Page 134 of A Court Bright and Broken

I stood facing him, my hands on both hips as I waited.

With a last mournful look at me, he turned and departed, and I collapsed back into my chair.

He must have informed the quartet the party was over because a minute later they stopped playing, packed up their instruments, and left.

In the resulting quiet, I reflected on our conversation and realized I was actuallygladit had happened. Stellon didn’t see me as an equal and never would.

He didn’t consider me worthy of being his princess. No doubt the rest of the Fae high court would concur.

If I stayed in his life, I’d never be more than a secondary figure, an extra... an amusement.

Was it really any better than being a courtesan at one of the pleasure houses?

Walking into the sitting room, I locked the suite’s exterior door. I hadn’t seen Stellon take a key with him, and he’d told me no one else had one, apart from the king.

So unless His Majesty decided to pay an unexpected late night visit, I had the place to myself until morning.

I went back into the bedroom, pulled the bed curtains tightly around me, and cried myself to sleep.

Unfortunately, my slumber didn’t last long.

It was still dark out when I was shocked awake by a deep male voice that was very nearly a growl.

“Who the hell areyou?”

Chapter 35

Not a Stranger

Raewyn

I bolted upright in the bed, confused and suddenly cold.

My blanket was off, and the fireplace had died down to the point it was merely glowing embers.

My exposed skin was chilled everywhere my shift didn’t cover me, which included my legs. The garment had bunched during my tossing and turning and covered me only to the tops of my thighs.

I yanked it down and blinked, willing my eyes to adjust to the darkness.

Had I heard a voice?

“Who’s there?” I asked.

Was it only a dream or had I heard a man in the room—a man who wasnotStellon?

“I asked you first,” the man’s voice said.

So, definitely not a dream. More like a nightmare.

There was a strange man in here, and I couldn’t be any more vulnerable, half-alert and less than half-dressed.

I didn’t answer him, just stared up at the outline of his head and body, which looked enormous as he loomed above me.Whoever the guy was, nothing good could come from getting to know him.

Rolling toward the other side of the bed, I attempted to make an escape. But by the time my feet hit the floor, he’d already made it to that side of the bed where he now stood blocking my path.

And then I heard a match strike, and the candle beside the bed flared to life, illuminating the stranger’s face.

Only hewasnota stranger.

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