After lunch, Orla brought me back to the castle and into a ornately decorated room where a group of faeries sat with strange instruments. I didn't believe Orla at first when she said they were going to play some music while I danced. But sure enough, the music started and I was given full reign of the dance floor. Orla's sharp eyes bore into me, her haughty demeanor making me squirm.

"I really don't dance." I said. The music wasn't half-bad. Some peppy tune with a lot of flute action going on. But that did nothing for my awkward sense of rhythm. I tried shifting my weight side to side, and even snapping my fingers a little for good measure.

Orla wasn't having any of it though. She soon gave up on me, saying that humans are a lost race if we can't even do a simple dance. I wanted to tell her that lots of humans dance. She just picked the wrong one.

Leaning back in the chair, I stretch against the tightness of my muscles. Between my first horse ride, and then a dance lesson that ended in a total flop, my body aches to climb into that glorious feather bed. I would be there right now if Lena hadn't shown up in my room this evening. Like most of the mortal girls, she hardly ever got to leave the basement kitchens anymore. But she was given a special errand to bring me dinner in my room, and then convinced me to join her and the other girls below instead of eating alone.

"You must tell us about your day with the King." A small girl with bouncing blond waves says to me. We're all sitting around the kitchen table, munching on leftovers from the feast preparations.

The girl goes on, her voice trilling like a bird's. "No mortal is allowed to wear gowns like that anymore. You must have had a glorious time."

I'm forced back into the discussion and away from the awful memories of the afternoon as all the girls watch me with wonder in their eyes.

Well, most of them anyway.

"Enough about the King." Markie snarls. "The beast can die for all I care."

Goldie-locks girl lets out a mortified screech, and several others gasp. But Markie just glances at me with a sardonic smile.

"Ignore them. They are the King's brides of recent years, still infatuated with him even after he banished them from the castle."

Before Goldie-locks can protest again, Lena takes my hand in her lap. "Tell us instead of how you came to the Otherworld. Did you fall in love with a faery?"

I don't mean for it to be my first reaction, but I laugh at her. "Not even close."

Markie quirks an eyebrow, tossing her straight brown hair over her shoulder. "Did you get captured?"

Again I shake my head. "No, I—I made a deal with a faery."

That incites the most dramatic response of all.

"You didn't." Lena gasps.

"Oh dearest me..." Genevieve hugs herself.

"What in the world led you to make such a poor decision?" Markie asks.

I fold my arms over my chest. "It was for a good reason." I say curtly. As if these chicks have any room to talk. The only reason most of them are here is because of poor decision making.

"Unless you have the upper hand, no deal is worth it with these creatures." Markie says.

Lena adds on, "But do tell us why you did it, Roisín."

Her deep brown eyes are kind and inviting. I sigh and glance around the room. I haven't let myself think about Darren, and especially not Cináed, since I got here. Trying to keep myself from getting killed takes up a lot of mental space. But now is as good a time as any to figure out how I'm going to get back to them. I have no intention of putting my neck on the line at the feast just to give the royal family some good entertainment. I plan to be long gone before then.

"The deal I made with the faery was a trade off." I begin. "My brother and I were trying to find somewhere to go, and we were running out of options fast. So we made a deal with a guy to sail with him on his boat to Ireland in trade for us working for him until our debts were paid."

Then I say with extra emphasis, "And I had no clue this guy was a faery until we got here. That kind of stuff isn't something I'm used to." I sigh again, eyeing the lacy bodice of my dress. "I'm still far from being used to any of this."

"I heard that the King brought you to the castle." The doe-eyed girl says. I learned her name is Genevieve. "Did the faery who brought you here let you debt go unpaid when the King came for you?"

"Or did the King take you by force?" Goldie-locks pipes in with a gleeful shudder. "He can be so moody."

"The other faery didn't let me go. If he knew where I was, I'm sure he'd come find me."

But I wonder if Cináed even cares that I'm gone. I hate that part of me wishes he'd want me back for more than an unpaid debt.

I look at Goldie-locks. "And the King tricked me when I was all alone. I had to choose between my life or coming with him to pay the debt. I thought I was going to be down here, helping cook for the feast like the King said. Then he changed his mind."

A girl I recognize from standing under the tent this morning speaks up for the first time. "The way you raced against the King was unlike anything I've ever seen."

Markie spews out her drink and slams the cup on the table. "You did what?"

"I, um, beat the King in a horse race this morning...?"

"And not only that, but she resisted the King's glamour when she was brought into the throne room."

Markie tosses her hands in the air. "Cecelia, what did I say about keeping the good details to yourself?! The whole point of you working in the castle is to share what you see up there with the rest of us."

"It wasn't that big of a deal." I say, my face heating up. "The guy is easy to hate. Which means I take whatever chance I can to spite him."

