***Anna***

Casten was stone. Anna didn't think she had ever met anyone so stoic. They continued their walk through the woods, and she tried to dissect his brain, but she found that Cas wasn't much of a sharer. He seemed reluctant to provide her with any details about himself or his life.

Anna told him a little about how she ended up in this world, and he listened to her intently. She asked about their mother, but Cas was unwilling to speak of her.

For the most part, they walked in companionable silence.

"Why were you out here all alone?" Anna asked him, curiously.

"Scouting," he answered. That was it. One word.

"Scouting? For what?" She pried.

"For you."

"For me. You knew I was here? How?"

"Ostiel." His one-word responses were really starting to irritate her. Expand your words! She wanted to shout at him. Instead, she took a deep breath and continued her interrogation.

"Why did Ostiel tell Solmin about me?"

Casten stopped and scowled at her. His golden eyes went from cold to stormy. She gave a little gulp. "Because he is stupid." He turned and continued walking. Alright. She stopped questioning him, it was too much work. She wished he would talk to her. She needed to get her mind off of meeting Solmin and worrying about Rye. Her insides were shoestrings, tied into all kinds of knots.

The only thing he was intent on telling her was repeating his advice, to not provoke their cruel father. It was not doing anything to calm her nerves. She would have to bite her tongue, which didn't always come easy when she was angry.

Their father. She didn't want to think of Solmin as her father. She decided she wouldn't. They shared DNA, that was it. She let go of her fantasies and decided she would not let him have any control over her.

"You wear Ryevin's chain," Cas observed after a couple of miles.

"Yes." Her heart pounded a little harder when she thought of Rye.

"Did he treat you well?" Casten asked softly.

Anna gave a smug smile. "He got better with time."

"He tried to send you back to your world?"

"Yes. But I was meant to stay." Her voice was so low, it was almost a whisper. Tears threatened to escape. Her heart clenched inside her chest. He held her all night while she cried. She had been through such a rollercoaster of emotions recently and now she thought she was on the downward slope with her wheels slipping off the track.

"I wonder how he will feel when he learns whose daughter you are," Cas mused. It was just something else for her to worry about. She dreaded telling Rye that her parents were the same people who murdered his entire family.

"I can't imagine he would be too pleased about it. I'm not too thrilled about the information either."

"Will he still want you?"

"Probably." Anna knew that she held Ryevin's heart. She couldn't imagine that her parentage could alter his feelings. She wasn't really their daughter. Not in the way that it mattered, anyway.

"Father will not approve of the match."

"I don't give a rat's ass if Solmin approves or not." Cas grabbed her by the arm and tugged her roughly to face him.

"You must not speak that way. It will not go well for you." His voice was laced with warning.

"Don't worry, I'm not an idiot," she said haughtily.

"You best forget about Ryevin. Father will give you to someone else." Anna instantly felt the color rising on her face. A volcanic fury came from her gut and wanted to smoke out her mouth.

"I thought the chain meant I was claimed and protected," Anna said angrily.

"Father will not care about that."

"I will not join with anyone else." She narrowed her eyes at him in a challenge.

"What makes you think you will have a choice? If you defy him, you will only get hurt. I...I don't want to see you hurt." His voice broke, and her anger melted away instantly. She felt the need to comfort him.  Cas probably never shared his feelings, but he spoke them to her anyway.

"Everything will work out okay, Cas. The fates led me here."

"I don't believe in the fates anymore." Surprise colored her, but she quickly masked it.

"Everything will be fine." She laid her hand reassuringly on his arm and then gave it a little pat. She smiled at him and he gaped at her. His face went stony again.

They went back to silence and continued their walk.

Suddenly, Anna could feel several men hiding around them. It made her skin crawl.  She grabbed Cas's hand to warn him, but he turned to her and said, "Camp is up ahead." He then gave a bird call and warriors emerged. Anna tried to get a sense of them. They made her gut clench. They all felt wrong. More than wrong.

They didn't speak, they stood there just waiting for orders. Their faces were stone masks, and she felt their emptiness. Anna felt like she was suffocating. She scratched the inside of her wrist and blocked it out.

Cas yelled for one of the men to inform his father that he had returned. Like a robot, a warrior left them. Why did they have to meet him here?

"It will be better to prepare him for our arrival," Cas explained, sensing her thoughts. Anxiety started to pierce her. She had no desire to meet this person. How could all these men feel like this? She would have to work hard to keep herself in check and not provoke this evil warlord. She would try not to anger him, but that didn't mean she would compromise herself.

