Page 7 of King of Storms and Feathers

I bent my head and whispered in her ear. “Time to get clean.”

One little shove and she fell into the river, disappearing from view. Four slow heartbeats later, and she still hadn’t surfaced. Perhaps she’d hit her stupid head on a rock and knocked herself out.

I crouched on the river’s edge, watching the surface closely, muscles firing, ready to leap in and retrieve her.

Another two heartbeats and she surfaced, her braid a slick rope running down the middle of her breasts, the chain a loose curve between her raised fists.

“Wash the filth off,” I said. “Or I’ll come in and do it for you.”

Without a word, she plunged under the water to her neck and began scrubbing her body with a smooth rock.

Esen’s footsteps scraped the stones behind us. She elbowed me and sighed roughly. “You should drown the rat,” she said, chewing on a stalk of dry grass. “She’s trouble. The reavers won’t get much work out of her before she provokes them into killing her.”

Ignoring Esen, I looked at the human. “Get out.”

Slowly, the girl rose. Water cascaded over her angular body as her chin lifted, eyes as green as the spring grass in the Sun Realm staring back at me, unflinching and defiant.

At a slow, insufferable pace, she climbed out of the river. As she walked toward me, the chain hitting her thighs with each sinuous step, she didn’t once glance away.

The look in her eyes was nothing less than a challenge to engage in battle.

This girl had a death wish.

She stopped in front of me, close enough that I could rip her throat out with ease, and I made a slow appraisal of her body, inspecting everything on display.

The earthy scent of sun-warmed human teased my senses, and my gut tightened instantly. Not with murderous intent. With something far more dangerous.

Lust.

Furious, I whipped my cloak off and wrapped it around her shoulders so I wouldn’t have to endure the sight of her, wet and naked and hating me with the same intensity I hated myself. “If you remove that cloak, I’ll throw you in the river again.”

“Does your commander know about your abuse of his slaves?” she asked.

I nodded. “Yes. He does. Now get in the carriage.”

“As you wish, Master.”

Hissed out like a poisonous incantation, her words meant something closer to fuck you, asshole, and she didn’t move a muscle or obey my order.

“As you wish, slave.” Throwing her over my shoulder, I stomped toward the carriage, fighting the urge to smack her skinny ass.

The backs of her legs were slippery beneath my hands, and the sensation made me hard. I bit out a shocked curse and tossed her inside the vehicle, while Esen stared at me like I’d grown two extra heads.

“Get in the carriage with her,” I said, tipping my chin toward the human.

Esen blinked back at me.

“Storms, what the fuck’s wrong with everybody today? Do I have to tell you when to scratch your own asses? And try to remember that she’s only one tiny human. How much trouble can she cause us, for fuck’s sake?”

“A lot, it seems,” said Raiden, mounting his horse.

The carriage driver, a silver-haired goblin who I’d never heard speak a word in any of the realms’ many languages, settled in his seat above the horses.

Esen’s boot hit the step as she prepared to climb aboard, a cold smirk flickering at the edges of her mouth.

I grabbed her arm. “Esen.” The hood of her cloak fell back. “It isn’t your responsibility to punish the human for the injuries she’s given you. That’s my task. And if you rob me of it, you will pay. Don’t doubt it.”

She inclined her head, and then took a seat opposite the girl.

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