Page 36 of Marked By the Dark Lord
Had I really been sleeping in his bed? I forced down a shiver. There was no point in being afraid or disgusted. Whatever had happened—I did not let myself dwell on the courtroom just yet—had happened. It was over and done with.
A wave of nausea and exhaustion flooded me. The room wobbled, my legs warning me they were about to give out. I reached for the edge of the bed, flopping onto it as everything crashed around me.
My world was over. Done. Everything I thought I knew, thought I understood, was basically a lie. No, not a lie. None of it waswrong. It was simply … incomplete. There was so much more to it than I’d known.
And somehow, I’d ended up on the shitty side of it all. Again. It took my remaining strength, but I managed to pull myself onto the insanely huge bed before the last of my strength gave way.
I closed my eyes, simply too tired to continue.
When I opened them again, light was streaming through a window to my left. Had it done that before? I couldn’tremember. Tiredly, I pulled myself up until my head rested on a pillow.
Exhaustion won yet again, and I passed out.
I must have awoken at one point before my next fit of awareness because I was back at the end of the bed when I woke.
Staring down at me was a pair of red eyes.
“Hey!” I yelped, scurrying backward. “What are you doing in here?”
Korr’ok tilted his head sideways but made no move to come closer, standing at the foot of the bed, wearing a simple black t-shirt and black slacks. “This is my bedroom,” he rumbled as if that explained everything, his chest rising and falling in a slow rhythm, pulling the shirt tight across his pecs with every breath.
Not that I noticed. I definitely didn’t stare.
“Do you not understand the concept of privacy?” I fired back.
“You’re in my house. You’re in my bed. You’re inmycharge, tiny witch. You do not get privacy.”
“I’m not a witch,” I said, sinking into the comforters, suddenly wondering how I was wearing the giant nightgown. It was black, of course. Did the man ownanycolor?
He’s not a man.
“You used magic unlawfully and without training. That is called a witch,” he informed me.
Shaking my head, I buried my face in my hands, taking deep breaths, trying to stay calm, all the while freaking out inside about the comfort of the stupid bed. Because of all that had happened, all the world-shattering changes,thatshould be the most uncomfortable experience for me.
“You look about ready to cry,” Korr’ok observed. “Are you still unwell? In pain after the bonding?”
Bonding?
“No, I’m fine,” I said. “Tears of happiness, probably.”
The horned giant frowned, midnight skin wrinkling over his thick brow. “You are happy to be here?”
“Absolutely not!” I yelped. “No way, it’s not that at all.”
He waited patiently until I sighed.
“Do you realize that this is the most I’ve slept in a bed in years? I basically won the lottery by using that stupid book,” I muttered, shaking my head at the hilarity of it all. I sobered quickly. “I just wish the people were okay.”
Korr’ok sounded quizzical.
I looked up at the sound. “You know, Victor, the baker, and the mean girls who bullied me. I hope they survived it, at least.”
“What are you talking about?” Korr’ok asked, suddenly next to me, leaning over the bed to look down at me, urgency etching lines into his face. “How do you not know if they’re alive? You were there, Mila, were you not? Casting magic?”
I stared at him. “You mean you don’t know? You people put me under arrest, and you don’t even know what happened? I was stripped naked in front of the entire courtroom, Korr’ok!”
A giant hand covered my mouth, pinning me to the bed with such monstrous ease that I squeaked into his palm. The sudden demonstration of his strength was … scary. My heart was thumping in my neck, my chest rising and falling with short, swift breaths out of my nose. Korr’ok leaned closer, filling my nose with hints of campfire and chocolate. It tickled my senses before settling somewhere deeper in me.
