Wolf's Pack (Wolves Next Door #3) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,207

had seen the aftermath.

"They just want ransom," an older woman said, sounding like she was trying to convince herself.

Jaeda shrugged. "And sex. Probably torture. Most likely death. The mage will need his power. I lived through the fall of Brunsmith and Jorin. The Owl and the Lion. Their only concern after spending their power is to refill it."

"But Brunsmith was taken by a light mage!"

She looked at the crowd, trying to identify the speaker, but couldn't. They all looked terrified. "Yes, that was the Owl. The Mage of Joy. He forced his prisoners to drink and dance until they dropped. I'm sure it was a very wonderful experience for them to die by laughter. In Jorin, the Lion wanted sorrow. Children were torn apart before their mothers. Wives were raped in front of their husbands. The method is different; the result is the same. We die."

A wealthy woman draped in heavy brocade surged forward, shoving at Jaeda. "Then we'll give them you."

She nodded, refusing to fight back. "I'll volunteer."

"What?"

"Why would you do that!"

"She's lying."

Torn between years of being told to act civil and acting on their fear, the women crowded closer. Jaeda did nothing. They were almost a mob. It wouldn't take much for them to turn on her. She was the outsider, the whore, the disposable one, and her only options were to volunteer to please the mage, die quickly as the example, or be tortured by this group to fuel the man who'd just sundered Kurkevy in less than an hour. Only one had a chance of survival.

She understood their fear. She knew their pain. She could even feel sorry for them, but she was not foolish enough to taunt them, not now. Instead, Jaeda looked past them at the groups of people being hauled in, hoping for a distraction.

"Why are they doing this!" one woman wailed, turning to the bars of their cage. "We didn't fight back!"

Jaeda envied them a bit. She also hated them. Most of all, she pitied them. None of these women owned their own lives and they never would. Jaeda might be a common whore and recognizable because her skin was dark, but at that moment, she realized that she was the only woman in the room who could claim to be her own master. She might sell her body, but at least she wasn't a slave to her husband.

She also wasn't ashamed of doing what she had to in order to survive. It made her stronger. It gave her a power that none of these women would ever understand. Jaeda liked who she was, even if society - and the women panicking in the room around her - thought it was disgusting. Leaning her head back, she smiled and closed her eyes. She might die today, but she wouldn't die screaming about the injustice of it all. She'd do whatever it took to take care of herself, because no one else was going to do it for her, no matter how much these pampered wives hated her for it.

Chapter 2

The Dark Orchid: Power of Lies: Book 1

When the sun reached its peak in the sky, the parade of victors arrived in town. The sound of trumpeting horns carried all the way to the cells in the temple jail. Dutifully, citizens outside cheered their new master, knowing it was better to lie with a smile than fight for the previous man who hadn't even known they existed. Inside, Jaeda and the other prisoners said nothing. None of it mattered. Kurkevy didn't care who claimed to rule it. The people just wanted to make a living, pay their bills, and survive another day.

The mages, however, wanted magic - and people were the best source. Joy, sorrow, pride, pain, and more, they were all harvested from the citizens to fuel those abilities, then cast at each other in an attempt to gain more. The Owl, the Spider, the Viper, the Jackal - all mages carried the name of a beast, for their own held too much power to give out freely. Every tavern and brothel was filled with stories, every dark night brought whispers. They lived in the age of magic, and it was a hard time. The gods were dead, replaced by men just as powerful who truly walked among them.

While they waited, the women kept to themselves, all but ignoring the whore in their midst. Outside, the sounds of the town eventually returned to normal, but still, no one came for the prisoners.