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 body

look at each

another week and we’d be

"I’m sorry, child."

first priest professes gravely, closing

this if there was another

I’ve ever experienced

screaming at me to run,

will be far worse than anything the doctor or dormitory

there isn’t anywhere to

bolted door at my back and two attackers far larger and stronger than I am bearing down on me.I try to scream, but the second priest clamps his hand over my

his palm, but

away from the door, propelling

first man grabs my legs, and I’m lifted off the

my screams muffled and garbled as the priest

the metallic tang

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

to do or how to fight them — I’m powerless in their strong

be a feather swaying in the

distant keening pierces the air, sounding very far

with grief and pain

deep voice, tinged with concern,

"It’s too much."

"Just a little more."

voice, floating

"We're so close."

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

more than a pawn in their

thrust onto the

wrists while the other sits on my

pearlescent sheen glimmering like

looks soft and airy, but when they begin wrapping it around my

the fabric, winding it round and round like a

locked against my sides and my legs tightly shut, I’m

and soon they’re wrapping

silk falls over my mouth, the priest finally removes his hand from

before the moonlight closes over my gaping lips, locking my

though

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

endings and muscles to move, to do something - anything! But nothing

can hear the 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

moment before drops of moisture seep through

objects are laid over my body, stones or crystals placed in deliberate

fight the cocoon, that foreign electricity in my

I know I’m running out of time, but I refuse

chant then, speaking a language

carrying arcane power