He was tall, lean, and fit with short, white hair, light green eyes, and tan skin. He wore a light green tunic that matched my dress and black shorts.
I was too dumbfounded to say anything as I was led over to the large circular table, one nearly filled with more riders, male and female. No one mated. All of them were too cheery.
What was going on? Where was the fear? I glanced at the other female riders, noting none of them had a rounded stomach, none looked pregnant. No one appeared starved, scared, abused, or tortured either. In fact, everyone practically glowed, as if they’d caught the sun in their skin, and it was making them warmer.
“Does she speak?” Kilven asked, looking worried as he watched me.
“Give her a moment to process,” Aylia said.
“Right, of course.” He picked up his fork and took a bite of the green vegetables on his plate.
“No one is pregnant,” I finally whispered.
Of course, everyone at the table, and even the surrounding area could hear me. The noise level went down as people began staring at me again. Even Kilven paused with his fork to his mouth, nearly ready to eat the piece of meat.
Someone at the table broke out in laughter. She was a younger girl with long, straight hair and bangs that covered her forehead.
“Shut up, Ollie,” Aylia said.
“It was funny.”
“Better than you, who thought we were all brain-washed or were possessed by Fae spirits when you first arrived,” Kilven said, getting the others to laugh at her.
She ducked her head down, hiding her expression, but not before everyone saw how red her face had gotten from embarrassment.
“It wasn’t a mean laugh,” she mumbled.
“We know, Ollie,” the girl next to her said, rubbing her shoulder.
Aylia leaned into me. “Rayna, the Fae don’t touch us. They don’t rape us. They don’t force us to try to have their Fae children. They don’t do anything to harm us. At all.”
That made no sense. There had to be over a hundred riders in that room, and none of them had been mistreated by the Fae. Maybe they were being brainwashed?
“Then why? That doesn’t make any sense. Why kidnap us then?”
“Forced protection?” Kilven said. “Most of us were definitely against being taken against our wills.”
“You nearly broke a Fae’s face in and turned another impotent,” Aylia said, teasing him as she smiled.
I stared at her smile, realizing how different it was here than at the academy. Seeing how carefree she looked now made me realize how forced it had been in Fyre. Aylia truly seemed happy here.
“No regrets.” Kilven leaned back and crossed his arms. “They were rude.”
Aylia rolled her eyes and turned back to me. “Eat. I have more to show you.”
A plate appeared before me, and then Aylia began filling it with the food spread out across the tables. Vegetables, meats, and potatoes. She piled it all high on my plate.
I picked at it; my stomach too hardened to eat. It looked good, but my stomach felt like it had shriveled to the size of a pebble. Forcing anything down was going to make me sick, even if I hadn’t had a real meal in days. The food in the dungeons consisted only of stale bread and dirty water.
“It isn’t bad here, Rayna. I promise,” Aylia said with a soft voice.
“I can’t believe that coming from you. You helped them kidnap me. You lied to me.”
She grimaced and looked away.
“Don’t be too hard on her,” Kilven said.
“Stop,” Aylia said. “She’s being fair and has a right to feel that way. Don’t pretend you weren’t in her situation before.”