Vanished Sisters The Lycan King's Slave Island novel Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Natasha’s POV

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Lucy released me and I stumbled against the wall, my back hitting stacked brooms and buckets. We were in some kind of storage closet-

cramped and dark and smelling of lye soap and old mops.

“I needed to know, I said. My voice sounded hollow even to my own ears. About Davelina. I needed to know if she-*

“She’s DEAD!” Lucy grabbed my shoulders, her fingers digging in hard enough to leave bruises. “She went into the King’s Den last night! We all

heard her screaming! Natasha! And then nothing!”

The words hit me like fists.

“You don’t know that,” I said weakly. “Maybe she just-

“Passed out? Went quiet?” Lucy’s laugh was sharp and bitter. “No. She stopped screaming because she died. That’s what happens in the King’s

Den. That’s what happens to everyone who goes in there.”

I wanted to argue. Wanted to cling to some impossible hope that Davelina had survived, that she was just unconscious or-

But I’d heard the screams too. Heard them rising and falling like waves crashing on rocks. Heard the wet, tearing sounds that followed. Heard

the moment when the screams cut off mid–cry.

She’s dead. My sister is dead. And it’s my fault.

“Your smell hasn’t faded yet,” Lucy continued urgently. “That coal dust helped but it’s not enough. Those guards could’ve sniffed you out in seconds if they’d been paying attention. If they’d realized you were female–if they’d realized what you ARE-

She trailed off, but I heard the unspoken words: They would’ve dragged you through that door. Made you the King’s next meal.

I looked down at Lucy’s hands still gripping my arms. Her knuckles were white, her whole body trembling.

“Why are you helping me?” I asked quietly. “You could turn me in right now. Tell them what I am. They’d reward you. Give you a better assignment. Maybe even let you out of the slave quarters.”

Lucy’s laugh was bitter and broken. “Reward me? You think they’d REWARD me?” She shook her head. “If they knew I hid a heat–stricken girl and didn’t report it immediately, they’d flay the skin off my back and hang me from the rafters as a warning. We’re in this together now, whether I like it or not. Your secret is my death sentence too.”

She released me and turned away, digging through a canvas sack in the comer. When she faced me again, she held a small clay jar sealed with

wax.

“Here.” She thrust it at me. “It’s horse liniment. For treating hoof rot and saddle sores. Smells like something died and rotted in a latrine, but it’ll cover your scent better than coal dust.”

I unscrewed the lid and immediately gagged. The stuff inside was thick and green, with the consistency of old porridge. The smell hit me like a physical blow–sour herbs, decomposing organic matter, and something else that made my eyes water.

“Spread it on, Lucy ordered. “Neck, wrists, behind your ears. Anywhere they might think to sniff.”

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20:38 Thu, Feb 12 3 GO

Chapter 14

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I scooped out a handful with shaking fingers. The texture made my skin crawl–cold and slimy and wrong. But I smeared it across my throat anyway, fighting back nausea as the stench enveloped me.

More on my wrists. Behind my ears. In the hollow of my collarbone.

“Thank you,” I whispered when I was done. “Lucy, I-‘

“Don’t thank me yet.” Her expression was hard, but I could see fear swimming in her eyes. “You don’t understand what you are. What they’ll do

to you if they find out.”

I shook my head, backing away. “That’s not–I’m not-

“You ARE!” Lucy stepped closer, her voice urgent and desperate. “Listen to me. Do you know what happens to normal girls when they’re sent to the King? Do you know what that monster does to them?”

I didn’t want to hear this. Didn’t want to know.

But Lucy grabbed my face, forcing me to look at her.

“Their insides rupture,” she said flatly. “Their pelvic bones shatter. They bleed out from the inside in minutes, maybe hours if they’re unlucky. The King is too big. Too rough. Too much. Human women can’t survive what he does to them.”

Tears were running down my face now, hot and shameful.

“But Endurers are different, Lucy continued relentlessly. “Your bones are denser. Harder to break. Your body heals faster, stretches further. You won’t rupture as easily. Won’t die as quickly.”

The implications crashed over me like a wave.

‘So I could… I couldn’t finish the sentence.

‘Survive.” Lucy nodded grimly. “You could survive what kills other girls. Which means they could use you again. And again. And again. Until you wish you’d died the first time.”

My legs gave out. I slid down the wall until I was sitting on the filthy floor my arms wrapped around my knees.

“No,” I whispered. “No, that can’t be right. I’m just a normal girl. I’m not-

‘Last night, Lucy interrupted. “That heat you felt. That need. That was nothing. A SNEEZE compared to what’s coming.”

She crouched down in front of me, her face level with mine.

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