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.

hiss, my

look at each other

on — another week and we’d be

"I’m sorry, child."

priest professes gravely, closing the

not do this if there was another

anything I’ve ever experienced before, takes over my

screaming at me to run, to

be far worse than anything the doctor or dormitory matron

isn’t

and stronger than I am bearing down on me.I try to scream, but the

teeth into his

wrenches me away from the door, propelling me

man grabs my legs, and

thrash violently against their hold, my screams muffled and garbled as the

into my mouth, the metallic tang fanning the flames in my already sour

for air and

to fight them — I’m

as well be a feather swaying in the wind

the

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

tinged with concern, joins the terrible

"It’s too much."

"Just a little more."

floating above me,

"We're so close."

idea where these sounds are coming from, and the priests don’t seem to hear them

i’m nothing more than a pawn in their game — tiny and

the floor

sits on my kicking legs, pulling his tool

shimmering silk cloth, it’s pearlescent sheen glimmering like moonlight, glowing

wrapping it around

it

arms are locked against my sides and my legs

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

my mouth, the priest finally removes his hand from

second of my scream escapes before the moonlight closes over my gaping lips, locking my face into the contours

though I

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

can only lie there motionless, my brain screaming at my nerve endings and muscles to move, to do something - anything! But nothing happens because this isn’t a dream from which I can wake,

priests rummaging around outside the 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 or

fragrance a moment before

my body, stones or crystals placed in deliberate patterns on my head, chest, arms

to fight the cocoon, that foreign electricity in my veins warning me that I

of time, but I refuse to give

to chant then, speaking a language I do

small room, carrying arcane