How Does It Feel?

Content Warning: This section contains sexual assault.

The forest looks the same, but Callie knows she is somewhere else. The large man releases his grip on her neck and stabs her through the stomach. She contemplates her regrets as she bleeds to death. The fox returns, healing her body with its tears and saliva.

Before Callie gets her bearings, the man returns, and Callie admits to herself that, while terrifying, he is also very handsome. When she tells him that the fox healed her, he grows enraged. He decides to keep her in the dungeon of the Unseelie court until he can torture answers out of her. He believes that she is an assassin sent to kill him before he can carry out his plan to invade and destroy the human world.

A fortnight later, Callie is still imprisoned. She repeats her name, profession, and address to herself. She knows that she is the prisoner of the Unseelie, the dark Fae who war against the Seelie, the light Fae. The Seelie are permitted to travel within the human realm, while the Unseelie are not. She also learns that the giant man, Prince Mendax, and his mother, the Queen, are Smoke Slayers—particularly powerful versions of Fae.