________________

Trigger Warning: Graphic violence, torture, death, implied sexual threat, and emotional distress. _________________

Cold.

It was the first thing I felt. The kind that seeped into my bones, numbing everything.

As soon as I was dragged under, my body locked up. The river was freezing, half-frozen, dark. My lungs screamed for air, but my breath was stolen by the shock.

I was drowning. Suffocating.

But then-something shifted.

A strange, shimmering bubble formed around me, pressing close to me. Suddenly, I could breathe. The biting cold didn't fade, but at least I wasn't choking.

The scorpion must have done something. Or-not him.

Male mermaids.

They moved through the water with eerie grace, their slick bodies barely disturbing the currents. Their faces were blank, unreadable. Controlled.

Ferals. I didn't know merfolk were ferals too.

The snake ferals swam effortlessly, gliding through the dark like ghosts. They were the ones carrying the bubbles, transporting the females. Including me.

The scorpions and other land-based ferals? No idea how they traveled.

But I felt them. Moving. Lurking.

Everything was too calm. Too quiet.

The deeper we went, the worse it got. Black water, endless cold. The ice above made it look like the river had swallowed the world whole.

I shivered violently. Wet clothes. Wet hair. No way to tie it back. It clung to my face, my neck, like chains.

Time stretched. Minutes? Hours?

My mind blurred. I didn't know anymore.

Then-we surfaced.

I gasped, lungs burning, eyes stinging to the sudden late afternoon light.

What I saw made my stomach drop.

Bird beastmen.

Dozens of them. Hawks, eagles, vultures-perched on jagged branches and frozen cliffs. Watching. Silent.

Why? Why were they helping the ferals?

My bubble popped. My body hit the ground. Hard.

A groan escaped me, but I forced myself up. All around me-females.

Too many.

Forty? Fifty?

A nightmare.

I recognized some of them. Faces I had seen in the city, chatted with from morning till evening. Their mates gone. All females taken.

One girl whimpered. Another sobbed. No one spoke.

Until-

"Rootless."

The word was spat like venom.

I turned. A female-daughter of the wolf king. Hate twisting her face.

"This is your fault." She directed towards me. Her voice shook, but not from fear. From rage.

Others looked. I felt their gazes like knives.

Hate. Yes, of course they thought ferals attacked cause of Allmer.

I swallowed. I didn't have the energy to deny it.

They wanted someone to direct their rage at so-they blamed me.

As time stretched on, silence became the worst part.

No sobbing. No begging.

Just emptiness.

I barely noticed Nia move beside me. Her footsteps were too light, too lifeless. When she stopped, she didn't speak. Didn't cry.

Just stood.

But when I reached out and took her hand, she didn't pull away.

Her fingers were freezing. Clammy.

I looked at her arms. Bare.

Before-her skin had been marked. Mate marks, deep and permanent, proof of love and bonds that should have lasted a lifetime.

Now?

Only three.

Maybe four.

The rest-gone.

The ones she had lost. The ones who were dead.

Her mates were gone. Right in front of her.

I gripped her hand tighter.

She had watched them die.

She had felt each mark vanish from her body.

Nia had lost everything.

I had lost-something.

The silence pressed down. Heavy. Suffocating.

And then-

Movement.

The ferals were trading.

Some of the females-handed over to the merfolk.

I heard a soft whimper. A girl-young. Maybe fifteen. They dragged her away, her tiny wrists caught in webbed hands.

I shut my eyes. I couldn't watch.

Then-a voice.

"She's mine."

That disgusting scorpion.

His tone was leering, possessive.

His eyes burned into me, full of triumph.

The merfolk hissed in protest. They wanted more. More females.

I felt bile rise in my throat.

The merfolk had demanded both Nia and me. But when the scorpion refused to give me up, they gave up on her too.

A twisted sort of relief settled in my chest.

At least she was safe from that fate.

But the others?

The merfolk took them. No hesitation.

I shivered, my stomach twisting violently.

Ace had told me once-for every 50 to 100 mer males, there was only one female.

One.

I clenched my fists, sickened.

I didn't know which fate was worse.

Not that it mattered.

I wasn't free. None of us were.

We were shoved into a large animal-skin sack, rough and suffocating.

Trapped. Like livestock.

And then-

We were lifted into the air.

The rootless carried us, their wings flapping rhythmically.

Where were we going?

I had no idea.

All I knew was that it was high. Too high.

And with my wet clothes clinging to me like ice, my body gave up.

Heat crept under my skin.

I was burning.

I curled in on myself, shaking, head pounding.

Fever.

The high altitude, the cold, the wetness-I could barely keep my eyes open.

I tried peeking through a gap in the sack, to see where we were headed.

But the moment I lifted my head, the world tilted.

The dizziness hit hard.

I sank back down, gasping, my head spinning.

So, I did the only thing I could.

Closed my eyes.

Like the others.

And waited for whatever fate was waiting at the end of this flight.

____________

The whole night, we traveled.

Mostly flying.

No food. No water. Nothing.

Just the suffocating bag.

I couldn't even tell when night ended and morning began.

The world blurred. Time stretched.

I drifted in and out of consciousness, burning up, my body alternating between chills and fever.

When we finally descended, my legs buckled the second I was thrown to the ground.

I caught myself, barely, fingers sinking into the dirt.

I heard the crackle of fire as the ferals made camp.

The flames were warm.

But my body?

Too cold.

The damp clothes clung to me, the icy fabric making my fever worse.

Around me, the other females huddled together, pressing as close to the fire as possible.

Some were crying.

Some were silent.

Some just stared, empty-eyed, at nothing at all.

The rootless and ferals talked in hushed voices.

Planning.

Waiting.

The tension hung thick in the air.

And then, they brought food.

Meat.

Roasted over the fire.

It smelled...good.

But I didn't touch it.

I couldn't.

I knew I should eat to survive.

But what was the point?

I just wanted to give up.

Footsteps.

Slow. Purposeful.

I knew who it was before I even looked up.

The scorpion.

He crouched in front of me, his black eyes gleaming, sharp and too pleased.

"Why aren't you eating?" he demanded.

I didn't answer immediately.

My head spun too much.

I felt detached, floating.

Too hot. Too sick.

"I'm a herbivore," I said finally, my voice coming out hoarse.

That...amused him.

"Don't know where that feisty nature comes from, then."

He tossed something at me.

Small. Round.

Berries.

Red and ripe.

I stared at them in my lap.

Still, I didn't reach for them.

I didn't want to eat.

I wanted to disappear.

No.

No.

I had to eat.

I had to survive.

I needed to go back.

To my world. To my family.

To Allmer.

And...

Ace.

My throat tightened.

Would they come for me?

I had Allmer's mark.

But...would that be enough?

Would he care enough?

Would Ace? When he could easily go and find himself another female.

Doubt slithered in.

A choking, awful thing.

I swallowed hard.

I reached out slowly, my fingers trembling, and picked up a berry.

Put it in my mouth.

Chewed.

Swallowed.

It was bitter.

But I forced myself to eat more.

One by one.

Forcing my body to keep going.

To start thinking of an escape.

Because if I gave up now-

Then what was the point of surviving this far?

_______________

Author's Note:

Yeah I swear the everything will be relaxing again in just few chapters >⁠.⁠<