Phina knew where she was headed long before they removed her blindfold. The dank smell of piss and the clank of metal gave it away. Though Seltus hadn't ever taken her to this particular part of his property, it wasn't like she hadn't been in trouble before. She could hear the dull shuffling of Marion's feet behind her, along with the quiet sobs of the younger girl they'd also taken.

No one had talked since they'd stuck them in the wagons and gotten rolling. Phina's cheek still stung from where the sellsword had slapped her, and she hadn't wanted to chance it again. She was brave, but not stupid--this was a time to keep one's mouth shut, and try not to make more enemies than she already had.

The man who held her grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her through a doorway so narrow that her wings barely fit between them. The sobbing faded into the distance, and the shuffling left her ears. She looked frantically for them as he ripped the blindfold from her face, but they were gone.

She turned her head toward her assailant. He was younger than she had expected, and almost kind enough in the eye. Maybe if she was lucky, he wouldn't hurt her. He ran a hand through his dark hair and began working at the bindings on her wrists. She spat in his direction. He stopped to wipe it off the arm of his tunic.

"I'm going to untie you. Please don't make me hurt you when I do."

She reached for her dagger the moment she was untied. It was no longer around her waist, which she supposed shouldn't surprise her, but it disappointed her nonetheless. She swung her fist at him instead and he grabbed it halfheartedly, then set it back down by her side.

"Stop." His eyes were soft and fierce. It did not make her feel any better. She grabbed his face under the jaw and used her elbow to pin him up against the wall. His eyebrows arched and he grabbed her wrist. 

"I am trying to help you." The words came out as a hiss. He winced as she dug the point of her elbow harder into his collarbone. She knew better than to think he would help her. By help, he almost certainly meant parrot back whatever she said to Seltus later.

"How stupid do you think I am?" 

"Not very. Please let go. You're going to have to, eventually, and then what's going to happen?" His eyes went dark and something sharp dug into her palm. She yelped and drew away from him. He slumped against the damp stones, breathing hard, and rubbed his shoulder. 

"Don't touch me," she hissed. Without meaning to, she scuttled to the other end of the tiny cage, wings brushing the walls, as far away from him as she could muster. He stared at her, not moving, barely even blinking.

"You need to tell me where to find Wren," he said. 

For a moment her head spun, unsure of what he was talking about, before it slid into place like pieces of dice across a table. Her eyes lit in recognition. It was all she could do to keep from punching him, or worse. He would never find her. Not if she had to die to keep him from her.

"This is a trick," she said. The rough cobblestone grated against her arms and pressed against her body until she felt like a canary pinned against the edge of its cage by a cat. 

"It's not a trick. I know her. If you can tell me where to find her, maybe she can help me get you out of here."

"If you're going to get me out of here, do it on your own." Phina narrowed her eyes at him and crossed her arms. He stared at her for a moment, then heaved a deep sigh.

"Fine." He turned and walked out. The door shut behind him with a soft, metallic click. Phina's chest heaved a sigh and she allowed herself to slump down against the wall. She reached without thinking for her dagger, then remembered that she did not have it. They may as well have thrown her down here completely naked.

Without the dagger, she wasn't a dangerous predator no one turned their back to. She was a canary. Phina shivered as the cold of the floor stones creeped into her exposed skin. A canary. Nothing but a canary in a cage. She massaged the purple marks the bindings had left on her wrists.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there with her head in her hand before someone shook the door again. She bolted upright, like a snake ready to strike, and pressed herself up against the back corner again. Her heart beat so loudly it echoed, and her hands clenched like hammers as it swung open and in strode a man dressed in an opulent blue robe.

Phina's stomach twisted into a hard, anxious knot. His ice blue eyes locked on hers. He grinned, and she sank further into the corner, until her wings crushed against the wall and her breath left her lungs.

"It's been a long time, dear," he said. 

"Don't touch me."

He took a step closer to her. She looked around the room. It was barren, except for a wooden writing desk in the corner, rotted from the wet, and a pair of chains on the wall. There was nothing she could use as a weapon, and she had no doubt Seltus was armed. She could try to choke him, but that was unlikely to work. His personal guards would be in here at the first sound of a struggle.

"I wouldn't dare it," he said, but at the same time he reached out and tipped a hand under her chin. Her chin moved out of the way where his fingers contacted, as if it physically burned her. She wanted to bite him. To take her dagger and sink it into his flesh, then twist and hear him scream until he didn't anymore. She slapped his hand away from her face.

"I am not your toy," she growled. He laughed and stepped backwards, eyeing her as if he disagreed. Like she was some kind of doll he could play with until he got bored of her, then toss her off and find the next.

"Not anymore. As it is, I'm only keeping you alive because you know things. I'll forgive your behavior, of course, if you tell me some things about yourself. I think you know which ones I want. I can't imagine a client list is too much to ask."

"No." No matter how long he kept her trapped down here, or what he let his guards do to her, or what he did to her himself, she would not let him know anything. Not her clients, not the people she cared for, not what she did when he was not looking. She would not stoop to that. For all his power, there were things even Seltus wouldn't guess, and those were far too precious.

"Your choice," he said. He brushed a hand through his hair, turned, and left without another word. Phina wanted to vomit. When the door slammed shut, her stomach untwisted itself and she let another shaking breath. She realized her hands were shaking, and she ached for them to stop.

She would not let herself forget why he was a horrible man. She would not let him break her again.