“Mercy!” Fen called from the sitting room.

“Just a minute!” I scrambled off the bed.

We’d gone back to the manor after spending a night at the apartment, but I’d stayed home from work for a couple of days after the incident. Being at the apartment had been so nice, like a break from regular life, just me and Fen. Maybe I’d ask if we could stay there occasionally.

Although I’d have my own place soon. Maybe Fen would stay there with me, sometimes. That would be really nice, actually. I could keep clothes and stuff at all three places, if he’d let me, and staying wherever I felt like staying on a given night, again, if he’d let me. He probably would, but it was better not to assume.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“I have something for you!” he smiled brightly and eagerly, striding swiftly across the room, holding up a ring. “I finished the last prototype!”

“Oh!” I smiled, clapping my hands, “That’s great!”

“We’ll have to see if it works.”

I pulled the ring I’d been wearing off, handing it to him. Fen reached out, taking my hand and slipping the ring onto my ring finger, “With this ring…” he murmured, smiling.

“Not yet!” I felt my face heat, and looked away.

“Someday.” Fen promised softly. “Although you might not want to wear three rings on your ring finger, maybe you should wear this one on another finger?”

“Or one of the other rings could be enchanted.” I shrugged. “Then I’d only need to wear two like a normal person.”

“Oh, good idea. Now that we’ve managed to enchant a ring with what we need once, it won’t be nearly as hard to do again, provided this one actually works.” Fen nodded. “I was going to make a final version that’s nicer to look at anyways. An actual engagement ring will definitely be nicer.”

“Yeah, that’ll work.” I smiled at him.

“We should test it out. Do you have a few spare moments? I know dinner will be soon enough, but it shouldn’t take long.”

“I’m not busy, I was just passing the time until dinner.” I shrugged.

“Good.” Fen nodded.

We left my room.

“So, how are we going to test it?”

“I was going use your original idea, to have you stand just outside of the protective spells, and we’ll see if any spirits are drawn to you.” he shrugged. “You can just step back or I can pull you back into the protection, need be.”

“Sounds good.” It'd be safe, given he’d be right there.

Fen took me to the gardens, and we hopped the wall that encircled them. Or rather, he gave me a boost up and onto it, then hopped over it himself and helped me clamber down on the other side.

“Alright. The spell ends just about…” he held his hand out, away from him, taking a step forward, “here.”

“Okay.” I nodded. “Here we go!” I took a few steps forward, past his hand. The trees of the forest behind the house were still a few feet away from where I stood. After a few brief moments, I shrugged, “Well, it’s good so far…”

“We’ll wait a few more minutes, just to be-” Fen cut off, looking up sharply to the right, and frowning. “I hear…” He frowned. “Come back to the wall.” he said, turning in the direction he’d been looking. “I’ve got to go check out that noise.”

I turned, taking a step towards the wall as he darted away towards whatever it was he’d heard.

But something jerked me suddenly backwards, drawing a surprised yelp from me. I heard Fen’s voice scream “Mercy!”

The world blurred as whoever had grabbed me from behind ran, then there was a swift breeze and I cried out in alarm, realizing my kidnapper had jumped to somewhere else.

I struggled, glancing wildly around, trying to take in my surroundings, “Help!” I cried.

There was a surge of magic, and the world went black around me.

-

I blinked fuzzily, trying to rid myself of the pain in my head and sweeping nausea I felt, and praying my last memories had really just been a bad dream, and I hadn’t been kidnapped.

But it hadn't been a dream, unfortunately. My surroundings were dark and unfamiliar, and there was someone standing nearby.

The kidnapper. They were dressed totally in black, complete with a mask, so I couldn't even see their face in the poor light provided by one lantern hanging on the wall.

How long had it been since I’d been taken? I’d been knocked unconscious, so I had no way of knowing. Nor did I have any idea where I was.

Wherever I was, it was cold, and appeared to be made entirely of grey stone. It was also very dark and damp, which made it feel a lot like a dungeon. That fact did nothing to assuage the fear and panic that thrummed through me.

Terror filled me, and I screamed, “Help!” My voice echoed in the apparently large space, but died quickly.

“No one is going to help you here.” The kidnapper replied, sounding smug. He stepped away from me, grabbing the lamp off the wall, and slamming a metal-bar cell door practically in my face. “Have a nice evening.” he laughed tauntingly through the bars, then disappeared. I heard his footsteps get further away, and another door slammed faintly.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

It was pitch dark.

Tears filled my eyes, and I let myself cry, feeling miserable and cold and scared.

When I couldn't cry anymore, and when the sick feeling I’d had when I’d first woken up had faded, I took a deep breath, and did what I could to calm down. Pulling for my magic, I channeled it into my hand, willing a ball of fire to life. I held my hand up to view my surroundings.

As the barred door suggested, I was in a cell. Poking my hand through the bars of the door, I could see that the cell was connected to a much larger dungeon area.

Withdrawing my hand, I looked around the cell again, and saw a rough table and a stool. On the table there was a pitcher, a cup, and a piece of bread.

Going over to it, I peered in, then sniffed. When I couldn't smell anything, I poured some of the contents into the cup. It looked like water.

Knowing getting dehydrated wouldn't do me any good, I took a hesitant sip. It definitely tasted like water. When I didn’t detect any bitterness or other flavors, and I didn’t keel over dead from some undetectable poison, I let myself take a long drink, emptying the cup. I wanted more, but since I wasn’t sure when I’d be brought more, I put the cup down and turned away to survey the rest of my cell, only to find that there was nothing else in there with me except a long stone bench that I guessed would have to serve as my bed.

