Excerpt: The Seduction of Sydney Black

He laughed, the sound ringing in the small, enclosed room. “You’re a funny one, Syd.”
“Don’t call me that,” I said, reaching for the sack. “It’s Sydney.”
“Whoa, easy there, tiger. I won’t call ya that if you don’t want, I promise. In any case, I got to get back to Ed. He’s patrollin’ and I don’t want him to get ambushed if those slavers come a’knockin’ tonight.” He started to walk out.
“James, wait a second…”
He paused, “Aye?”
“When Edward brought me here… I could see him. When I gave him that gold piece, WHICH I want back by the way, I saw his hand.”
James chuckled and shook his head…or at least that’s what I thought he did. “No…well… I guess you sort of did. Did you see flesh or just…?”
“…Just a glove…”
“There ya go. If we wanna go out, we just cover up in clothes from head to toe. You never actually saw a bit of Ed’s flesh or anything, did ya?”
“…No…just…”
“Just his frame. Tall, broad, that kind of thing, right?”
“Yeah…”
James shrugged and just continued walking, “Just our disguise, lad. Get some sleep. Just leave the plate on the stone table, one of us’ll be in to get it later.”
I watched him go, feeling even more foolish and more confused. I’d been duped by two shadow people who probably weren’t even real, but figments of my overactive, teenaged imagination.
I tossed the empty plate, and the bread that I wasn’t eating right now, onto the table. The metal plate made a loud clamoring sound, but I just laid down, staring into the fire. I pulled the first few layers of the bedclothes up over me.

So, here I was, sixteen, finally on my own…and trapped. I was caught up in something I knew was way over my head and I had no way out. There were two…men…holding me hostage and there were no witnesses to my captivity. The only people that could possibly know where I was were fictional ‘slavers’ that were supposed to have been following me for ‘days’.

I sighed, closing my eyes. “Figures.”