Page 60 of Wolf Caged
I snared her arm, gripping it tightly, and struggled to breathe through it as I held her gaze, imploring her to listen to me and do as I was about to ask her.
“Please don’t tell your brother what I said. I don’t want him to know. It’s bad enough that I was sold, but being sold by—”I couldn’t bring myself to say it as a thousand blades cut my battered heart to ribbons all over again, the pain stealing my breath and my voice.
Jenavyr’s silver eyes widened and then softened as understanding dawned in them.
She nodded.
“I will not tell a soul. Your secret is safe with me, Saphira.”
I wished I could believe that.
Chapter 13
KAELERON
Jenavyr hadn’t stopped sniping at Riordan from the moment the two of them had set foot in my office on the second floor of the castle. Riordan, of course, gave as good as he got, the two of them seeming to bask in the glory of irritating me with their inane remarks and poorly executed retaliations.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, an ache building between my eyes as I closed them. Fatigue rolled up on me the moment they shut, the long day of meetings I had endured wearing away at my strength, together with my two commanders.
“I only asked what you might be doing in such a disreputable tavern. The poor creatures within should not be subjected to your advances.” Vyr launched the same salvo she had already used several times, her tone scathing.
Riordan sighed, the sound as weary as I felt. “A man has to feed.”
The same response he had given each time my sister had remarked upon his visit to one of the taverns near the docks that sailors regularly frequented while looking for some female company.
Apparently, this was not a good enough answer for my sister, since she would not let it go.
I cleared my throat, gaining their attention as I sat back in my new chair on the other side of the also newly delivered desk to them. Furniture I would rather keep in one piece. To their credit, they both fell silent and straightened, their backs going rigid as they faced me instead, standing almost shoulder to shoulder.
“I did not summon you to hear you bicker.” I draped my hands over the arms of my chair and surveyed them. “I wished to hear your reports.”
Riordan irritated my sister further by being first to speak. “The second legion has been training in the west fields near the garrison, and the new recruits are coming along nicely. The north-eastern range is quiet and the south-western reaches have reported their latest scouting party found no sign of anyone crossing the mountain passes. Malachi is due back any day now with information from the Summer Court.”
I pushed back from my desk and stood, my legs aching as they straightened, a sign I had spent far too long sitting in chairs or on thrones today. Malachi’s return might be a problem, but I would deal with it when it happened. The demon would understand.
Vyr’s gaze drilled into me, and I knew why she watched me so closely. She believed that when Malachi returned, there would be a reckoning, and she wanted to speak frankly about it with me, as was her way.
I met her gaze, silencing her with a look, and turned from my two commanders, heading for the grand arched window to my left, near one end of my desk, as instead of berating me she filed her report about Wraith Wood and the preparations she had overseen there, together with the trade routes. I lifted the scrolled iron latch and pushed the leaded window that reachedalmost from floor to ceiling open, relishing the fresh sea-laced breeze that swept into the room.
Movement below seized my attention.
The little wolf.
Riordan said something, his words distant as I watched the slender silver-haired female below me. She stood near the balustrade that edged the patio on the cliff-side of the gardens, fingers toying with the loose platinum strands of her hair as she gazed out to sea. It was a strange pleasure to observe her without her knowledge, watching her fingers combing the unruly strands that caught the rising breeze, and then as she nimbly plaited the long length of her hair, until it hung in a single braid that snaked down her spine.
How soft might her hair feel in my fist if I gripped that braid?
I failed to notice Vyr moving up beside me until she spoke.
“Maybe we should take a break. We have all been working for hours now. Well, two of us have.” Another easy shot at the vampire and his tavern activities. “I could use some fresh air. We all could.”
I kept my gaze fixed on the little wolf, unsure I could pull it away from her if I tried, and my sister had already caught me watching her, so there was little point in covering what I was doing, and equally little need.
I owned Saphira and could look at her if I wanted.
“You don’t have to ask me twice.” Riordan was already halfway out of the door.
It snicked shut behind him.