How long had I been gone? A day? A week? I was hungry enough that it felt like I’d been gone a week. Turning back to the table, I scooped up the bread. If the water hadn’t been poisoned, I doubted the bread was. I gobbled it down with barely a second thought, then let myself drink a little more water.

Had…anything been done to me while I was sleeping? I’d been asleep magically, so I wouldn't have any memories of it, even if I’d been…Well, it didn’t bear thinking about.

I took careful stock of myself. I wasn’t bruised or bleeding or sore anywhere, and I suspected the headache and nausea had been from whatever magic had been used to make me go unconscious.

Walking over to the stone bench, I sat down, my thoughts swirling. Where was I? Who’d kidnapped me? Was Fen looking for me? What a stupid question. Of course he was looking for me.

Laying down on the flat stone surface, I curled up, pulling my arms into the bodice of my dress, making a mental note to thank Astrid profusely for making my dresses stretchy enough that I could do so…If I ever got out of this situation.

No. No ifs. When. When I got out of this. When I was home, with Fen. Because he would come for me. He would.

The effects of whatever magic had been used to make me sleep before seemed to still be lingering around, because my eyes grew very heavy, and I fell into an uncomfortable sleep.

-

The sound of the cell door slamming open startled me awake, and I sat, pushing my arms back through the sleeves of my dress.

“Sleep well?” The man from before, still dressed in all black, asked in a smug voice. He held a lantern.

I glowered at him, but didn’t speak.

Another voice spoke in Faerie, addressing the kidnapper as the speaker stepped into the room. This fey man had a pair of hawk-like wings, fangs, and claws. He had pale skin and dark hair, but it seemed more brown than black, from what I could tell in the poor lighting.

Finally, he addressed me, “So, I finally get to set eyes on you for myself.” He crossed the room, reaching out to run his finger along the line of my jaw.

I jerked my head away, and scrambled back, snarling in anger, “Don’t touch me!”

The kidnapper darted over to my side, grabbing me roughly by the hair, and hauling me up to my feet, ignoring my cry of pain. My hands were roughly forced together behind my back, and suddenly, in a burst of magic, there were restraints around my wrists.

“Let me go!” I shouted, struggling against the restraints.

“I hear that you’re a healer, and you’re responsible for dear little brother Fen’s new looks.” the winged fey man said in a mild tone.

Little brother? This was one of Fen's older siblings?

Something sparked in my brain from when I’d talked with Fen about his siblings. He’d mentioned his oldest brother...Was this Brand? Or another sibling? He did have more older siblings, but he hadn’t mentioned them by name. And this fey man was clearly related to Fen, as I could discern a few similarities in their facial features, though Fen was definitely better looking.

“Yes.” I muttered, not sure where he was going with this.

“And they’re right, I don’t feel any magic coming off you, what kind of masking spell is it?” He bent down, studying me more closely.

I leaned as far away from him as I could manage.

“I suspect it’s this ring she’s wearing.” the masked kidnapper said. “I could feel magic in it when I was searching her for weapons.”

That made me uneasy, as I had no memory of being searched, which meant it had been done while I was unconscious.

“Yes, that makes sense. Let’s have it off.” the fey man held out his hand expectantly.

I felt the ring wrenched off my finger, and whimpered in pain, crying, “Please! I-I need that! Spirits are drawn to me without it! Th-they can feel my magic too! I-I’ll be dead in an hour if I don’t have it!” Something told me that whatever this place was, it didn’t have the same protective spells as Fen’s properties did.

“Oh?” The fey man turned the ring over in his hand, tapping it and sending a few short bursts of magic into it.

I looked around wildly, terrified that I’d see spirits climbing out of the stones.

“Relax. I don’t want my new toy destroyed before I can even play with it.” the fey man said, tossing the kidnapper the ring back.

The ring was forced back onto my finger. I’d have breathed a sigh of relief, but his words had struck a bolt of icy fear through me. “I’m not a play thing! Let me go!” I struggled against the bindings and tried to pull away from the masked kidnapper.

“I’m afraid that’s not possible.” the fey man before me smiled a slow, cruel smile. “You’ll be here for the foreseeable future. Come, Parva, let’s take her to be with the others. I’ll deal with her properly there.”

“Who are you?!” I demanded.

“Oh, forgive me! I’m Brand.” he gave a mocking bow. “And you’re Mercy, isn’t that right?” He started forward again, and Parva, the kidnapper, forced me to stumble from the cell. “I’ve heard a lot about you, and have been waiting for Fen to slip up and let me snatch you away.” he chuckled. “He really is a fool.”

I didn’t speak.

“It’s a pity I was away on business when Parva was finally able to get his hands on you. And then I couldn't get away for two days...But I’m here now, isn’t that nice?” he laughed, clearly amused with himself.

So I’d already been gone for at least two days. That wasn’t counting however much time it had taken for Parva to get his message to Brand.

My captor threw open a door at the end of the room, which seemed to be quite large, though I couldn't see much in the darkness, and I was marched up a set of steep stairs.

“There’s no need for me to keep you in the dungeons, given it’s so easy to keep humans in place.” Brand laughed.

I was forced through another door at the top of the stairs, and we stepped out into a lavishly decorated hallway.

“Welcome to my home.” Brand said in a mock-gracious tone. “It’s nicer than Fen’s. He has no sense of taste. So minimal.” My captor frowned in distaste. Personally, I preferred Fen’s choice in decor to the over-embellished, crowded look that this place had, though the decor itself was indeed opulent and high-quality.

I was led through several corridors, then finally through a set of doors. “Welcome to your new home!” Brand announced, smiling wickedly as he motioned around the room we’d stepped into.