Page 23 of Her Tortured Beasts

She smiles back at me, missing the jibe completely. “Thank you for a lovely evening, Xander. I hope you remember me tomorrow.” I never gave her permission to use my first name. She extends her hand. “I’m sure you need to attend to your other guests.”

As gracefully as my irritation allows, I kiss her skin and bow, leaving them to their drinks and gossip.

A fucking smoke is actually what I need. Ignoring everyone else, and waving away a butler with a tray of canapes, I head for the castle. The string quartet plays Vivaldi, contrasting nicely with the Mongolian rock in my ears. I can’t believe that dragoness had the nerve to ask about my…condition. Do people have no sense anymore? No sense of self-preservation? Even Aurelia?—

I stop myself right there, shaking my head to clear that heinous thought as I enter the warmth of the castle.

But the scent of scum fills my nose, and I turn abruptly to see Lady Hyena and a retinue of three male hyenas walking down from the stairs that lead to my father’s office.

What the hell was my father doing inviting her to the estate?

The old lady passes, eyeing me with glimmering coal-black eyes. Suddenly, something in her gaze shifts. Some recognition.

She tilts her head back and cackles.

I stare at her blankly, waiting for her to finish her stupidity. The males cross their arms and look anywhere but me.

“Oh, nasty dragon,” she says, wiping the corner of her eye with a black lace handkerchief. “You’ve gone and cursed yourself for life.” She laughs again, taking hold of her cane and hobbling towards the front door.

Something dark creeps through my being and I check on my dragon. He remains catatonic. I clench my teeth and carry on to my room.

Chapter 13

Aurelia

“So that’s interesting.”

I look up at Selena, as I scuttle in her wake, as she blessedly strolls away from the main party. She glances down at me, bringing out a black material that I realise is my dress. “Oh, you can shift back now.”

With surprise, I glance behind us, realising she’s brought me around a corner where the bushes will conceal human me.

Selena respectfully turns around, clearly intending to give me privacy. My brows are still raised once I’m in human form, wrapping the dress back in place around my body and tying the strings.

I cast her a sideways look. “What’s interesting?”

Xander’s sister turns around. She’s a few inches taller than me, slender like a sapling under her rich black gown, with almond-shaped golden eyes that search mine as she raises her hand to indicate the chain. “He let me have you. He doesn’t believe you’re a real threat to me. That you would try to seek revenge after what he did.”

I have to cast my eyes down to the dark grass at my feet, and I’m not sure if it’s shame or grief that makes the backs of myeyes burn. Perhaps both. “I would never think to hurt you. Even after…everything.”

“I believe that,” she says gently. There’s a moment of soft silence between us before she clears her throat. “Walk with me. That seems to be the thing one does at garden parties.”

She turns, and keeping the chain slack, begins to stroll back onto the lit path. “You don’t have these soirees often?”

She hums as if this is troubling. “This is actually our first since the twins were born.”

“How old are they?”

“They just turned eight, thank the Wild Goddess.”

We come to an intersection in the path and she turns left. As she walks next to me, the giant ruby set in gold around her neck shimmers like it has magic. Is it some kind of protection charm? It’s stunning over the glittery sweetheart neckline of her gown. Suddenly, I realise I’ve not yet met her mate. Whereisthe father of her children? But instead, I ask, “You believe in the Wild Goddess?”

“Everybody believes in something.” She casts me a look. “What do you believe in, Aurelia?”

Only one word resonates in my heart. Through my entire body. I only believe in one thing now.

“I’m sorry,” Selena says, turning down another intersection. “Let us talk of more pleasant things. At Drakos Estate, we pride ourselves on being as self-sustaining as possible. We have a small herd of goats and cows who give us milk, a crop of vegetables, and here”—she gestures to a shadowy enclosure and I stop short—“are our chickens. They give us a great supply of eggs.”

It’s a huge coop with a knee-height, wooden enclosure around it, giving the birds plenty of space to roam. Chickens cluck low and softly in their sleep within the coop, but outside, a couple of white-feathered silkies roam. But one of them is black.And staring right at me through bejewelled leather goggles on is?—

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