"To show him that you are not his property. That he does not own you." Genevieve says, her blue eyes shimmering with understanding.

I nod and grab a handful of berries from the table, tucking my knees up under my chin. Lena senses that I'm done with that topic and shifts the discussion back to what the girls were talking about when I got here.

Kingdom gossip.

I listen to catch onto the snippets of useful information. Anything I can use to get out of here alive. 

Apparently it wasn't until recently that all these girls were confined to living down here. The castle used to be full of mortals. Between all the servants and the brides (stolen away from the mortal realm as they called it), the castle grounds were especially populated with humans.

And the rest of the kingdom was too. For example, Lena first came to the Otherworld because she fell in love with a sheepherder. She didn't find out he was a faery until after he brought her to the Otherworld. But then he left her for a faery lass, and Lena had no way to get back home. So she became the maid in another Fae household until the King sent out his decree that all the mortals must be brought to the castle. The faeries she had served for years didn't think twice about sending her away.

"Ever since the King claimed we are infecting the Otherworld with the sickness," Lena explained, picking at her bowl of mashed potatoes, "the Fae treat us worse than ever. We are nothing but a disease to be rid of."

Markie's story was especially unique. She grew up with five brothers and learned fight her own battles. When a group of rogue faeries attacked her on her way home from school, they brought her to the Otherworld and auctioned her off. With two kingdoms at war with each other at the time, and both sides running low on warriors, any physically competitive mortals were a high commodity.

She was bought by the highest bidder - the kingdom we're in now - and fought for them until the war ended. She then became a useful tool for the royal family, her unique strengths and knowledge making her a great asset in secret missions throughout the land. But when the new King took power, she was dismissed as a war heroine and banished to a job of chopping vegetables in the castle cellar.

Most of the others were once brides of royalty, or nursemaids to faery offspring. But all of them shared the same beginnings. They were either lured here by lovers, enticed with music and food, or were captured against their will. None of them would have chosen this life in their right minds.

"But the Fae do not care about anything outside of their wars or their celebrations." Genevieve says. "We are property to be sold; play-things to be broken."

Markie is using a dull knife to dig gashes in the table, the front legs of her chair balanced off the ground. "And when our value runs out, we're tossed away like rubbish."

"Why was this new King allowed to take over?" I say, hating the sense of defeat floating around the room. "You all had it a lot better before he showed up. Was there a coup or something?"

Markie rolls her eyes. "Allegedly, the High King Ruari died of the sickness, and the Queen died soon after of heartbreak. Their daughter had previously been married off to a prince of the Mer-folk. With no royal blood left to take the throne, Naoise was appointed the new ruler."

"Naoise?" I roll the word over my tongue. "That's the new King's name?"

"Yes, but no one truly knows where he came from." Genevieve says, her blue eyes reflecting the light of the flames in the fireplace. "There are rumors that his heritage lies with those of the shadows. That perhaps he is part Fae, and part darkness."

A chill that no fire can warm settles over my skin, and I see some of the girls huddle closer together. Markie's short laugh is tainted with anger.

"And the only one who knows the truth is the whore he calls his advisor." She stabs the knife into the wood with her fist, making Genevieve jump. "Orla was half-sister to the last Queen. Trouble is, she is not from royal decent. So when the royal family died, she went and found a loyal mutt to play the ruler for her."

"And nobody is going to stand up to either of them?" I say, remembering how Orla sat right beside the King on his throne and whispered to him constantly. Like a puppet and his master.

"Now that he wields the power to rule the kingdom, there is little anyone can do." Lena says. "Especially because of the King's unique capabilities. He truly must have been born from the shadows. Only the darkest of Fae can manipulate hearts like he can."

A shiver dances down my spine and the hairs on my neck stand up. I suddenly remember how the King looked different in my nightmares. How he shifted when he moved, like a volatile body of mist hovering over the ground. Whatever that meant, it wasn't natural.

"But Roisín could do something." Markie says, resting her arms on the table as she looks at me.

"Like what?" What could the youngest mortal here do to make a difference against a dark and powerful King?

Lena is watching me, a mix of wonder and hope sparkling in her dark eyes. "Do you not see it?" She says. "You have already started a movement. The King would not have chosen you for this challenge if he did not feel threatened by you."

She takes my hand again and squeezes it. "Show him he was right. Show him just how dangerous a mortal girl can be."

<<--------------->>

King "Naoise": Knee-shuh

<<--------------->>

(Side note: In the spirit of girl power and Halloween, check out Nu Blood by my dear friend saponi205 if you want to read about a group of sorority girls trying to survive a haunted house)

Do you think Roisín stands a chance against King Naoise? Or will she escape before she's forced to take the challenge?

Time to enjoy the last bit of my Saturday with some good ol' Netflix bingeing! Till tomorrow <3