Page 75 of Wolf Caged
“It is a great rite, one all the courts will be celebrating,” he said, a flicker of something in his eyes that was part curiosity and part challenge.
He took my hand as his gaze seared me right down to my soul.
His smile feline.
Wicked.
“One you will be attending, little lamb.”
Chapter 18
SAPHIRA
The night seemed darker than usual, aurora chasing across the starlit heavens above me. A chill hung in the air, skittering over my skin, making me even more aware of the dress my handmaidens had selected for the evening’s celebrations.
One of loose blood-red material that bordered on sheer, cinched under my breasts with a band of golden swirls and glittering rubies. The two long slits up each thigh allowed the cold air to invade beneath the flimsy layers of the dress as I walked, my satin slippers silent on the steppingstones I had been told to follow into the forest.
My heart drummed a frantic rhythm I tried to calm as I strode forwards, my step not faltering, following not just the steppingstones but the magic bubbles of light that bobbed in the air along the path, chasing back some of the gloom.
And the music.
It was growing louder, the heavy beat of the drums almost matching my pulse and the violence of the strings flooding me with a strange urge to dance, to surrender to their frantic desperation as they reached crescendo after crescendo beforecrashing down each time, rising and falling like waves around me.
I wasn’t sure what to expect as I edged ever closer to the feast and the sound of merriment that danced through the trees, as if the wine had been flowing for some time now. Nerves threatened to have me turning on my heel and hurrying back to the castle, but curiosity pulled me ever onwards, towards the glow of firelight ahead of me.
The steppingstones ceased at a wall of trees, but between the faintly glowing purple-vein-laced trunks I spied more globes of light beckoning me, calling me towards them.
I moved forwards, steeling myself and seeking calm as I tried to peer through the trees that seemed to move to block my view and deny me a glimpse of the celebration.
Until it was right upon me.
My feet froze upon the threshold of a great glade packed with long wooden tables and far too many people. None of them noticed me as they drank and talked, laughing and smiling at each other, a complete contrast to the people I had seen in the castle gardens all those times. I recognised some of them as highborn I had seen there, sneering at others, but most of them were new to me. Big, muscular males in loose shirts and leather pants caroused with dainty, beautiful females who wore dresses similar to mine, but in pastel hues of lavender, blue and teal, reflections of the aurora that danced above us.
Not a single other female wore a red dress.
I had never felt so aware of myself as I lingered on the threshold of this celebration, afraid that someone might notice me and how different I was to everyone else.
While my hair had been left down, a mass of waves around my shoulders and down my bare back, these females wore theirs up, drawn away from their elegant necks. While they wore pastel hues, I wore the colour of blood.
Like a sacrifice.
My gaze darted to a long stone slab near the bonfire off to my left, one that had been finely carved around the sides but was worn on top, as if it saw regular use.
Maybe I should have asked what kind of things happened at the feast.
Maybe this was the reason Kaeleron had bought me.
A virgin to sacrifice at his great celebration of Beltane.
I stepped back towards the forest and froze again as shadows snared me, wrapping around my ankles and calves.
My eyes leaped across the celebration to my right, clashing with Kaeleron’s as he lounged beneath the largest tree, bathed in moonlight.
The light from the orbs of magic glinted off his thorny black circlet as he canted his head, the distance between us seeming to shrink as he studied me too closely, his silver eyes searing me.
I was all too aware of how the cold night air affected my body and how the almost sheer fine fabric of my dress failed to conceal my beaded nipples as his shadows drew me towards him, rising to twine around my wrists like shackles. The hairs on my nape rose as he raked his gaze over me, a slow and leisurely perusal of my curves, and my skin tingled in response, my head going a little hazy as I approached him.
There was a strange tang in the air that felt both natural and unnatural. A scent I couldn’t place.
