Chapter 1
IVY’S POV
It was snowing. The flakes fell gently from the sky in flurries carried by the winds that blew in from the Steppes. I tilted my face up and closed my eyes, feeling the ice crystals land on my chapped and reddened cheeks. A welcome balm to the bruise beneath my eye.
I sucked a breath into my lungs, my chest aching from the cold. Where I knelt on the ground next to the frozen river, I felt so small. Which was a welcome reprieve, seeing as everything around me seemed... too much. I wanted the river to swallow me whole and spit me out somewhere far away. A child’s foolish dream.
The small spot of warmth in my sternum throbbed not painfully where it rested. It usually lay dormant, although the last few weeks it had become more active. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it made me feel warm in a place that lacked warmth in every regard and I treasured it with all of my being.
The snow crunched beneath boots only a few feet behind me and my eyes flew open. I yanked my bucket out of the water, now filled with freezing water meant to be heated for baths for the general and his men. My knees shook as I pushed myself onto my feet, swaying slightly. A hand landed on the nape of my neck, the bruising touch drawing a whimper I’d tried so hard not to let escape.
“Wasting time again, are we, little Ivy?” Oberon growled. He was in charge of the young Illyrian males’ training. The boys who were too young to grow facial hair. The ones with wide, fearful eyes and sunken cheeks.
I knew better than to correct him. The ice had been thick this morning and it had taken every ounce of my strength to break it. Correcting him would only make him angry and I had had enough of making men angry. My ribs screamed as if in reminder of the bruises he’d left behind only two days earlier. I tucked myself into a safe place in my mind as he continued to scream obscenities at me, his spit landing on my cheek before shoving me away from him. I barely caught myself before faceplanting into the snow, the ends of my dress now completely soaked with the water that had spilled from the now overturned bucket. I glanced helplessly at it, biting the inside of my cheek until it bled.
Oberon sneered, his boot reaching out and kicking the bucket back into the break in the ice I had created. “Fill it again, wingless, and be quick about it. The general wants to see you.”
A prickle ran up my spine. General Bracken could only want me for one thing. It was Winter Solstice, after all. I nodded, my eyes on the ground.
I listened for his footsteps that continued back up the riverbank where I’m sure he would be standing guard, making sure I didn’t make a break for it over the treacherous ice. It was almost laughable, the idea of escape. But I was beginning to understand just how valuable I was to males here in the camp. Women were few and hard to come by. We were a commodity meant to be broken to their will. Beneath them. We were both nothing and everything.
It used to give me some sort of comfort. I was naive enough to believe that if they needed my womb so badly that they wouldn’t hurt me. I was wrong. I had never been more wrong in my life.
Oberon was out of ear shot although I knew he could still see me. I allowed myself to let out the sob trapped in my throat as I once again reached for that bucket, dipping it into the water and dragging it back out. I slowly stood, reaching up to push the hair out of my face, my skin stinging from the contact. I swallowed my fear, letting it sink down in the pit of my stomach where it sat like a weight. I hauled the water back up the bank, Oberon smirking as I went. I deposited the water in the trough outside one of the larger tents in the center of the camp, wiping my frozen fingers on my apron.
I felt a strong hand grasp my elbow, yanking me towards a smaller tent down the row. “You’ll behave,” Oberon growled in my ear.
The inside of my cheek was torn open where I had bitten down on it, the blood mixing with my saliva as we approached the tent flaps that blew inwards from the wind. He all but threw me inside, following me into the darkness.
~~~~~
General Bracken was a large man. He sat, towering over a makeshift desk in the center of the tent, three Illyrian males standing at attention behind him. After a brief salute to Oberon, they relaxed.
“Ivy Meadowcroft.” The general’s voice was rough and it crawled over my skin, leaving a slimy film behind in its wake. “Twenty-six years of age. Tiny little thing, aren’t you?” The males standing behind him snickered.
I didn’t answer, my stomach roiling with nausea. The thread in my chest pulsed hard, a sharp sensation.
General Bracken rested his hands on his desk, pushing himself up to a standing position. I trained my eyes on his boots as he walked closer to me. His hand snaked out and roughly tilted my chin up. With wide brown eyes I found dark, hungry ones.
“Winter Solstice is upon us and we have need of you. You’ll be a good girl, won’t you?”
Oberon kicked my knee from behind almost sending me sprawling on the ground. I let out a gasp, nodding, hoping to appease the males.
Bracken tilted my face back and forth, inspecting the bruises. Some new and some healing. “It’s a good thing we don’t need you for your pretty face, hm? Just your pussy.” His breath fanned across my neck as he leaned in to breathe me in. He made a sound of approval in the back of his throat. “Yes, indeed.” He stood back up, turning his attention to Oberon. “You’ll make sure that she makes her way to the breeding quarters before the inspection?”
Oberon nodded. “She will be out of sight.”
The general’s face contorted into a frown, his brows furrowing in mock concern. “We wouldn’t want to trouble our High Lord with the likes of you, would we, wingless pet?”
Ahhhh, thank you for reading! This is a dual POV book so next chapter will be Azriel!
