Page 35 of Wolf Caged
And it was done.
I waited, sure I would instantly regret what I had done, that something terrible would happen to me, like the fae king laughing and seizing hold of me to drag me away into whatever dark world was beyond the dungeon.
But nothing happened.
Kaeleron pulled the contract back to him and the quill disappeared from my hand only to reappear in his. He eyed my signature, and then immediately signed his beside it.
I frowned at him as he rolled the parchment up and it vanished, together with the quill.
His silver eyes danced my way, bright with amusement. “I have no caveats. Nothing is out of bounds for me.”
I believed that.
The lock on the cell door clicked, making me jump.
The fae king turned his back on me, shadows lovingly caressing the shoulders of his black tunic jacket, and I inched my hand towards the door, unable to believe it really was unlocked now and I was about to take my first step towards my freedom.
Towards seeing what lay beyond the walls of this dungeon.
Would it be as fantastical as Neve had made it sound?
As dangerous?
“Your handmaidens will be here shortly to escort you to your new accommodation, where you will be bathed so you no longer smell like livestock and dressed in a manner more befitting of your new position.” Kaeleron paused and angled his head towards his shoulder, revealing a sliver of his profile, when I growled at him for insulting me.
“May I remind you who kept me in this musty dungeon with no access to fresh water or soap?”
He chuckled. “Keep your fangs sharp, little lamb. You might need them.”
“What does that mean?” I halted with my hand almost at the metal bars of the door, nerves rising as I considered all the possibilities and what Neve had told me of this world. “Am I liable to be attacked?”
I had never been allowed to learn how to fight or even how to defend myself.
He pivoted to face me, all darkness and wrath as his silver eyes darkened a shade, and I swore fangs of his own flashed between his lips as he spoke.
“Only that my first request is one that will require all of your wit if you are to successfully complete it and earn a gold coin or two towards your debt.”
His grin was fiendish, sending a shiver down my spine even as it roused the aching hunger of my primal instincts as a maturing female wolf.
I was starting to think I would regret this.
Because now I would have to be on constant guard against him and this dark pull I felt towards him.
And my first test?
He melted into shadows filled with glittering gold stars, his invitation a sensuous caress across my skin.
“You will dine with me tonight.”
Chapter 9
SAPHIRA
Apparently, the fae king wasn’t the only one who thought I needed a bath.
The two females who had taken me from the cell and led me to a room on the third floor of the castle had immediately pushed me into a copper clawfoot tub of steaming water laced with rose petals and other dried flowers and scrubbed me raw. My reddened skin still burned a little, but not as much as my scalp as the taller of the two dark-haired females pulled at my silver hair, yanking a comb through it and twisting the strands into an elaborate nest of curls at the back of my head.
The other female knelt beside me on the black marble floor, jabbing under my fingernails with a stick that looked disturbingly like a smooth piece of bone.
