Page 111 of Wolf Caged
Oberon looked at her too, uncaring of the blood that stained his bare feet, and then at me. “Perhaps I shall offer tea to Saphira instead, to calm her after her ordeal.”
The thought of Oberon anywhere near her had my rage rising again, my shadows returning as they found a new target. Oberon was a threat to be eliminated. He charmed others too easily, knew how to smile at the right time or just the right thing to say. He was a danger. There were other ways to take Saphira from me, ones not involving death.
Ones Oberon excelled at.
I pinned him with a black look, my body coiled tightly, the urge to strike him down running strong in my veins, but I somehow managed to hold my shadows back, to deny the need to end him and the potential threat to Saphira.
Oberon sighed at my lack of a reaction and drawled, “Disappointing.”
He wanted me to react. He wanted me to reveal that I desired the wolf, that part of me needed her, and that part of me grew ruthless and dark whenever I thought about her.
He wanted me to confess I would destroy this world in order to keep her safe.
I hadn’t survived centuries on the throne of the Shadow Court by revealing my weaknesses, and Saphira was just that.
A weakness.
Not only within me, but within my court.
Where this female had sought to eradicate her and failed, others might follow her example and succeed if I wasn’t careful, if I didn’t put an end to it now before it began and maintained order within my court.
“What will you do with this?” Oberon jerked his chin towards the dead female.
I smiled darkly.
“Send a warning.”
Chapter 28
SAPHIRA
Heavy black clouds swirled across the sky outside my window as I sat on the padded seat in the tower area of my room, rain pelting the glass as I hugged one of the pillows to my chest and watched the sea, losing myself in how dark and lethal it looked today, as if it was responding to my mood, or perhaps that of the owner of this castle.
The ruler of this unseelie court.
I compared the sea today to how it had appeared yesterday, fascinated by how dramatically it could change. One day, it was smooth and blue, barely a ripple on the surface, and the next it was rough and steel grey, battering the rocky shore with great waves that hurled white foam into the air.
Rain travelled like mist across the land, slowly devouring the mountains and hills that struggled to free themselves of its hold, peeking through at times.
Everything seemed darker today, a little more grim. Almost sombre.
I shook my head at that, aware it was just my mood colouring my perception of the world around me, and glanced at the door.
“I should leave my room,” I murmured as I set aside the pillow, as if saying it aloud would give me the courage to step over the threshold when I feared what I would find out there.
Feared how people might react to my presence now.
My wolf side pushed for freedom, all of me wanting to run free, run until I was exhausted and could sleep without replaying that fight in my dreams.
A fight that always ended in my death.
No matter how fiercely I fought, how cunning I was, the unseelie female always bested me.
I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to keep the sudden chill at bay, and huddled down into the comforting thick robe I wore over my clothes, lifting one side of it so I could bury my nose in the soft, warm fabric.
The rain that battered the leaded window grew heavier as my mood darkened.
In an attempt to distract myself from what awaited me beyond my door, and how weak I felt, I stared towards the mountains that embraced the castle like great jagged black wings. What kind of creatures lived in those mountains? Or the forests I had glimpsed from my balcony? What would I find if I bravely ventured beyond the protective walls of this castle city?
