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.

go away!" I hiss, my body shuddering with these new

look at each other

spot on — another week and we’d

"I’m sorry, child."

professes gravely, closing

not do this if there was another

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

to run, to get away at any

these men intend will be far worse than anything the doctor

isn’t anywhere

stronger than I am bearing down on me.I try to scream, but the second priest clamps his hand over

into his palm, but he doesn’t

from the door, propelling me further

grabs my legs, and I’m

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

the metallic tang fanning the flames in

for air and struggling to focus on

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

the wind for all

distant keening pierces the air, sounding very far

grief and pain more complex than the sheer fright in my own

voice, tinged with concern, joins the terrible

"It’s too much."

"Just a little more."

voice, floating above me,

"We're so close."

no idea where these sounds are coming from, and the priests don’t seem to hear

their task with single-minded focus, and i’m nothing more than a pawn in their game — tiny

thrust onto the floor and

priest restrains my wrists while the other sits on

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

airy, but when they begin wrapping it around my body, it tightens around me with

enclose me in the fabric, winding it round and round like a glittering

my sides and

and soon they’re wrapping my head, as if they intend to mummify me

the silk falls over my mouth, the priest finally

half second of my scream escapes before the moonlight closes over my gaping

to breathe, though I don’t understand

my mind is awake but I’m trapped in my own body,

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, this is real, and it’s

outside the walls of my silken prison, and I strain to identify the sounds: the clink of glass? The jostling of beads? novelebook A

pungent, herbaceous fragrance a moment before drops of

crystals placed in deliberate

fight the cocoon, that foreign electricity in my veins warning me that I won't

time, but I refuse to give up

then, speaking a language I do not

words swirl around the small room, carrying arcane power older than the world