Page 59 of Brighter Than Gold

He walked to my side of the bed and sat next to me, affectionately stroking my hair from my face. “Only a Princess after dark. Got it.”

“You are far less miserable when you’ve gotten your dick wet, you know that? You’realmostnice.”

He laughed again. “I apologise. I can try and be a little more prickish if that’s what you’ve grown accustomed to.”

“That would be lovely, thank you,” I groused. “What about Warrick and Lazio?”

“The boy who brought in breakfast said the King left early this morning. That’s all he knew.”

“Does Warrick know about Yates? How could he condone another member of the royal family being imprisoned and tortured?”

“It’s possible Lazio kept that from him.”

“Fucking monsters.”

Suddenly I couldn’t wait to get back to the palace and tell Kaspian about him.

“All right, get your ass out of bed and go eat. I let you sleep through breakfast so make this meal count.”

I could hear the smile in his voice. I made my way over to the table as Callan lounged back on the bed.

“Yates is being looked after,” I said between bites.

“I know. I’m still trying to figure out how to get her out of that fucking cellar.”

“Did they lock our door?”

Callan shook his head.

“Well that counts for something.”

The general stared off in thought while I ate quietly. “Where did you go last night?” I asked cautiously.

“To collect rent. That’s what Lazio called it away, it was more like extortion really. Some shop owners were not exactly excited to pay him.”

“But no one got hurt?”

“Well—no one died.”

His admission made my stomach turn. I’d seen so much violence in the last two weeks, and yet hurting people was something so casual for Callan.

“Reyah,” he said, breaking me from my nightmarish reverie. I looked up at him, trying to erase the awful memories from my mind.

“Remember I told you I interrogate people, sometimes people who are less than forthcoming.”

“Yes.”

“I’m not careless, and I’m not a monster. There are ways of inflicting a great deal of pain while causing only minimal damage to a person. I—fuck. I suppose I’m trying to excuse what must seem like barbaric behaviour.”

I didn’t know how to respond.

“I’m sorry,” Callan offered. “I won’t speak about it anymore. I just don’t want you to be afraid of me.”

“I’m not. I may not like what you do, but I’m not afraid of you.”

“Good.” He tried to give me a reassuring smile, but it never touched his eyes.

Callan leapt from the bed as we heard the door open.

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