"Let's go," Cas said. He looked tense and it only made her anxiety climb. Cas led her to the camp and she felt like she was walking to her execution. She saw small tents scattered in a circular pattern and warriors training and lounging around. She was hyper-aware of everything around her, and she couldn't shake the feeling of hopelessness from everyone around her.

They came to a large tent with flaps opened. Inside, sitting on furs with a drink in his hand was the elder mage. A younger man with a cumbersome chain around his neck was standing to the side with a pitcher in his hand. The man was hollow. Everyone seemed so hollow. Anna imagined that this was what hell felt like.

"Anakyah! My once-dead daughter," Solmin said as he rose to his feet. Anna felt the hairs on her neck lift at his voice. Anakyah?

She watched him coolly as he approached. He was rather large, with a stern face. He had a short beard that was graying, and there was an evil glint in his golden eyes. 

He grabbed her chin and examined her like she was a horse, and not his long-lost child. His breath smelled of wine.

"I guess it is you," he said, like it meant nothing. Anna bit her tongue. She thought it was quite a telling contradiction how he acted like he didn't care, but sent an army after her. He wanted her to feel insignificant, like trash. "Ostiel was right, you are beautiful. You were a pretty child too, but unpleasant. I wonder if you still are," he said raising his eyebrows.

"If I am what?" She managed to say.

"Ahh. She speaks! Unpleasant, Daughter. Difficult. These traits will not be tolerated by me.

She straightened her back and made sure to look him in the eyes."Most people would never describe me that way." Anna's words came out strong and confident.

"Most people?" Solmin chuckled. "What about the warlord of the Northlands? I heard you refused him."

"I did. He abducted me." He looked amused by her assertion. What was wrong with this place? Was taking a woman against her will such common practice, that nobody batted an eye?

"Did he now? You somehow charmed him into trying to bring you home, but you are here." Solmin motioned his arms around him. "Where is he? I was looking forward to ending him." Anna couldn't help but flinch at the mention of ending Rye. She took a settling breath and calmed her nerves.

Anna told him about the lake. How she was transported here from her world. Then she spoke the lie. "Ryevin decided to let me go home, so he left me at the lake. I swam for hours, but the light was no longer there. When I came out of the water, Rye was gone. I think he assumed I went home. I tried to find him, but I got lost in the woods. I ended up running into Casten, and he brought me here." She paused and tried to humble herself to him. "The ways of my world are much different than here, and I am learning...Oz told you about me?"

"Yes, he had much to say. He couldn't, however, tell me your power. He said you refused to tell it. You will not refuse to tell me." He looked at her with warning, and she couldn't help but shiver.

"I...I can sense auras," Anna confessed timidly. She decided a half-truth was the way to go.

"Auras? What does that mean?"

"Umm...I don't know. I can just tell what a person is like by being near them. They give me certain vibes. Like Oz. I felt something was off about him, that he wasn't trustworthy." Anna shrugged. Solmin's face darkened and his eyes pierced her with such coldness, she felt like she would choke.

"That's it? The daughter of Velasande can sense auras?" His face twisted in disgust. "You are... disappointing," he spat.

Anna bit back the hysterical laughter that threatened to bubble out of her. He thought she would care that she disappointed him. He acted like she desired his approval, and that withholding it would tear her down. The day this evil warlord approves of her is the day she sells her soul. So what if he was her father? He was a poison to the air around him, and he had no power over her. She wouldn't give him any.

"Did I amuse you?" His voice lowered in a way that sounded menacing.

Anna schooled her face as best as she could. "No," she answered simply.

"You looked pleased."

Anna couldn't help the small smile that formed on her lips. Shit. She told Cas she wasn't an idiot, but she was certainly acting like one now. She couldn't help it, the words just flowed out. "My only desire in this life is to win your approval." Her voice was laced with insincerity. Solmin's golden eyes narrowed with rage and Anna could swear she saw them swirling.

Suddenly, Solmin backhanded her forcefully in the cheek. The blow knocked her sideways and when she got up she looked into his cold eyes without flinching. Her cheek throbbed, but she didn't acknowledge the pain.

She somehow knew Casten had tensed next to her.  She wouldn't cast a glance at him, she worried about what Solmin could find there. So she just stared into Solmin's eyes, unwavering.

Solmin's face transformed from rage to cold. He bent down close to her ear and whispered, "I'm going to have fun breaking you."