I wake up in a very comfortable bed. The comfort is so nice that I find myself smiling and stretching my fingers into the air. When I bring my fingers back to me, I freak out and remember everything. I slide up the bed fearfully, keeping the covers close to my chest as I look around. My eyes instantly find a girl dressed in a black pantsuit that is stood on a chair, dusting the low ceiling. She hums to herself as she tries to reach some spots that look dusty.

This room is not the King's room. It's smaller, more private, more intimidate. There is a small, round table in the middle set with two plates and cutlery with a jug of water. In the corner there is a fluffy, red chair that sits underneath an oval window. The carpet is bright red and looks just as soft as the others. I glance underneath the covers, I'm still wearing the clothing I arrived in, tight jeans with a loose white shirt. I bring a finger to my lip as I remember those sensations, those terrifying and orgasmic sensations. I should probably feel shy but I can't. There was no other way to react to it than scream. If that is what happens every time a human gets fed on then nothing makes sense, because that was the best feeling in the world.

"Oh, you're awake," the girl says, setting the duster down and stepping from the chair. I start to remove the covers. "Please don't stand up," she says in a panic. "The King has ordered me to make sure that you stay in bed and I'm supposed to shout the guards for help if you don't comply."

I surrender back to the bed with a sigh. "Where am I?"

"This is your bedroom." She smiles and throws her hands in the air, turning around. "I spent hours cleaning it while you were asleep."

"Thank you?" I say, unsure if I should be thanking her. "Why do I have to stay in bed?"

She rubs her fingers together awkwardly. "I take it that was your first time being fed on?"

I nod.

"The fainting happens, often. They're draining us of our energy so it's kind of a given that it affects us like that. You're lucky though. At least he carried you and placed you in a bed. My owner just left me on the floor until I woke up. I've gotten better at it now; I made a pact with him to only do it at night time, so I usually just fall asleep straight after."

"You made a pact with your owner?" I say. "And he just agreed to that?"

"They're not so bad here," she says. "They don't want to kill us as quickly as the ones out there. I think they become. . . attached to us. If he feeds on me too much then he leaves it weeks until he does it again, so I can regenerate."

"That's actually really kind," I say, knowing how ridiculous it sounds. "What's your name?"

"Wendy. You?"

"Aurora."

"You're old to still be alive," she says, almost slapping herself afterwards. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I mean, it's a good thing, obviously."

I laugh, eyeing the water on the table. "Can you bring me that?"

"Sure. I'm also supposed to get you anything you want."

She brings the jug over with a glass and pours it into her hand before passing it to me and placing the jug on the nightstand beside me. "You're so lucky to get your own room. Most of the girls that are fed on by the King just share one. He's kind to us, kinder than previous creatures at the nanneries."

"Why do you think that is?" I question, mainly because it's bugging the hell out of me.

She shrugs. "Maybe he feels responsible because it was his fault this all happened. Don't get me wrong, he's still as emotionless as them and I've seen him act out his frustrations on slaves before, but. . . I've never seen him kill." She stares into the air as she thinks about that. "He isn't what I thought he'd be like. The way the creatures were terrified of him, I thought he'd be a monster."

"Me too," I say.

"Maybe he is to them?" she offers, shrugging again.

"When you are fed on, do you ever feel...?" I swallow it down and my nerves get the better of me.

"Feel what?" she says.

"I don't know how to explain it."

"Excruciating pain?" she says. "Yeah, that happens the first time. It gets a little better though, I mean it's never comfortable or anything but it's bearable."

I squint at her, how can she not know what I'm talking about? That was anything but pain. I decide to let it go, mainly because I don't want to give anything away about what I am, or what I am to the creatures. Cain seemed to make it his mission to kill any creature that knew about me, so he'd have no trouble with killing humans.

"When can I leave this bed?" I ask.

"I'm not sure, he didn't say. You will probably have to wait for him to return."

"Return?"

"He took off shortly after he brought you here. Just jumped right out a window. No one knows why."

"So that behaviour is. . . strange for him?

"I've never seen him jump out of window before, so yes. He also ordered every guard posted outside that door not to touch you. He's protective over his girls but not to this extent, you must be valuable. . . pure?"

I just nod. "Yeah, I guess. So if the guards can't touch me then they can't force me back into bed," I say as I fling the covers away. She scowls at me as I use her own information against her and I walk over to the window.

I try to open it but it's locked shut. I would kill for some fresh air right now. He looked into my mind, he knows about the suicide attempt, he's probably ensuring I don't get the chance again. I suddenly freeze as I realize he knows everything about me. Including what happened with Jackson earlier. What if he's on his way there? What if he informs them about Jackson's plan to end his life? I start pacing.

"What's wrong?" Wendy asks.

"Nothing."

"Are you worried about something?"

"Of course I'm worried," I hiss at her. "I'm being held prisoner inside a palace run by murderous winged creatures that could kill us at any moment. Aren't you worried?"

"What's the point?" she mumbles sadly. "I made peace with my prison a long time ago. It's better than a cage, which is what most of them on the outside keep humans in."

"I guess," I say. "We should be so lucky."

She nods to herself and begins playing with her braided blonde hair. "I have to go, my owner will be looking for me. The last time he saw me the King was ordering me to follow him so. . . he's probably concerned or something."

I nod my head. "Okay."

