Africa was a distant continent I knew from geography books, but it might as well be another universe. I knew very little about it. “What the hell do I know of that place?”
“Goddesses, this breaks my heart.” He sighed. “Your generation lives its entire existence on a speck of dirt, where experience, education, and life are confined within walls because some nobles wanted to keep all the power and control. That’s not a life.”
“It is to me.”
“Because you’ve never smelled the rich spices in India, seen a sunset in Greece, heard the rush of the water in Victoria Falls, tasted real coffee in Turkey. Your life is minuscule.”
“Fuck you.” I slammed down my cup and stood up.
“Sit back down.” He grabbed my hand. “It’s not your fault, girl. Freedom is something this area has not had a great friendship with.” His blue eyes stared into me until I felt my ass hit the seat again.
He tilted his head, his gaze not wavering. “You are a strange one.”
“I’m starting to see why you have no friends, old man.”
A grin bloomed on his face. “Never take anything in here at face value.” He shifted on the chair with a groan. “What’s your name? What family do you reside from?” His sharp eyes peered at me on the last question.
I watched him over my cup, taking another sip, the lie slipping out easily. “Nagy,” I said. “Laura Nagy.” I gave him one of the most common names in this area. There had to be thousands of girls with this name. Kovacs was common, too, but Brexley Kovacs was not. My real name was very well-known by the fae. I didn’t want anyone knowing my real identity.
“Sure it is.” His grin turned into a chuckle, amusement creasing his already wrinkled face. “I’m Tadhgan. Call me Tad. I know my name is a mouthful.”
“Okay, Tad,” I replied dryly.
His gaze centered on me, making me feel he was trying to dig through and unearth my soul, find my secrets.
“What?” I grumbled.
He watched me for another beat before he shook his head. “Nothing. Simply mind tricks of an old, crumbling mind.” He took a sip of coffee and gazed out at the other prisoners. “You need to quickly learn the hierarchy here if you want to live under the radar. Survive.” His blue eyes met mine. There was surprising youth, but extensive knowledge also dancing in them. I knew Druids lived thousands of years longer than humans, one of their gifts given to them centuries ago by the fae gods and goddesses. “Though, I say nothing comes from being nothing.”
“Shocking really, you don’t have friends.” I huffed into my cup.
“Okay.” He nodded around the room. “Humans wear the gray uniforms, half-breeds blue, fae the yellow, demons red. Druids are in white, which is just me. The prison divides us by color on purpose—to keep the lines of hate strong between the groups. They want us to cling to our bigotry so we fight each other, not them. They want the constant reminder we are not all equal.” He patted his chest, trying to get down the thick coffee. “And merely because you’re human doesn’t mean other humans are on your side. If they are still here, it means they’ve learned to survive and will stab your back if they need to.” He nodded at the dotting of gray outfits scattered through the space. There were a few seated together, but most had wiggled in with yellow and blue uniforms. “Rodriguez and his group are what I call third-tier bullies. Mean, intimidating, the kind who beat up smaller people to show how big and powerful they are. Definitely a group to avoid, but there’s a lot of prancing and pawing the ground if the second-tier steps in.” Tadhgan gestured toward a table in the middle. All red.
The demons. The top of the food chain. And almost all women. In the group of eight, only three I could see were men, resembling lions resting on their rock. My attention moved over them, noticing the blue-haired demon I met in the bathroom sitting among them. Within the group, she seemed to be an island within herself. Drinking coffee and picking at breakfast, she didn’t engage with the other demons.
But she was part of the second tier. Powerful.
“Wait. You said second tier?” I looked back at the Druid. “What’s above demons?”
His gaze slowly slid to mine, lowering the mug from his lips.
“Him.”
Chapter 12
“Him?” My brow furrowed, following the Druid’s gaze. I