Page 4 of Caged By Dance and Desire

Mathen remained close to me as I took the stairwell to Larry's first floor apartment.

“What do you intend?” he asked softly.

I shrugged. “Just to talk to him.”

“About?” His brief glance, filled with open curiosity, relaxed me.

“I think Andrei’s going to kill him.”

Mathen stopped. I halted two steps later, and turned to face him.

“What?” I asked.

He studied my face. “Why would you say that?”

I opened my mouth, shut it. Andrei hadn’t said he was going to kill Larry. . .but I was almost certain. I shrugged again.

Mathen pursed his lips. “Why would my Lord wish to kill. . .Larry?”

I rose on my toes, uneasy, lowered back down to my heels. “Larry threatened to invade my apartment in front of Andrei. The context was a little rapey.”

Mathen’s expression snapped closed, smooth and hard. “I see. And you wish to warn this person.”

I didn't owe Larry a warning, of course, but the look in Andrei's eyes before he'd left. . .no one deserved the death that hovered in that gaze. Not even Larry. Maybe if he understood the consequences, he’d leave me alone. My parents would expect me to try, if nothing else. Larry’s low-level behavior shouldn’t dictate mine.

“Everyone deserves one chance,” I said.

“And if this person breached your dwelling, did he intend to offer you the same chance?”

I winced. “I still have to warn him. For myself.”

He said nothing for a moment, then sighed. “As you say, Lady.”

I knocked on Larry's door the moment Mathen stiffened at my side, grabbing my wrist and pulling me backwards.

“Lady, I advise not to enter.”

“Let me go, please.”

He obeyed instantly, rigid posture and tight expression a warning, but not a threat.

I glanced at Larry's door. “What do you sense?”

“I advise not to enter.”

He didn't want me to go in that room, but he wouldn't use force.

I stalled. “Why do you call me lady?”

“You belong to our Lord. I am also his.”

The Fae didn't use the term lady for their own noblewomen. Maybe they used it for human women as a courtesy. The guard was speaking English—my Cassanian was rudimentary at best and I was certain there were nuances I missed in him assigning ownership of us both to Andrei. I'd think about it later.

“What do you sense?” I asked again, trying to decide how badly I wanted to know.

Mathen glanced at the door, saying nothing. Okay, so the decision was up to me. He'd given me a warning, but he couldn't make me obey.

“I have to go in there,” I decided.

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