Page 54 of King of Storms and Feathers

The sooner she understood that, the better her life would be.

I chained her to the center of the pavilion, then stomped up the stairs to my bedchamber and removed my travel armor. My bones cracked as I rolled my shoulders and then tugged on pants that hung loosely on my hips.

I breathed a sigh of relief and pushed the memories of human screams and hacked limbs and gore from my mind.

Murdering raiders was far from my favorite pastime. But someone had to instill fear in those who thought they could steal gold from my people without consequences. I hoped the gruesome remains of today’s hunt would serve as a warning that the risks were not worth the gains, no matter how considerable.

A warm breeze blew through the apartment, whipping my hair around my face as I went downstairs and crouched to unchain the girl. She shivered at my touch but stayed silent. Gathering her into my arms, I carried her down to the river room and threw her in the water without warning. I tossed a cake of soap in after her.

“Bathe,” I commanded as she surfaced, the water level at her hips and her poisonous green glare murdering me over and over.

With a laugh at her impudence, I dropped heavily into a chair near the edge of the water and lounged backward, my knees spread wide as I watched her through hooded eyes.

Even suffering profound exhaustion, my body reacted to hers, a response I relished as much as I despised it.

Glistening wet, the girl shivered in her thin tunic, but not from the temperature of the water, which I knew was always mild. I was willing to bet every kanara in Coridon City that suppressed anger caused her shaking. My little Leaf dreamed of killing me. The urge shone darkly in her eyes. But even that wasn’t enough to stop me from wanting to touch her.

Ravish her.

Consume her.

Take her over and over again until she had nothing left to give, until every muscle in her body was weak and all she could see, hear, and think about was me.

But she was determined to never obey me. Never be malleable and meek. So what stopped me from giving this ungovernable human to the Fires of Amon? The challenge she posed as being the first female who openly defied me was one possibility. The novelty of the situation.

And also, because her warm body and hushed voice somehow subdued my nightmares, I wouldn’t be casting her aside anytime soon. That was as good an excuse as any to keep her chained to the pavilion forever.

“Do you plan on obeying my command anytime soon?” I asked, my voice deceptively calm.

Leaf stared at me, her chest rising and falling. The sneer on her lips told me that she too was thinking of the time I’d thrown her in the Auric River on the day I purchased her—a wretch of a girl, half dead and stinking of the gutter.

Crossing my arms, I raised my brow, and she finally obeyed my instructions and dipped down into the water, making a show of finding the soap and washing her hair.

After a while, I stripped off my pants and entered the water. Her gaze skimmed over my chest, then lowered, sliding away to avoid viewing the indisputable evidence of how much I’d enjoyed watching the water flow over her supple limbs.

Throwing the soap at me, she pointed at my face and neck. “You’re streaked with the blood of the humans you murdered.”

I scraped my fingers over my cheek, then rubbed them together, inspecting the rusty brown dirt under my nails, the color of death.

The human raiders had been terrible fighters, and we hacked them to pieces without need of magic. The memory of the ragged scream of an older man with eyes the same shade as Leaf’s shivered down my spine. I shook off the horror and refocused on the problem in front of me.

“I was thinking that instead of wandering where you shouldn’t, you could use that pent-up energy to prove yourself trustworthy.” I waded closer to her as I scrubbed my hands and nails with the soap. “Then I would allow you more freedom. You could accompany me throughout the palace at certain times and satisfy that gold-damned curiosity of yours.”

The water cascaded over her breasts, turning the tunic transparent as she surged onto her feet again and walked toward me, her breathing uneven.

Those emerald eyes lifted, settling on my mouth as her palms came to rest on my chest before gliding to my stomach. My muscles leaped under her touch, and I stifled a groan.

“What must I do to prove myself trustworthy, King Arrowyn?” she asked in a voice she evidently hoped would pass as docile.

I knew how my title must have tasted on her tongue, but if she would let me, I’d happily lick the bitter flavor away. At least now, her words and actions proved her willing to pretend compliance, which was something.

A mix of triumph, heat, and disappointment roiled through my veins, but in truth, it killed me to see her yield even this negligible amount. Eventually, I would bend her to my will, then I’d hate myself for breaking her fierce, reckless spirit.

Yes, one day soon, she would beg for my attentions—her body craving only me—and on that day, I would both win and lose simultaneously. Never before had I experienced such conflicting desires, craving another’s destruction as equally as I longed for them to prevail against me.

Though she fought the urge admirably, her gaze kept skimming my body, catching on the glyphs pulsating around my length. Had she never seen a naked male before?

Curving my lips slightly, I stayed silent. Let her sweat and guess what would please me best. Throughout the short period she’d lived in my apartment, I had given her many clues.

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