all of the open space within the corridors to resemble a forest. It was not unlike the main hall, with a glowing artificial moon that seemed to be backlit all on its own, and a ceiling full of glittering faux stars. A soft blanket of moss carpeted the cold, stone floor, and wildflowers sprouted up along the cracks and crevices where the walls met the floor. A smell hung in the air that was much different than the rest of Cassius’s dwelling. It reminded me of what the earth smelled like after a fresh rain, even in the city. There was something both worldly and otherworldly about it.
“Did your people do this with magic?” I asked.
“Yes, same as the main hall. But our moon changes into a sun and follows the rotation of the day and night.” Quinn smiled at the thought of having something superior about their dwelling than what they had given to Cassius for his party arena.
I looked around and walked toward one of the trees to touch it. The tree felt real; I actually thought it was real, even though that would have been impossible.
“Is it magic?”
Quinn nodded again. “One of the many abilities the fae possess.”
“Tell me about all of your abilities,” I said. “I want to know.”
Quinn took me to his room. Like the human slaves, the fae shared living quarters as well. He shared a room with three other male fae, all of whom were wildly handsome, with colorful eyes and rich shades of golden, sienna-brown colored hair. They eyed me suspiciously as I came into the space. But once Quinn introduced me as his friend, they smiled and welcomed me. It was a nice feeling to hear him refer to me as his friend. It was nice just to have a friend here.