Chapter 1: In Calo Custody
Author note: Thank you for your interest in my story! This is the second book in this series. Please read The Reaper of the Crimson City first. This series is expected to be completed by the end of 2026, so follow for updates! You may also be interested in The Cost of His Power, a standalone, second-chance romantic fantasy, which is now nearing its conclusion. You can find all my work on my page.
I’m so grateful to all of you for taking the time to read my books. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to know that so many of you have enjoyed my stories. Thanks for reading!
Dahlia
"Get me out of this goddamned cell!" I screamed, my voice becoming raspy and weak after yelling for hours without any water to quench my growing thirst.
This had to be rock bottom.
I was a prisoner—my future now uncertain and in the hands of an unfamiliar Imm man. Would the Imms choose to kill me?
The law called for my death—at no fault of my own.
The Imm said I had a chance of surviving this, but how many of the words leaving his pretty mouth were truthful? I didn’t trust him—I couldn’t trust any of these immortal monsters.
Joel.
Despite everything I knew about the Imms, I still couldn't help thinking the man might be different. But even with his warm smile and kind demeanor, he was still an Imm like any other.
With a heavy sigh, I pulled myself from my rambling thoughts. I was becoming distracted.
For what felt like the hundredth time, I pulled at the restraints binding me to the ceiling of my tiny cell. As the unbreakable metal tore at my skin, I groaned in frustration and swore loudly at the cell door—again cursing the Imms who had captured me and placed me in this cell.
In my anger, I tried swinging forward to kick at the heavy metal door. It wasn't worth the effort. The door was nearly five feet out of reach. All I accomplished with my efforts was more injury to my wrists and arms.
It was hopeless. I was too well-restrained.
I screamed in fury, but there was no response from beyond the heavy metal door.
I was alone. And now, all I could do was wait for my uncertain fate to become clearer.
Or for Simon to save me, if he even knew I was here.
If he and Elaine hadn't been punished for helping me.
The thought made me shudder. I'd put both of them at risk. And right now, I couldn't think about that—couldn't feel the weight of guilt when I wasn't even certain they'd been harmed.
It was dark in the cell, but the darkness did not bother me. This was one of the many benefits of the Sight—the power in my eyes. I could see, if I wanted to.
But with how disgusting this cell was, I didn't want to see any more than I needed to.
Without sight, the absolute silence around me was eerie. It felt like I was the only person alive in this entire castle.
Sometime in what I assumed was the morning after my capture, I was utterly relieved when I heard a thumping noise down the hall that indicated I was no longer alone. Before long, the door to my cell opened, and a thin, balding human man entered with a small, brown bag in hand.
But all my hopes for water or relief from the pain in my wrists shattered when he pulled scissors and a silver blade from the bag.
I eyed the blade warily as a second person—this one a somewhat familiar Imm woman—walked up to me and ordered, “Be still, woman, or I will be forced to hurt you.”
This was Eloise Calo, head of the Calo family that watched over the Red. I'd never spoken to her, but I had seen her around over the years. She was one of the most stunning women I'd ever seen, with her tall, thin frame, large eyes, and perfect, silvery skin.
It was hard to forget this woman.
And she looked so much like Elaine, the Imm woman I now called a friend, that I almost forgot to be wary of her.
I rolled my eyes in response to avoid saying something I might regret, and Eloise narrowed her eyes at me as she waved a hand at the human as if encouraging him to step forward.
With a deep frown, he approached me with the scissors, reaching for my dark hair to cut off my braid in a single snip.
I made a face when I heard a soft thump as my heavy braid hit the grimy floor beneath me.
Now, this would be devastating for the human women of this world. For me, this was simply annoying. Without any poison running through my body to prevent regeneration, my hair would only take a few days to grow back to a reasonable length.
My hair grew an inch to three inches daily—sometimes more. So, it would grow back quickly—it just wouldn’t be black anymore unless the Imms chose to dye it for me.
But once the man cut my hair short enough, he shaved it close to my scalp with the blade, knicking me in places and causing a small trickle of blood to drip down one side of my face.
I itched to wipe away the blood, but with my hands bound, there was no way to soothe the prickling sensation on my skin.
Scalp now almost entirely hairless, I felt a chill against the bare skin of my head, making me shiver despite the relative warmth of my cell. As the man ran the blade over my scalp a second time, I tried to appear unfazed, keeping my voice light to ask, “Why the haircut?”
Neither man nor Imm answered me, of course. They weren’t here for a conversation with a lowly half-breed.
When the human finished his task, and the top of my head was smooth and hairless, he retreated into the hallway as Eloise approached me to ask, "Do you know who I am?"
"Of course," I replied, jaw clenched, "You're Eloise Calo—head of the Calo family. Glad you're here. I have some complaints I want to discuss."