"Bye."

I stare at the door that she closes. This is like an alternate universe. The girls here are happy to be with their owners? She was thinking about him in a daydream, like she's besotted with him. This is so backwards. I really need air. I think about opening the door and asking a creature to take me somewhere outside but the odds are I'll have to stay in this room and they'll intimidate me back into it.

I go over to the chair in the corner, gazing out of the oval window for a moment that is too high for me to reach. I stand on the chair to get a better view. I see a long river that runs through the land. I also see the creatures grazing the air above it, flying in all directions as they guard the palace. It's impossible to walk anywhere close to here without being seen.

I look at the shelves and I pick up something that looks like a magnified glass. There are strange objects everywhere. From toothbrushes to scent spray to a big box of tampons. I pick up a box of what I think is painkillers. The creatures never cared about our pain at the nannery, we were allowed tampons but we weren't ever allowed drugs. The children were if they were injured, but not us.

I put the pain killers back and I move on to the next thing that he's stored for me. Vitamin tablets? Is this a joke? He wants to try and restore my energy after he was the one that took it from me? I back away from the shelves and I approach the white wardrobe against the wall. I open it slowly, my eyes scanning over so much clothing that it makes the old clothes stores look bare. From shirts to jeans to dresses to silk pyjamas and bath robes, there is everything. He even knows my shoe size. Another delightful side effect from reading my thoughts. I take out a soft, grey fleece and I place it over my shirt, then I grab a band from one of the hundred he's placed inside a drawer and I tie my hair back into a braid.

I am sitting in the red chair when the door opens. Cain walks in and glances at the bed first, before sighing and finding me in the corner.

"Hi," I whisper.

"You're supposed to be resting," he says.

"I am resting. I'm sitting down."

"Very well," he says, he drags a chair from the table and positions it in front of me. "Thank you for giving me what you did, I didn't get the chance to say that to you."

"I didn't really have a choice," I say.

"Can I ask you something?"

I nod, confused by why he'd give me the option. "Sure."

"What did you. . . feel?"

I grin just slightly. "You couldn't work it out?"

"No."

"It was amazing," I say, hating myself for admitting that. "I actually didn't want it to end, even though I'd be dead."

"You didn't feel pain? Any pain?"

I shake my head. "That's not normal, is it?"

"No," he says, rubbing his chin. "It's not."

"Is it because I'm completed?"

"I'm not sure. It's possible. The effects were the same afterwards though, I should have warned you about that."

"Where did you go?" I ask quietly, ducking my head down in fear of speaking out of turn.

"I visited your nannery."

I wipe a quick tear as I look at the wall, unable to look back at him because I won't be able to control my anger. "Why?"

"To make sure that Raven was dead, but also, to place a bid for Jackson."

I suddenly stare at him, pushing myself forwards. "What?"

"I spoke to the boy, I told him not to go through with it, that I'd bring him to you. Don't fret about Arabella, there is no one that can outbid me, and they wouldn't dare try. The boy will be brought here as a slave and none of my species will touch him."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because you care for him," he says, as though it's obvious. "I didn't like the part of your soul that ached for him. It left a bad taste. But the rest, well. . . you saw my reaction."

"Thank you," I cry. "You have no idea how much that means to me."

"I do," he says, twisting his head as he studies me. "I have tasted so many completed souls and I have never. . . experienced something like that. For the first time in my existence, I cannot describe it."

"I can't describe it either," I whisper, blushing as I meet his lime green eyes that flash at me with warmth. "I don't know why my soul is different, or rare, but I'm slightly glad that it is."

He grins at me, his gaze falling to my throat just like Raven. "I think that will be enough for now. I will have a slave bring you some dinner."

"I can't leave the room?" I say. "Go outside?"

"I can't risk any of the guards touching you," he says. "I might be the King but if any of them feed from you, they won't stop."

"So this is just about feeding from me?" I say. "That's the only reason you're locking me away, so you can just help yourself whenever you want?"

"No," he says, blinking at me. "This is about your safety."

"Raven said that if anyone consumes me then they could become so powerful that they could challenge your position."

"It is possible," he says. "I've tried to lead my species as best as I can but there will always be traitors among them conspiring against me. Some of them just want what is mine."

I nod my head in understanding, he's just confirmed what I already knew. That I'm his, that I'm owned. That I'm nothing more than a piece of property that he has to keep happy for my soul to be extra tasteful. Nothing but food.

"What would you like to eat?" he asks.

I laugh out unexpectedly at his question.

"What?" he says.

"Nothing. Anything is fine, thank you."

"Very well." He rises from the chair and takes it back to the table. "I'll return in a few hours."

"Okay."

I watch as he leaves, and I hear the door lock. Part of me is extremely happy that I'll get to see Jackson in a few weeks and he'll be safe here. But then I start thinking about the other children, about Angelica and Sam and little Troy, and all their faces start overwhelming me. I feel a strange kind of guilt for it, like it's my fault it's happening to them. If only I had been as close to them as Jackson then maybe Cain would have spared them too. But they aren't the ones turning thirteen, they still have years to grow and learn and maybe they could be placed with kind creatures that exist here.

I can't help them. I can't help anyone. There's nothing I can do so I surrender to that dark fact and I pick up a book from the shelf. I take a seat in the red chair and I start reading, wondering when Cain will next return.