Chapter 8

I didn’t say the word aloud, but I heard it in my head.The quiet maiden picked up a pair of worn shoes and placed them near my feet.

“Put these on,” she said softly.

I looked at her.For a second, I thought she might say something else. Perhaps explain where they were taking me or warn me about the people who lived in this castle.Instead, she stepped back.

The tallest maiden opened the door.“Come along. Your new room is waiting.”

My new room was a dungeon.The smell reached me before the door opened. Damp stone, mould, and something rotten filled the narrow corridor. A guard pushed me forward, and I stumbled through the doorway into a small cell.

I turned around immediately.“Wait. What is this?”

The guard didn’t answer.The door slammed shut.A heavy lock clicked into place.

I rushed toward the bars.“Hey! You can’t leave me in here!”

Footsteps moved away.I grabbed the bars and shook them until my hands hurt.“Let me out!”

Nobody came.I stood there, breathing hard, listening to the silence.Then something moved near my foot.I looked down.

A rat darted across the floor and disappeared into a crack in the wall.I jumped back with a scream.Another rat scurried along the far corner.

Then I noticed the others.They were everywhere.I pressed myself against the wall, pulling my feet up as far as I could. The cell was almost completely dark, with only a little light slipping through a narrow opening near the ceiling.

There was no bed.No blanket.

Nothing but a thin layer of straw in one corner and a bucket that I didn’t want to look at too closely.I wrapped my arms around myself.

This couldn’t be happening.I had heard stories about humans who were captured during the games. Some became servants. Others were sold to wealthy vampire families. The unlucky ones disappeared, and nobody asked where they had gone.

But I had never imagined what it would feel like to be one of them.I lowered myself onto the straw, keeping my eyes on the rats.

My stomach growled.

I hadn’t eaten properly since before entering the hunting grounds. The biscuits Debby and I had shared felt like a lifetime ago.

Debby.

I squeezed my eyes shut.

I couldn’t think about her. Not here. Not while I was trapped in a dungeon with no idea what would happen next.

I tried counting the seconds to distract myself, but I lost track almost immediately.

There was no window to tell me whether it was day or night. No clock. No voices to help me understand how much time had passed.

At some point, I must have fallen asleep.I woke when the lock scraped open.

A guard stood outside the cell.“Up.”

I scrambled to my feet.“Where are you taking me?”

He grabbed my arm and pulled me out.“Don’t ask questions.”

My legs were stiff, and my stomach hurt from hunger. I stumbled as he dragged me down the corridor, past a flight of stairs, and through a pair of enormous doors.

Warm air washed over me.So did the smell of food.I stopped walking.The room beyond the doors was a grand dining hall. A long table stood beneath enormous chandeliers, covered with roasted meat, golden bread, bowls of fruit, and dishes I couldn’t identify. Silver goblets caught the candlelight, and servants moved between the seated vampires, refilling cups and replacing plates.

The room was full of laughter and conversation.

They were feasting.While I had been sitting in the dark, trying to keep rats from crawling over me, they had been enjoying a meal fit for kings.

My stomach cramped so badly that I pressed a hand against it.

I could almost taste the food.

For one humiliating moment, I imagined throwing myself onto that table and eating everything in sight. I would grab the bread with both hands, tear into the meat, and swallow until my stomach stopped hurting.

I didn’t care if I looked like a pig.I just wanted to eat.Then I saw Vladimir.

He sat near the centre of the table, dressed in the same gold and black uniform he had worn in the arena. A goblet rested beside his hand, and he listened to something a man seated nearby was saying.

He looked completely at home.Of course he did.

This was his castle. His table. His world.I was the one who didn’t belong.The guard shoved me forward.

I stumbled into the hall, and several conversations stopped. Heads turned toward me. A woman in a dark red gown looked me up and down before whispering to the man beside her.

Someone laughed.

I lowered my eyes.“Your prize has arrived, Your Highness,” the guard announced.

Vladimir glanced at me.“Here.”

The guard pointed to the floor beside the prince’s chair.I stared at the empty space.

Surely he didn’t mean—

“Down,” the guard snapped.

My throat tightened.I looked at Vladimir, hoping he would tell them to give me a chair. I didn’t expect kindness, but surely he couldn’t mean for me to eat off the floor in front of all these people.

He picked up his goblet.He didn’t say a word.

The guard pushed me between the table and the prince’s chair.“Sit.”

I lowered myself onto the floor.Heat rushed to my face as the laughter around the table grew louder. I could feel every pair of eyes on me.

A silver plate landed in front of my knees.

A piece of bread and a bowl of milk sat on it.That was my meal.I stared at the bowl.

I hated milk. Always had.

But the smell of the bread made my stomach twist with hunger, and I knew I couldn’t afford to be picky.

I glanced to the side.

Other girls were sitting on the floor near the vampires, each with a plate in front of her. They were dressed in plain clothes like mine. Some ate with their heads bowed, while others stared blankly at their food.

None of them spoke.None of them looked at the people eating above them.

They had learned their place.I picked up the bread.

My fingers were shaking, and I hated that too. I hated the way my body had started reacting before I could control it. I hated the fear sitting in my chest, the hunger twisting my stomach, and the fact that I had begun to understand why the other girls kept their heads down.

I tore off a piece of bread and put it in my mouth.It was dry, but I chewed and swallowed.Then I drank some milk, forcing myself not to gag.

I ate quietly, trying not to look at the table.A piece of meat would have been better. Even a few grapes. But I wasn’t going to beg for food in front of them.

I had already begged Vladimir to spare Debby.

I couldn’t change what had happened in the forest. I couldn’t undo the knife I had driven into his chest. And I couldn’t make him explain why I was still alive.

But I could think.I could watch.

I could wait for an opportunity.I glanced around the hall, taking in the guards near the doors, the servants carrying dishes, and the vampires who barely acknowledged the humans sitting at their feet.

Then my eyes drifted to Vladimir.He was speaking to the man beside him again, looking as if I didn’t exist.

I looked down at my emptying plate.If this was my life now, I needed to find a way out.

And fast.