"Oh, is that so?" Eloise cocked a head at me and smiled as she crooned, "Do tell."
I jumped at the opportunity.
"The night the Imm intruders attacked Firen, you took your sweet time deciding to act," I explained, eyes narrowed on the woman, "Much of East Firen could have been spared, had you and your people stepped in sooner."
"Hmm," Eloise considered this, "You're probably right, but I don't much care what happens to the mortals. They have such short lives anyway. We acted when the intruders became a threat to us—not the humans."
I swore loudly, "You're supposed to—"
"Let's get one thing straight, Halfling," Eloise snapped, "I don't care for your criticism. Your opinion does not matter here. I'm only here speaking to you because I was ordered to keep your presence secret from the others, and there are some things we need to learn about you—to better understand your Mirnen nature."
She leaned her seemingly flawless face in close to mine as she pulled a notebook from her pocket. I could see golden flecks in her dark eyes and feel her warm breath against my skin as she ordered, “So, open your mouth.”
Fighting the urge to spit at her, I glared and opened my mouth like the obedient little half-breed the Imms probably wanted me to be. After pausing to write in a small notebook, she commented, “You file them.”
It was not a question, so I didn’t respond as I closed my mouth and gritted my teeth in annoyance.
The Imm reached up and felt the tops of my ears before taking more notes. She walked behind me and felt the muscles of my shoulders and back. I heard the scratching of her writing on paper and jumped in surprise when she touched my tailbone firmly—grazing her hands over my ass to find it through my loose trousers.
I swore and tried to kick back in her direction. She simply stepped out of my reach and continued to take notes—utterly unfazed by my behavior. She came back around to face me and studied my bloody wrists and hands before saying, “Your skin is fragile, but your bones and nails are not. Interesting.”
“Very interesting,” I mocked through gritted teeth. The haircut and visitors had been an excellent distraction, but her words reminded me of the pain in my wrists.
The Imm didn’t acknowledge my sarcasm, “Do you heal quickly?”
“Define quickly.”
Ignoring me, she took more notes and pulled a small knife and a pocket watch from her belt. I anticipated her next act, but I still gasped as she swiped the blade across my jawline, cutting it deep.
"Goddamn it!" I swore at her again as the Imm silently timed how long it took for my skin to heal.
Again, she didn’t react, and her face remained impassive as we waited in silence, with nothing but the ticking of the watch to interrupt the quiet.
When I could no longer feel the itching sensation of my skin knitting itself together, the Imm announced, voice pleased, “Just under three minutes to return to normal. Simply extraordinary—especially for a Halfling.”
She turned to walk around me and towards the door, and I couldn't help but call out, "Did I pass your test? Aren't you going to let me down?"
Eloise raised an eyebrow at me, "Oh, sweetheart, we aren't done yet, so you may as well make yourself comfortable here."
"Easier said than done," I murmured to myself.
I heard her taking more notes as she walked out the door and shut it behind her. Despite how unresponsive the Imm had been, I found myself wishing she had not left me alone in the dark cell again.
Fortunately, it was only a short time before the human man returned with a disappointingly small cup of water. After he helped me drink from the metal cup, he gestured to a hole in the ground and asked, “Do you need to relieve yourself?”
I eyed the disgusting hole that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in ages and shook my head as I asked, “How often will you give me a chance to piss?”
“Two to three times per day, probably—when I come with water.”
I argued, “Give me more water, and I might need to go next time.”
“And risk you pissing yourself? Who do you think would have to clean you up? Disgusting Halfling.” The man shook his head as if repulsed by the thought and left the cell without another word.
I couldn’t help but laugh at his reaction. It seemed even the humans of Imm society looked down on Halflings.
He would not be good company.
And for the first week I was in the cell, each day was the same.
Each morning, Eloise came in and measured the length of my hair, which was now at my shoulders and white as a cloud with a silver hue that only appeared in the right lighting. She also checked my teeth, noting that my canines had grown to sharp points.
The human returned with water three times per day and bread once per day—just enough nourishment to keep me from wasting away.
And at night, I was left alone in the silence of my cell.
The experience wasn’t terrible, but the increasing pain in my wrists was now impossible to ignore.
And I longed for freedom.
But when Eloise returned on what I thought was my eighth day in the cell, I felt a chill when she walked to the far end of the cell to face me, knife in hand. I eyed the blade with suspicion, the dark expression on her face giving me pause.
Eventually, she smiled, “Well, Dahlia. Today is your lucky day.”
“Oh?” I was skeptical, “And why is that?”
She crooned, “The King has personally requested your presence in the Circle.”
The Circle.
The King's home world was a world filled with Imms. It was the last place I wanted to be.
I snorted a laugh. “And that makes me lucky?”
