Accidental Surrogate

#Chapter 179 — Bound Trigger warning — Assault (non-sexual)

Ella

"It’s all right, Ella."

The first priest says, approaching me as one might a skittish horse — with slow, measured movements and hands exposed to show he holds no weapon.

"We only want to protect you."

"Protect me from what?" I question shakily, my back flush against the locked door.

"You have a very powerful magic inside you, and if it's allowed to come out you’ll be exposed.We can’t let that happen." He explains, using a tone much too gentle to be trustworthy.

It’s as though he’s trying to trick me, to convince me he’s kind when he truly intends malice.

"I don’t have any magic." I insist, wishing that I did.

Maybe if I was magic I might be able to put a stop to the things happening here — to protect the others without bringing harm to myself.I was so preoccupied with this statement that I almost missed the second piece of information.

"Exposed to what?"

"You do, it just hasn't shown itself yet."

The second priest sighs, keeping his distance but watching me with sharp eyes.

"At least not in ways you understand.Tell me, have you never noticed how much stronger you are than your peers? That you can hear and smell things from much greater distances? That you can run faster, jump higher, suffer greater injuries with less pain?"

He inquires, his hawkish gaze searing into me, "do they not follow you? Gravitate to your side and obey you as a leader?"

My head spins, making me dizzy with the possibilities.He guesses correctly, but that can’t be because I have some sort of special power.It's just the way things are...isn’t it? "And exposed to a world you cannot yet join."

The first man adds.

"It must happen when the time is right - but that time is a very long way off."

"I don’t understand."

I squeak, a sense of pure dread settling in the pit of my stomach.

"We know, Ella."

The second man proclaims, "And I’m sorry that this must happen, it will not be pleasant, but it is necessary for the future of our people."I shake my head, fighting back tears.

Their words are triggering every alarm bell in my young mind.I know what men do to little girls under the guise of necessity, the pretense of helping or protecting.

And I know exactly how unpleasant things can get.

My blood runs cold, and my pulse races, triggering a strange new energy deep in my bones.

It pulses through me like a bolt of electricity, a wild thing writhes just beneath my skin, feral and rabid — begging to be free.

I hiss, my body shuddering with these new

each other

another week and we’d be too

"I’m sorry, child."

priest professes gravely, closing the distance

would not do this if there was

terror, unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before, takes over

instincts are screaming at me to run, to get away at

far worse than anything the

there isn’t anywhere to

got a bolted door at my back and two attackers far larger and stronger than I am bearing down

into his palm, but

simply wrenches me away from the door, propelling me

legs, and I’m lifted off the

hold, my screams muffled and

my mouth, the metallic tang

gorge rises, and I’m gagging, fighting for air and struggling to focus on

to do or how to fight them — I’m powerless in their strong grips, and they seem completely unaffected

in the

distant keening pierces the

cries are deeper than my own, thick with grief and pain more complex than the sheer

A deep voice, tinged with

"It’s too much."

"Just a little more."

second voice, floating above me,

"We're so close."

no idea where these sounds are coming from,

nothing more than a pawn in

thrust onto the floor and pinned

first priest restrains my wrists while the other sits on my kicking legs, pulling his tool

cloth, it’s pearlescent sheen glimmering like moonlight, glowing in

it around my body, it tightens around me with

it round and round like a

are locked against my sides and my legs tightly shut,

muscle in the fabric’s punishing grip, and soon they’re wrapping my head, as if they intend to mummify me

the silk falls over my mouth, the priest

scream escapes before the moonlight closes over my gaping lips, locking my face

able to breathe, though I

one of my nightmares come to life - my mind is awake but I’m trapped in

to move, to do something - anything! But nothing happens because this isn’t a dream from which I can

walls of my silken prison, and I strain to identify the sounds: the clink of glass? The jostling of beads? novelebook A bottle uncorking? For all the fabric’s strength, it does not stop me from feeling

before drops of moisture seep through the silk and onto

placed in deliberate

fight the cocoon, that foreign electricity in my

but I refuse to

speaking a

carrying arcane