Page 124 of Wolf Caged
“It was his idea.” Her brows furrowed as she glanced at my chest, at the spot on my blouse the hid the mark he had put on me. “He needs to know you are safe, Saphira, even when he is not here. This training and that brand will ensure that.”
Kaeleron had ordered Jenavyr to train me in secret, just as he had trained her, ensuring she could defend herself and could fight if necessary. With this one act alone, he had shown me how differently he viewed me compared with my pack, treating me as if I was an equal.
Not inferior to him because I was female.
Not something to shelter because I was weak.
He sought to make me strong. To make a warrior out of me. To give me the courage to raise myself up and stand tall beside any male.
Damn him.
I scratched at the brand through the thick fabric of my blouse, still hating it and how it burned at times. Jenavyr was right and it had been wrong of him to do it without asking me. If he had asked me, if he had explained what this brand was, would I have accepted it? Yes. Because I would have known it was born of an act of kindness, a desire to know I would be safe, and a need to ensure no one dared harm me again.
But instead, he had forced it upon me.
And for that, he could stew for a while.
And then when I was done letting him stew…
He could grovel.
Chapter 33
KAELERON
When Saphira had filed a request—in writing—that she be allowed to learn more about the people of my court because she was curious about how so many different species had come to serve me, I had been pleased that the little wolf desired to know more about my world.
Now, I realised it was some twisted form of punishment.
I barely leashed the growl as I looked up from the three-dimensional map that took up the central space in the castle war room to find her smiling at Riordan.
“Fascinating!” she said, sounding and looking brighter than I had ever seen her, her blue eyes positively aglow with curiosity as the vampire regaled her with stories of his time in the Dark Realm. “I can’t believe you ran across him in Hell of all places. And Oberon calls himself a wanderer. I’m surprised the Shadow Court runs as smoothly as it does given how often its ruler is absent.”
Riordan flicked me a nervous glance.
I had no need to make Saphira a dagger for her to plunge one in my chest. Repeatedly. Her verbal blows were fatal enough.
“What were you doing in Hell?” She beamed at the vampire, only having eyes for him today.
Riordan awkwardly preened his blond hair back. At least one of them was aware of my devolving mood and how dangerous the path they were treading was, although I suspected that Saphira knew too and that was part of her game.
No doubt she enjoyed tormenting me together with my sister.
Jenavyr had refused to speak to me yesterday and had buried herself in her work today, reviewing the rosters and the progress the newest soldiers were making with their training.
“I was with the Preux Chevaliers.” Riordan twisted the signet ring he wore on his little finger, spinning it around the digit with his thumb, not a sign of his nerves but of his regret. That item was the only thing he had left of his family, and since leaving Hell, he had lived without knowing their fate. Whenever I had offered to escort him to the human world, where they resided, he had made his excuses. The vampire’s hand slipped to the back of his neck and he scrubbed it. “They’re a mercenary corps. An army for hire, I suppose.”
“And now you work for the Shadow Court.”
I was painfully aware of how Saphira avoided mentioning my name.
She idly rubbed at her chest, at the spot where I had branded her, a motion she had subconsciously made several times now. Was the mark irritating her? It would settle in a few days and she would no longer be aware of its presence, at least not as she was now.
“And now I work for the Shadow Court.” Riordan gave her an easy smile that brightened his sapphire eyes, and made me want to gouge them out with my claws.
I glared at the map and the mountains that separated my court from the Black Pass instead, and then beyond it, to the lands of the seelie and the Summer Court. So close, yet so far from me, beyond my reach right now. Soon.
Patience.