“The alternative was death at my hands to avoid the hassle of transporting you.” Eloise examined her golden fingernails on her empty hand as if bored. “That was my preference, but no one listened to me.”
I scowled at her as she continued, “You will travel to the Circle in a few days, once Joel returns to escort you, that is.”
I felt my stomach sink at the prospect of spending more days in this shithole, but the thought of leaving the Red made my heart race furiously in my chest.
Eloise cocked her head as if to listen to my heartbeat, but eventually, she raised the long knife and ordered in a firm voice, “Don't move, Dahlia.”
As I jerked away on instinct, Eloise reached for my bindings with exceptional speed, gripped my bound left hand, and pulled my smallest finger to an unnatural angle. I felt the bones in my hand and finger scream, threatening to break under her grip. I tried to kick out at her, but only managed to graze her side with my knee.
I could do nothing but tense as she brought the blade down on the base of my finger, slicing through flesh and bone as she cut it clean off my hand.
I cried out as agonizing pain jolted up my arm, jerking away from her as soon as I was free of her grip on my hand.
Losing myself to the pain, I kicked out at Eloise furiously as she wrapped my finger in a black cloth. Before I could reach her, my manacles stopped my progress, cutting deep into my flesh as I lost my footing on the ground and hung helplessly from the chains.
The pain of losing the finger was unbearable, leaving me lightheaded and in tears. I barely even noticed as Eloise left, slamming the metal door closed behind her.
And I was left to wait in constant agony as my finger healed.
It took nearly two full days for it to regenerate, and the process was highly unpleasant. It likely would have healed sooner if not for malnutrition and the bindings on my wrists cutting off circulation to my hands. Still, compared to the pain from the bindings, finger regrowth was agonizing.
As I tried to distract myself from the agony, a morbid part of me wondered how long it would take for my larger limbs to regenerate—even my hands.
My mind turned to my father. How long had it taken his hands to regenerate after Simon cut them off? Was it this painful?
The thought made me shudder.
My thoughts quickly became morbid. I was busy contemplating how much trauma my body could withstand when the cell door opened. I had been so distracted that I didn’t notice any sounds in the hall.
"Looks like Lana was right," a familiar voice called out from the doorway, "With hair like that, you're almost certainly a Reed."
Joel entered my cell and walked on heavy footsteps until he was standing in front of me, within my line of sight. And he looked exhausted. Dark circles lined his beautiful blue eyes as he stood over me.
"Oh, look," I gritted my teeth against the fury that rose up inside me, "It's the asshole who locked me up in this place. Are you here to gloat or are you finally going to free me?"
"I don't gloat," Joel crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow as he explained, “You are being moved to another room for the night. There will be clean clothes and a bath for you to make yourself presentable.”
“It’s about time!” I groaned—glaring at the man now, "Where the hell have you been, anyway?"
"I was in the Circle—preparing...things...for you." He stepped forward and took a moment to examine my finger—it was entirely healed now and looked exactly as it had before Eloise cut it off.
He sighed and muttered, “I never believed you'd be harmed while I was away."
"Yeah—Eloise is a bitch. But you're the one who put me in these shackles, remember?" I snarled, "And I'm pretty sure they've cut all the way through my flesh to the bone at this point."
His eyes shifted to my wrists, and he winced at the sight of my torn flesh, confirming that it probably looked as bad as it felt. "Let's get you down from there."
He started to step away to lower me, but paused and returned his attention to me with narrowed eyes, "If you try anything, I'll put you right back in this cell. Understand?"
I wasn't sure what he thought I'd do once freed, but I wasn't foolish enough to fight him one-on-one.
I'd learned my lesson with Bennett and Hawthorne.
"Yes, Joel," I rolled my eyes, "I'll be a good girl for you. Is that what you want to hear?"
It wasn't what I'd meant to say, but the pain in my wrists was making me irrational at this point. I was lashing out.
The Imm blinked at me, "You know, usually when women speak to me that way, it's under very different circumstances."
I managed to grin, "I don't know about that. You strike me as the type who enjoys tying up your women."
That wasn't true. I knew next to nothing about this man.
Joel raised an eyebrow, "And you strike me as the type who's not a good girl in any sense of the word—exactly the type who might try to escape as soon as I release you."
"Damn it, Imm. Just tell me what you want me to do," I snarled, "I'm willing to do a lot to get these damned shackles off and finally get some relief."
His lips twitched up in amusement, and I added as a warning, "But I swear to god, if you pull out your cock, I'll bite it off."
His blue eyes narrowed on me, but he slowly agreed, "Alright, Dahlia. I'll release you—no conditions. But tomorrow, you and I will leave the Red. If you try to escape, I promise that you'll regret it."
But escape would take a miracle.
And miracles almost never found Red Halflings.
