Page 101 of Wolf Caged
“Perhaps.” She gave one last chuckle. “But believe it or not, my brother spends all his time thinking about the business of running the kingdom and very little about his own wellbeing. He could probably use a little time spent seeking pleasure.”
I toyed with my hair, trying to conceal my blush as his deep voice rolled through my mind, telling me how he had stroked himself off while thinking of me. Had he really done that or had he said it to get a rise out of me?
Jenavyr stepped closer and glanced around us before settling her gaze on me and whispering, “Do not think it went unnoticed that he left shortly after you did. Several guards saw him crossing the green to the castle. I hope he did not overstep, Saphira.”
I shook my head, letting my own mask fall away so she would see that her brother hadn’t done anything I hadn’t wanted, because as angry as I was with him, I didn’t want her thinking badly of him. He hadn’t done anything against my will. In fact, he had waited for me to ask him. He could have taken me right then, taking advantage of my mating frenzy, but he hadn’t.
And I was beginning to think he had told me the truth and he had held back for my sake, knowing I would regret what we had done in the cold light of morning, when the heat no longer gripped me. He had been chivalrous. Kind. And a bit of an asshole.
But many males would have taken everything I wanted to give during my frenzy, using my delirium to get what they wanted.
“I didn’t see you there.” Another poor attempt at changing the subject.
Vyr was kind enough to go along with it. “I was busy elsewhere. Not everyone gets to enjoy the celebrations. I had work to do.”
“You weren’t the only one absent. I didn’t see Riordan either.” I was pushing it. I knew it when she tensed, her shoulders going rigid, and the warmth left her eyes. I wasn’t mentioning the vampire to upset her. I wanted her to know he hadn’t been there, enjoying the rite, in case she had avoided it so she didn’t have to see him with other females. “Kaeleron seemed surprised by his absence.”
Vyr’s shrug was stiff. “Oh, really? Well, I do not know what the vampire was doing. Perhaps he was celebrating elsewhere. He is not fae so he does not need to join in with the festivities in order to regenerate magic for the lands.”
“I’m not fae either, but I was there. Other non-fae were there too, joining in.” I mentally cursed when I blushed, wishing I could master them and stop them from happening whenever I thought about what I had seen that night or someone brought up sex. “Doesn’t everything we do that night help with the magic?”
Had Kaeleron been better off finding a fae female to pleasure?
“It only takes one of the partners to be fae for it to work, and the stronger the connection between them, the deeper the lust runs, the more potent the magic they generate will be.” Jenavyr sidled closer still and murmured, her eyes on mine, “Do not think people failed to notice their king did not return.”
So he hadn’t gone back then. I blushed harder. Godsdammit. Giving myself away judging by the little smile on Vyr’s lips.
“Tell me you were in control at all times, that the magic in the air?—”
“I was in control,” I interjected, unable to bear the thought of her mentioning what I had done with her own brother. It was too embarrassing.
“Good. Then we shall leave it at that and a warning to not provoke him when he returns. He was in a foul mood when he left.” She waved as she walked away, heading for the gates, and I cringed as she added, “It might have had something to do with someone righteously calling him an asshole.”
She smiled over her shoulder at me and disappeared from view.
I groaned.
How many people in the castle knew what I had said to him in the garden? Worse, how many people were aware that he had come after me that night, and hadn’t returned to the rite?
What rumours were circulating about me?
About us?
I stiffened as the air around me chilled and a female voice growled behind me.
“Did you spread your legs for him, you filthy mutt?”
Chapter 25
SAPHIRA
Ispun on my heel, whirling to face the female. Elanaluvyr. Behind the dark-haired beauty stood the rest of her clique, one looking at anything but me, and the other looking ready to pummel me into the dirt. I breathed hard, my eyes darting back to the fae who stood closest to me, a female who looked like she didn’t just want to beat me into the ground.
She wanted to kill me.
Her pointed ears flared back as she bared her teeth at me on a snarl. “Answer me, mutt.”
I had two choices. Lie through my teeth about what I had done with Kaeleron or prepare to fight. While this fae was stronger than me, she was slim and her hands didn’t show any sign that she had done manual labour a day in her life. The fae didn’t seem so different to my breed. They kept their females docile and genteel too. No fighting for them, unless their name was Jenavyr or Kali.
