Page 11 of Her Tortured Beasts

And by formally rejecting me, he’d not only denied me of himself, but…this. The happiness that comes with giggling children, the warm embrace of a doting mother, the padded barb of a sister’s teasing jibe.

I sway where I sit, suddenly faint, my vision blurry.

“Woof woof,” coos a little bird-like voice. “Woof woof, come eat this!”

Blinking hard, I try to focus on the sounds of the room. It’s the little girl beckoning to me this time, holding up an entire boiled egg between small fingers.

“She has a name, Delilah,” Xander’s sister chides. She turns to me. “Aurelia. Or Lia, right?”

I stare at the polite young woman with the golden eyes.

“Donotuse its name, Sissy,” Xander says more harshly than I expect.

“We have to call hersomething,” she mutters.

“What was that, Selena?” Lord Drakos asks in a low voice.

“Nothing, Father,” she replies quickly.

“That’s what I thought.”

I clench my fists in my lap to prevent myself from launching at the king dragon. What a rude motherfucker. Selena is a pretty name. A name for the woman I might have called a sister.

“I call her woof woof!” Delilah says enthusiastically. “We’ve never had one before.” She explains to me, and I understand they’ve never been allowed a dog or a pet. No doubt another stupid Drakos family rule.

Human servants move discreetly in and out of the room, serving Xander his coffee and each of the many dishes they have available. A maid leans down from a respectful distance and asks Xander a question, to which he gives a curt nod. After a moment, she returns with yet another porcelain dog bowl and places it on a mat next to me.

I glance at the bowl and find some dog kibble mixed with pieces of cold cut meats. Clenching my jaw so hard it hurts, I turn my face away from it and remain seated for the rest of the breakfast service. The family eats quietly, with the children making small comments or complaints until the servants collect their plates.

“Bring the biodata folder for the heir,” Flores announces to an older butler waiting obediently to the side. The man leaves and returns a moment later with a folder leaden with a neat stack of paper.

“What is this?” Xander asks mildly as the butler places it before him where his plate was only a moment before.

“Potential females,” Flores says haughtily. “For you to select a wife from.”

My stomach twists. I barely stop my mouth from dropping open.

Xander shows no sign of any emotion, however, as he simply opens the folder and starts leafing through the laminated pages, reading with great care. Minnie would appreciate the organisation of the folder like that. I don’t.

It’s not even twenty-four hours since he’s formally rejected me and he’s stuck right into it! Only dragons would be capable of something so callous.

“The meetings will begin tomorrow night,” Flores states evenly. “Starting with the garden soiree your mother and I have planned. They are all keen to meet you.”

Oh, I’m fucking sure they are.

I can’t help but notice that this entire time, Lady Drakos has remained silent, merely sipping at her cup of oolong tea as she calmly surveys Xander with a daydreamy sort of expression.

I can’t imagine what she sees.

The only other beast I’ve met who rejected a mate bond was Titus Clawson when he rejected Minnie, and he didn’t look affected by the rejection at all. Titus is a psychopath for sure, and whatever Xander was before, he seems to be one now.

Perhaps a rejection can turn a person into a psychopath? Does Xander have no feelings at all about denying his soul? Does his dragon havenothingto say about what he’s done?

I don’t even want to admit how much that hurts. How much Xander’s dragon had come to me in times of need. Given me jewellery, spoken words that had filled me with forbidden longing.

And to think that’s all simply…gone. For good.

A bone-deep weariness clings to me like a giant hand pressing me into the floor and threatening to send my anima deep under to a dangerous place, and I don’t think it’s something I’ll ever be able to shake off. Minnie, after her catatonic state, said as much to me. That a severing of the soul bond is a pain that never fades. You only get better at dealing with it.

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