Page 14 of The Lord of the Labyrinth

“By your standards? Seven feet.” He shrugged, as if that was quite normal.

She heard a rustle of cloth as he spoke, which meant he was getting dressed. She turned back to face him when he’d finished. He wore black boots and black leather trousers that fit his long legs and showed off his strong thighs. The white tunic he wore was unlaced at the throat, along with a dark-silver vest that he left unbuttoned. His silver hair hung down past his shoulders, no longer wet at the ends.

Magic. Definitely magic.She would have killed to have the ability to dry her hair in seconds.

He retrieved a long silver sword from the top of the dresser. It held a luminescent moonstone in the pommel. The blade itself was etched with a flowing script. It was a thing of lethal beauty, and she wanted to ask a thousand questions about it. Roan strapped it to his side, and she realized he was leaving.

She ran after him. “Wait! Where are you going?”

He halted at the door and faced her. “I have a war council to prepare for and orders that must be given. You are to remain here. Strip off your clothes, bathe, eat the food the brownies bring you. When I return, I shall take my pleasure with you.” He leaned in, his mouth lightly touching hers with a sultry promise of deeper kisses yet to come. Then he raised his head and opened the door.

She started to protest, but he exited the room and locked the door behind him before she got even a word out.

“Take my pleasure with you?” she echoed in bafflement.What in the actual hell?And why did it sound both amazing and terrifying?

Kate jerked on the handle of the locked door and muttered a curse. It didn’t budge, not that she had expected it to.

But if this was a dream, she could get control of it. She was familiar with the idea of lucid dreaming, even if she didn’t know the details of how it worked. She just needed to change the rules of the dream and get herself out of this room or find a way to wake herself up. Because as interesting and tempting as it might be to explore what Roan meant when he saidtake my pleasure with you, she wasn’t going to let him be in control. This was her dream.

She had to wake up.

ChapterFour

“You are mine, mortal bride. Do you accept your fate?”

The bride stared at the king of the dark woods. All she saw was the taunting laugh of the will-o’-the-wisp in the shadows beyond, luring her to a place she should not go, to the man who would own her.

“You have no power here,” said the bride. “I will take the path to its end.”

The dark king bowed, his gleaming silver crown sharp with roses and thistles. “Then you will find me there waiting for you.”

—Anon.,Tales from the Twilight Court

Kate gaveup on the locked door and instead searched the bathing room. The windows, which had been open when she first encountered Roan, were closed now, and moonlight filtered in through the stained glass. She had no idea how much time had passed. Of course, in a dream, time could pass very quickly or very slowly.

And this was a dream, wasn’t it? It had to be, because if thiswasn’t, Kate would probably have a mental breakdown.

She pressed against the windows, but they didn’t budge. The faint blurry shapes of something far below stretched out across the landscape. Was it a forest? She couldn’t quite tell through the beveled glass.

She looked around, searching for anything that might help her escape. The bathing pool took up the majority of the room and dipped into the floor. It was huge and looked like a small swimming pool. The water still looked hot, judging by the steam coiling from the surface. Pink-and-white crystals grew out of the marble walls near the windows, making the place feel like a cavern. Then her gaze settled on the scented petals still floating in the water. As they slowly dissolved, their essence made glittering patterns.

Their heady scent reminded her of the scorching kiss between her and Roan. Her fingers touched her lips as she closed her eyes, and heat blossomed along her mouth. She’d never been kissed like that before in her life. His lips had moved so softly, yet expertly, over hers, before he’d parted her lips with his tongue. It had felt like he’d kissed her a thousand times, as if he knew her mouth and the way to move by memory. He’d conquered her resistance in that moment, and she’d forgotten everything but the sensation of his mouth on hers. A stranger had made her feel more alive than she’d ever felt before, and it made no sense.

Then he’d had the gall to tell her to strip naked and wait for him in his bed. She shivered, because her body wanted to do exactly that. It seemed only her mind was determined to escape this place.

“Focus!” she commanded herself, returning to Roan’s bedchamber. She dug around the drawers of the large dresser, and at the bottom of the second drawer something sharp pricked her finger.

“Ow!” She jerked her hand back with a yelp. A bead of blood rose on the pad of her right index finger. She hastily put her finger into her mouth, sucking the blood away, then applied pressure with her other finger for a moment to stop the bleeding.

What the heck had done that?She carefully moved the perfectly folded silk shirts aside until she found the culprit. A slender dagger with a ruby in its hilt lay on the bottom of the drawer. The tip of the blade gleamed menacingly. She grasped the dagger carefully by the hilt and removed it from the drawer. Dream or not, she’d been brought here against her will, and it made sense to have some sort of weapon to defend herself.

“In an unknown land, it is better to be armed, isn’t it?” she asked herself.

“It is indeed!” a chirpy voice agreed behind her.

Kate shrieked and spun around. A short creature about half her height with olive skin stared back at her with golden eyes. Her features were scrunched, like she was perpetually confused. She was wearing dark-green trousers, a little gray vest, and a brown cap on her head. Long black hair was tucked over her shoulder in two braids.

“Mistress,” she murmured to Kate, giving her a polite curtsy.

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