chapter 8

"Wait stop!" A boy pleaded with Sitara as she hit him over and over. 

"Firya Rauko," Sitara hissed at the boy in front of her. 

"I was trying to help you!" The boy yelled back at Sitara as she kept a defensive stance ready to fight. 

"As if I'd trust a Firya Rauko!" Sitara spat at the boy before her. 

"Oh like you unseelie are any better! Always fighting and never thinking!" He tapped the side of his head. Sitara scoffed at his response not all unseelie fae were stupid yes some of the low borns didn't learn as quick but that could be blamed on their strong desire for more physical strength than intellectual strength. 

"You are all the same judging based off assumptions," the boy said sitting in the corner of the cell as Deimos walked into view. Sitara looked up and quickly turned her anger toward the one that put her there in the first place. 

"You bastard!" She flung herself against the cell bars trying to reach him so she could throttle him and escape. 

"How original," Deimos said boredom in his tone. After struggling a bit more Sitara stepped back from the bars and huffed. 

"Why?" Was her simple question. 

"Because you intrigue me. You found out what I was doing and then instead of going to the czar you decided to go to the one being in the realm that will most likely refuse to help you," Deimos laughed. 

"Xuan-gēge would help you don't know him," Sitara squared her shoulders. 

"Oh that's were you are wrong dear. I do know him and I know he won't help anyone not even himself. So trust me when I say you're better off here than with him," Deimos turned to walk away. 

"When I get out of here I'm going to kill you," Sitara seethed through her teeth. 

"I do hope you try," Deimos smirked in response before he left the room again. 

"Ugh," Sitara grunted as she started to pace the cell. 

"Could you stop your making me dizzy," the boy said. 

"No! I can't be in here she's going to be so worried. Hell leaving the way I did in the first place probably really freaked her out," Sitara put her hands in her stringy hair and pulled. 

"You're not getting out so just accept that fact," the boy said sadly. Sitara looked at him for the first time. His skin was extremely grimy and covered in a thick layer of dirt. His clothes stretched and barely fit him suggesting that he had been there a while. He had extremely dirty hair but she could tell it was brown and his eyes were a nice soft hazel.

"I'm going to. I have to. I have to save the princess," she turned to look at the door of the cell looking for any weakness. 

"Everything in here is enchanted by some ancient fae magic only the one with the key can unlock the doors," a voice from the next cell spoke. The sudden different voice made Sitara jump. 

"I thought it was just me and the boy," she panted her heart racing. 

"There's about 10 of us now but a few of the humans won't last till the end of the month," the voice replied. 

"What?" She asked a bit flabbergasted. 

"Except him he's been here 3 years now and hasn't died like the other humans," the voice spoke again. Sitara looked at the boy in her cell. He looked human but most humans could only handle the aura of the fae realm for 2 years before their body gave out. 

"Then he's not full human," Sitara said walking closer to the voice trying to see who it belonged to. 

"No he's human but it's his ancestors blood that keeps him alive. From his smell when he first arrived I'd say he's related to the current queen in some way," 

Sitara looked back at the boy. He looked at her and for the first time she saw the same eye shape as the princess's. An eye shape she shared with her mother. Sitara thought back to the conversation she had with Inara's father not to long ago about how her mothers twin died. He never said how he died or where he was. Could he have been in Utumno and had children that led the boy in her cell now? 

"Why would the king of the Fae realm go to the human realm and lay with a Firya Rauko," she wondered allowed. 

"He got stuck there," was the simple reply. Sitara looked at the boy waiting for him to elaborate. 

"My many times great grandfather got stuck in my realm. He used to talk about this place. About the beauty and of the fae here and the kindness they have," he chuckled softly, "oh how he would shudder to see it now." 

"Many of the fae are kind and generous," Sitara snapped back offended by his words. 

"Really? Do you see where you are?" She snapped her mouth shut. He was right of course she hated that he was but she knew that not all fae would lock up innocent people for no reason. She sighed and sat in an opposite corner of the boy. 

"So why'd he have kids with a Firya Rauko?" She asked him. The fae king was known for hating humans as he saw first hand their cruelty. Sitara couldn't believe he would fall in love with one let alone have offspring with one. 

"That's a funny story actually," he chuckled again gazing off in the distance recalling an old memory. 

"My grandmother his wife found him passed out in the middle of the road about to get run over by a horse. She didn't know who he was or what he was all she wanted to do was save him. Though she did say if she knew he'd be so much trouble she would have left him there to die. My grandfather when he finally woke up freaked out thought she kidnapped him and drugged him and planned to rape him," he laughed. 

"My grandmother was this tiny thing in her old age so I can only imagine she wasn't much bigger when they met. But he accused her of planning to rape him so she could have a claim to the throne. He wasn't aware he was in a different realm at that point that came a little bit later when he saw her ears were short! My grandmother knocked him over the head and told him 

"If I was gonna rape someone it sure as hell ain't gon be you,' my grandfather looked at her and couldn't believe her. They fought on and off for a year or two but he never left her he stayed. One day they were talking with each other calmly and civilly when they realized they had grown to love each other. It didn't help my grandfather was forbidden from leaving my grandmothers side after he set the town on fire after the 3rd time," he sighed softly. 

"Why did he set the town on fire?" The voice from the next cell asked.

"Oh he was from the summer court or something like that apparently they aren't good farmers. Anytime he tried to plant anything the soil would get so dry and it would cause a massive fire every time. My grandmother saw he was just trying to help so she took him in and kept the villagers from killing him. He helped by protecting the village from power hungry people. After a while they made him king. He was a good ruler kind and fair. I wanted to be just like him," he said sadly. 

"How did he die?" Sitara asked him. She felt like he didn't talk much so she wanted to get as much information as possible. 

"He was poisoned. I walked in as it was forced down his throat. He told me to run but I couldn't I was frozen my grandfather who was always so strong was crying and pleading with me to run. Because I saw they kidnapped and kept me for a year maybe two I'm not sure. Then they brought me here to that guy and I've been here ever since," 

"Why did they poison him?" Sitara asked not really expecting him to know the answer. 

"He was told if he didn't take it they'd feed it to his pregnant sister," Sitara's eyes grew big. Of course Inara's uncle would sacrifice himself to save his sister. "I learned that from listening to the men that took me."

Sitara sat with her thoughts unsure of how to process everything. She wanted to tell lady Haru of her brothers life and that he had children. But getting out of here would be difficult. She wanted to return to Inara's side and protect her from the vile Deimos.