The Liar

Chapter 1: Arielle

"My name is Arielle Gibbons. I have come here to find food for my starving family. We are desperate. There is no food left to eat on our side of the wall, and you and your kind don't seem to care about that one bit," Arielle spits at the guard who has been questioning her for the past two days. "You should really review your script. These questions are getting quite tedious. Or perhaps there is someone else you could send in to question me...Your general, perhaps?"

It's been more than 48 hours since Arielle's captured by the Fae guards after entering Lythantos. It took her four days on foot to reach the wall. Four days of very little to eat, no sleep, and constant cold. So, it's safe to say that she's tired and not in the mood for the guard's constant questioning. She has answered all his questions countless times. Who are you? Who sent you? How did you cross the wall? Blah, blah, blah.

Arielle knows the man, no fae, in front of her, is not the one in charge of this operation. He was merely the poor scout out on patrol the day she entered Lythantos' borders. "What were you patrolling for in any case? It's not like humans enter your territory frequently." Arielle knows she shouldn't ask. Fae business is fae business, and it's none of hers. Better to pretend she doesn't know anything and has no interest in knowing anything than to draw even more attention to herself. "You know, you could always speed up this process by answering my questions truthfully," the guard says. "Everyone knows humans are so adept at lying. Yet, you make a poor liar, it seems. Perhaps that's the reason why you were abandoned by your people in the first place. Perhaps you make a poor human in other regards as well." Arielle grunts at the guard's mention of her failures. He is right, of course, though he would never know just how true those words are.

"Since we are so good at lying, as you say, telling you the truth would have little effect. You'd never believe me in any case, so you might as well just let me go." Arielle doesn't know how long the guard will keep up this line of questioning before he turns to alternative methods to extract whatever information he wants from her. "Everyone knows how much the dark fae like to torture and mistreat humans, so why not just do what you want and get it over with? I'm telling you the truth. I have a family at home who needs me, and if I don't get back to them, they will die. So just tell me what it is that you want from me. I'll do anything you want." "Look, Arielle, was it? I'm not letting you go until you tell me exactly who you are, why you are here, and how you crossed the wall undetected. So, why not just make things easier for us both and tell me what I want to know? When you start talking, I'll untie you from that chair and give you a nice hot meal and a warm bath. You look like you need it."

"Are you serious? You think bribing me with fae food, which I know is poisonous to people, and lukewarm water will get me to tell you anything more than I have? I already told you. I crossed the wall through a crack that's been there for generations. I don't have any ulterior motives. I just want to return to my family and never see another fae bastard again. I won't magically remember new information for you to use. So, please, just let me go." Arielle's voice is begging at this point. Two days they've been at this. This game of cat and mouse seems to have no bloody end. And yet, in those two days, the leader of this unit, the dark fae in front of her's superior, has not even popped in to see what's taking so long. She knows he is there, though, standing behind the one-way mirror. He's been there from the start. And yet he has made no move to question her himself. That won't do. Suppose he doesn't come in here and ask her himself. In that case, she can't convince him that she doesn't have any ulterior motives, that she's just a stupid human girl who wandered through the wall and into the fae realm out of desperation, and she will truly become everything the fae bastard in front of her said...A failure, and a piss poor one at it. The question remains, though. How can she convince this breathtakingly handsome creature in front of her to either let her go or call in his superior to settle the matter?

At least that part of the story is true. Dark fae are strikingly beautiful, with their elegantly pointed ears, glowing eyes, and chiseled faces. Dark fae are so beautiful that stupid little girls would spread their legs for any fae who asks, knowing full well that falling pregnant with a fae child would very well lead to their death. Still, looking at this god-like man in front of her, Arielle could not help but feel sorry for those poor stupid girls and how easily they were convinced. Had her heart not been as cold, or she not heard all the horrors of the times before the wall, Arielle could perhaps even see herself falling for a monster this beautiful.

Beautiful... And deadly. The dark fae are utterly deadly, and their elongated canines and impressive stature are there to remind you of this fact. Despite her displeased attitude towards the male facing her, she would not mind one bit knowing what his touch felt like. To know if the fae are truly as seductive and charming as the rumors claim. But, unfortunately, that is not the purpose of Arielle's visit to Lythantos, and it never will be. A knock on the door snaps Arielle out of her intrusive thoughts. Finally, another male steps through the door. With a nod, her questioner is dismissed. The door shuts loudly, deafeningly so in the otherwise silent space.

Arielle cannot help but stare at this male. She was wrong before...This is the most beautiful creature she has ever laid her eyes on. He is much taller than the other one, with raven black hair and golden eyes. She can see his muscles rippling underneath his clothes as he walks toward her, a scarred hand pulling out the chair on the opposite side of the table. "So," she says, "you must be the captain." With a raised eyebrow and an impassive look, he stares her up and down like a predator sizing up his prey. "And you, little cub, have caused me quite a lot of trouble."