Page 42 of Wolf Caged
Not only that, but I would be allowed to leave the castle.
To see beyond these walls.
And the part of me that was sure he was up to something was drowned out by the part of me that grew excited at the thought of seeing what was out there.
Kaeleron strode for the double doors behind me, shadows sweeping outwards like a living cloak, brushing against me as he passed me and sending a shiver down my limbs.
His deep voice reverberated within me as he growled.
“Do not be late, my little lamb.”
Chapter 10
SAPHIRA
Birdsong pulled me from turbulent dreams about those strange trees with their glowing violet veins and beautiful shimmering blooms, surrounded by boulders draped with thick dark moss and the clearest stream I had ever seen. Despite how familiar the sound was, it was still foreign to me, the song not one I knew. I lay with my eyes closed beneath the thick but feather light black covers of the bed, drifting in that song, strange warmth slowly filling me as the melody rose and fell, growing closer and fainter at times.
What did those birds that sung so beautifully look like?
Curiosity pulled me from the comfort of the bed and I grabbed the black robe from the chair near the dressing table, where I had left it when sleep had finally rolled up on me.
Last night came flooding back as I tied the belt, cinching it tight around my waist, and stared at the dark fireplace near the door. I couldn’t figure this fae king out. I was normally good at understanding others, the training I had undergone as a healer teaching me to observe people closely so I could tell if something was wrong with them without them telling me. It was surprising how many wolves didn’t like to confess they had an ailment orhad hurt themselves. But this male. I couldn’t keep up with his changes in mood.
Was he the dark, scary unseelie king?
Or the gentler male who had laughed at things I had said, the warmth of it reaching his eyes at times?
Which king would await me today when I joined him at the lake?
Wanting to see if I could spy that lake, and if I had a view, I drifted to the arched window in the tower area of my room, kneeled on the pillows covering the seat that followed the curve of it, and unlatched the heavy wooden shutters, drawing them open.
Muted sunlight greeted me.
Together with the most breathtaking vista I had ever seen.
Shivers danced down my spine and arms as I unlocked and pushed the leaded windows open, an urge to immerse myself in that view and be closer to it controlling me. A cool salty breeze swept around me, laced with the scent of flowers, and the birdsong grew louder as I took in the scene before me.
It was incredible.
Below me stretched a formal paved garden with arbours and statues and a large fountain together with a long white wooden pergola dripping with spears of lilac flowers and a beautiful gazebo. Raised flowerbeds bordered the paths that intersected at the fountain and the ones that led towards the gazebo and pergola, filled with blooms in so many colours that shock rippled through me.
Some foolish part of me had expected the flowers in this kingdom of a dark fae to be sombre hues and shades of night or blood.
Between those blooms, fist-sized bees bobbed and buzzed, and I had to blink to be sure I wasn’t imagining them. Pretty jewel-toned birds flitted past them, darting through the stems ofsome of the taller flowers and the branches of a tree, their song now familiar to me.
But what really stole my breath were the black mountains that rose like jagged teeth beyond the crystalline lake that nestled among them and lined the edge of the half of the garden to my left.
Mist from the waterfall that fell over the rim of the plateau glittered in the air directly in front of me, shimmering with not a rainbow but an aurora of purple, blue, green and red. My gaze tracked the water as it plunged downwards, some of it hidden behind the garden where it continued around to my right, hugging the top of the cliff, and then trailed along the vicious line of the black mountains that jutted beyond the waterfall, forming a bay below where they crashed into an azure sea.
The sea.
I couldn’t take my eyes off it as it glittered and sparkled beyond the mountains, stretching far to the horizon, calling to me—eyes that had longed to see it since I had been a pup.
By the gods.
It was beautiful.
A shiver danced over my limbs again.
