Page 22 of Magic Claimed
“Did you mean to tell me someone like you escaped three of my soldiers?” Esoti said. Yeah, don’t comment they wanted to rape me.
“Sure. Ask them if you don’t believe me. Yavo, Alwan and Legis. I think Legis is still walking with a limp,” I said.
Something flashed in the depths of Esoti’s eyes. The side of his face twitched. “I shall see if your story backs up.” I’m sure he would. The thing about telling a story to be believed, was to sprinkle the lies in with the truth. He would question the three guards, which would back me up nicely.
“And how did you come by this wand?” Esoti asked.
“That’s where the idiot part comes in. I stole it from the shifters when they kicked me off their land,” I said.
Alerick hid his shock well, Jarom stood as still as a stone pillar, but Eike’s brows rose a fraction. I willed them to stay quiet. To not give anything away, hoping like fuck they’d take my lead because if they didn’t it was all over for them.
“And how could you possibly steal a wand from the Alpha and his seconds?” Esoti said.
This was where I had to be convincing. I scoffed and met Esoti’s dark gaze. “I wouldn’t have had to steal it if you gave me enough time to get to Samuel’s, with the inclement weather. Mud is very hard to walk through quickly, what with being delayed by a rape attempt. I had to do what I could before you stopped me from breathing. All I had to do was pretend to fall into their arms and I took it out of their waistband.”
“And which one of them did you steal it from?” Esoti said.
I didn’t hesitate. I pointed at Jarom. “That idiot.”
Jarom’s gaze flared with dark promise as he tilted his chin up. His low growl made me tingle on the inside. I sent him my best scowl and satisfaction coasted across his face. My scowl grew deeper.
“Is that correct, Second?” Esoti asked.
Jarom answered with a curt nod as a muscle at his temple ticked.
“And how did you come to be in possession of a wand? They are contraband to your sort,” Esoti said.
Shit. I hadn’t thought things through this far. Of course they would be contraband. They shouldn’t have a wand or a seer on their lands at all. My mouth opened, but before I could speak, Alerick said, “We were on our way to give it to you, Master. We found the wand on our borders and don’t know who might have lost it. We thought you would want to know.”
“Is that so? And why didn’t you impart that information to me?” Esoti asked, turning his attention to me.
“I was going to, if I could have talked,” I said, using his tendency to inflict pain on me before anything else against him.
Esoti’s lips thinned. He played with the wand as he regarded me, tapping the wand on the heel of his hand. The soft sound of wand striking skin was the only sound in the dead silence of the room. I stood as still as I could, resisting the urge to cringe at Esoti’s look that would make most scurry away with fear.
Only I wasn’t afraid of Esoti. Whether that was because he’d killed me too many times to count, or that I’d already experienced the worst at his hands, I didn’t know. I was afraid of the pain, but not ofhimexactly. I stood my ground and prepared for the worst.
There was no way to tell what was going on in Esoti’s mind. He could take our word for what happened or all hell would break loose. If he didn’t know I hated his guts by now, he was plain stupid. Hopefully he would think the shifters would have no reason to lie to him because they had people to protect. It would take more than this lie to free them from servitude.
“It seems I have you to thank for your aid, Alpha. I will enlist your help to track down the previous owner of this wand and will send guards back to your Territory to begin investigations,” Esoti said.
Alerick smoothly inclined his head, not missing a beat. On a man so massive the gesture should have looked subservient, but on him it only emphasized his power. “We are pleased to be of assistance.” Not that he had any choice.
Esoti clapped his hands, a jovial smile curving his mouth. “Now that this misunderstanding has been cleared, vermin bring our lunch, then you can clean up the mess that Ben made. Go!” Esoti sent me off with a flick of his fingers.
It didn’t take him to ask me twice to leave the room, only I had to return with food for him and the wolves. I should have stayed another day in my hidey hole.
I made my way to the kitchen, where Cook bustled about. “Esoti wants lunch with the three wolf shifters,” I announced.
She gave me a horrified look, which would have turned into a tongue thrashing if she didn’t have to put together a lunch she hadn’t expected to make. She snapped her fingers at the kitchen hands, ordering one to cut meat, the other to take the bread out of the oven and then at me. “And you can get the condiments. I think someone like you could at least manage that.”
I rolled my eyes and went to the pantry in search of salt and pepper, helping myself to a jar of preserved apricots while I was in there. When I returned to the kitchen, it was to see a tray stacked high with enough food to feed me for a month.
Gilda came into the kitchen, her arms piled high with a stack of dirty dishes. There were no visible signs of injury on her body. Nothing to show that Esoti had dragged word out of her about the shifters. Not dragged then, but…freely given?
My palms went slippery with perspiration. My chest constricted with an invisible bank. There was no way Gilda would tell Esoti my secret.
No way on earth.
