Page 317 of Kingdoms of Night

I reluctantly nod. I barely see her hand flash. "Ouch!"

There's a strand of a brown curl between her fingers. She twirls it around a three-inch-long nail and carefully places it inside a leather pouch. The whole thing makes me highly uncomfortable. So much so, I'm relieved to hearhisvoice.

"How's my pet?"

He's the reason I almost died, the reason why I'm shivering and every single one of my muscles aches. Worse yet, he's responsible for the worst humiliation I've ever faced. The very thought of what he did to me in his room, on the floor, while his friends rutted mere feet away is forever engraved in my mind.

Yet I'm glad he's here to save me from this hag and her tricks.

Dryan's dressed in a black cloak open at the throat, with a fur collar and red pants underneath. There are no shoes on his feet and no shirt on his back, but I note a crown upon his head, similar to the one the high king wore on his throne, though its crystals are blue, not black, and considerably less cumbersome. He's the picture of indolence and sin.

"She'll live, if she keeps her mouth shut." The hag laughs and laughs. "Shethanked me, my king."

Dryan sighs, exasperated. "I hope you didn't demand her firstborn, or her servitude. She doesn't belong to herself—you can't take her."

My jaw drops. She could have made me her slave because Ithanked her?

I'm never speaking again.

"I did you a kindness, and only took one hair. This time. See that she's taught our ways before you let her beyond these walls, hm?"

"You imply I might let her beyond these walls," Dryan replies.

I'd like to think he's joking, but nothing in his expression suggests it.

"For your skills and your kindness." The king retrieves a purse at his belt and tosses it toward the translucent creature, who's suddenly completely solid as she catches it midair. "If you're satisfied with both your payment and your healing, you may be on your way."

"Your Grace is too generous," the hag mutters unhappily, before bowing and disappearing for good.

I'm so confused. "Why did she seem annoyed at getting paid?"

Dryan's eyes made me think of the sea at first, but now I understand their constant shifting colors. They're like crystals, reflecting every light around them.

The king sheds his cloak first, then his pants. I think to look away too late, and see him again in all his glory.

He joins me inside the tub, his long legs folding on either side of me. There's no avoiding his eyes once he's right in front of me. "She was annoyed at gettingoverpaid, pet."

"You overpaid?" My father was also a king, and half of his job seemed to involve trying to get out of paying people as much as he could without losing his honor.

"You put me in an awkward position, with your thanks. Myarwaskind not to take all you offered her."

"I didn't offer anything!"

"You implied she owed you a nameless debt, and debts must be paid," he explains slowly, as though talking to the child the hag—Myar—said I was. "By doing you the kindness of only taking a small token, she put you in her debt. And as you're mine, that debt might have been collected from either of us. Now, she was paid in gold and diamonds, a king's ransom, and the power is back where it belongs. In my hands."

Dryan contentedly settles in the tub, visibly unaffected by its temperature.

"Do you think I could get out now?" Myar didn't leave any instructions.

He smirks. "Aren't you going tothank mefor settling your debt, pet?"

"I'm done with thanks, as long as I live."

"Good. Remain a moment. I enjoy your warmth."

"What warmth? I've never been colder."

Dryan tilts his head, as if trying to understand why I would possibly be cold in a tub filled with icy water. He must work it out, because he says, "Ah!" and lowers a large palm to the surface.

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