Chapter 3 A Berry for the Beast

Rae

Holy Hecate, I fucked up. “Don’t enter the fairy ring, Rae.” I hear Nanna’s voice in my head, dry as anything, and I could scream. What do I do? Step straight into the goddamned fairy ring. The world slams back around me so hard I nearly lose my footing. What world? I have no fucking clue, but there is a bloody mountain of a man, half naked, chained, and hanging from a freaking wall in what looks very much like a cell. Shit, Rae. Shit. Shit. Shit. 

“Well, this is new,” a male voice says from behind me.

I let out a noise that is absolutely not cute, spin so fast I nearly trip over my own feet, and clutch my basket to my chest. Across from the first cell, another mountain of a man stands behind bars, arms folded and a grin spread wide across his face, his eyes bright with amusement. I take a few stumbling steps back, trying not to hyperventilate myself into another dimension. Or death. Or reincarnation. Honestly, at this point, I am open to options.

“What’s new?” a female voice asks from somewhere I cannot see.

“A tiny little human just appeared through the pathway Cian opened,” the amused mountain man says, still staring at me.

“A human?” the female voice says.

“Yep. A little one.” Who the fuck is Cian? I take another step back and slam into a wall. I freeze. Not a wall. Not a wall. Slowly, very slowly, I turn my head. The bloody mountain man on the wall. Right behind me. Oh no. Oh, absolutely, the fuck no.

I squeak and jerk forward so fast I nearly throw myself face-first onto the stone floor. My basket swings wildly, blackberries threatening to launch themselves into whatever fresh hell this is, and I stumble away until my back hits the bars of the opposite cell. The amused one laughs.

“Careful, love. He’s not dead.” That is in fact so far from reassuring. I stare at the huge chained man because that is all I can do now. 

Blood streaks over hard muscle and pale skin. Dark hair hangs rough around a face that looks less like it belongs to a man and more like somebody carved danger out of stone and gave it eyes. His jaw is hard, his cheekbones sharp enough to cut, and even half-conscious and hanging in chains, he looks less like a prisoner and more like something ancient somebody made the catastrophic mistake of trying to cage. That would be Cian, then.

I drag my eyes away from him and look frantically around instead. Cells. Stone. Iron. More people I cannot properly see. A whole row of them by the sound of it. I am in prison. A prison full of giant, terrifyingly attractive men, and apparently at least one woman.

“What’s happening down there?” another male voice calls from farther along the corridor.

“A human dropped out of the road,” the amused one calls back.

“A what?” another voice says.

“A human,” he repeats, delighted. “A tiny one.” I tighten my grip on the basket. It will not save me. It is but a basket. A basket full of blackberries and fruit. I squeeze my eyes shut for one horrifying second. This is how I die.

Not peacefully in my sleep at ninety-seven after a lovely life and an impressive herb garden. No. I die in a stone dungeon because I stepped into a fairy ring and landed in front of a bloodied giant chained to a wall, while a row of beautiful strangers comment on it like I am a cat someone found in the rain.

“Please tell me I’m unconscious,” I mutter.

“No such luck,” the amused one says. I open my eyes, turn and glare at him. He grins wider. I hate him instantly.

“Can someone explain literally anything?” I snap, because panic is starting to curdle into temper.

The female voice answers me. “You came through a crossing.”

“That means absolutely nothing to me.” I shoot back. 

“You came through the road Cian opened,” she says.

“That,” I say, pointing wildly at the giant chained man, “cannot be real.”

The amused one leans against the bars of his cell like he has all the time in the world. “That would be Cian. He is very much real. He opened a path. You fell through it.”

A low sound catches in the back of Cian’s throat, and I go still. Very, very still. His head shifts against the wall behind him as a rough breath leaves him. Then his eyes open, and they find me instantly. Everything in me goes quiet. He looks at me like I am the one thing in this room that does not belong. Which, to be fair, is pretty accurate.

“Hi?” I squeak out, trying hard to fall back through the floor. Excellent, Rae. Stunning work.

His gaze drags slowly over my face, my hair, my clothes, down to the basket still crushed against my chest, then back up again. A shiver runs down my spine at his assessment, and I find myself taking one careful step toward him before I can think better of it. The amused one laughs.

“Brave little thing,” he murmurs. Or stupid little thing. Probably the latter. This could go either way. I stop just out of reach and look up, up, up at Cian. His wrists are a mess of blood and raw skin. His shoulders look strained, almost past bearing. Blood runs in drying lines over his chest and stomach, across hard muscle, down to where more chains lock his ankles apart at the floor. Rage sparks through my panic so fast it nearly steals my breath. Who did this to him? The answer is probably very obvious and not helpful right now, but it still sits hot in my chest.

Cian’s lips part like he means to say something, but nothing comes out. His eyes stay on mine. Blue and silver. Sunlight and storm. Human and… definitely not human. I realise, distantly, that I am staring right back. This is absurd, and yet I cannot seem to look away.

“Can he understand me?” I ask softly.

“Yes,” the female voice says.

“No,” the amused one says at the same time. Cian drags in another rough breath. His brow furrows, as if staying conscious is taking everything he has left. One of the chains above him creaks when his body moves a little. Then his gaze drops, just for a second, to the basket in my hands.

“Oh my God,” I whisper. “How rude of me. Nanna would kick my ass. Would you like a berry?” 

The amused one loses it completely. His laughter bounces off the stone. Cian does not laugh. Instead, his eyebrows lift slightly, and he nods his head. 

“No biting, okay?” I warn him seriously and wait until he nods again. Only then do I take a single berry and hold it up towards his lips. He bends his neck, meeting my fingers halfway, his eyes locked on mine, as I do possibly another very stupid thing today.