Page 18 of Wolf Caged (Bound to the Shadow King #1)

My eyebrows lifted. “It wasn’t what I was expecting either, but it was on the bed in my room, waiting for me. You didn’t order it for me?”

His grin was feline. Wicked. A little thrilling. “Oh, I did. I am just surprised you chose to wear it.”

I huffed. “Chose? What choice did I have?”

“The choice not to wear it.” He gestured to the seat closest to him. “Sit.”

I picked the seat at the opposite end of the long table to him, keeping my distance, and his eyebrows pitched low as I made a big show of sitting in it, delicately arranging my dress he had apparently ordered for me but hadn’t expected me to wear.

“If I could have chosen to dress differently, could I have ignored your demand that I dine with you?” I needed to know the rules of this game we were playing, so I could avoid any potential pitfalls as I chipped away at my debt.

There were things I wasn’t willing to do, things that had only come to me after I had signed the contract, so I wanted to know whether I could refuse if he asked me to kill someone, or commit any other terrible act like it.

“No.” Darkness rolled off him, his voice firm and almost chilling as his gaze narrowed on me.

“Some things are not optional. I issue an order and you must follow it.” He pulled the contract I had signed out of thin air and waggled it at me.

“It is all here, signed in your blood. Whether or not the things I request are orders or suggestions is down to you to figure out… but know if you get it wrong and refuse an order, you will be punished.”

He was teasing me again, amusing himself with my fear and my ignorance as I fumbled my way around his world and him, trying to learn what was right and what was wrong in order to survive.

If he wanted to be amused, I would happily entertain him with the wit he had requested I bring with me tonight. I would show him how sharp my fangs could be.

I gestured to the empty table. “What kind of dinner am I attending anyway? An invisible one? There is no food.”

Kaeleron angled his head towards the double doors in the wall behind him that were as beautifully carved with scenes of nature as the ones I had entered through.

Servants marched in. Many servants. Each carried a silver tray ladened with dishes they set out on the table and two carried a huge gold soup tureen between them.

Platters of roasted meats, bowls of boiled…

potatoes… I thought, but they were a light purplish colour, together with dishes of vegetables and other things I did easily recognise were laid out between us.

Carrots. Peas. Golden-crusted pies. Some kind of cabbage.

Jugs of the rich gravy I had secretly enjoyed while shut in that awful cell.

“This is all very… human… food.” I salivated as the aromas hit me, my stomach gurgling in anticipation as the servants laid out cutlery and plates before me and filled my long-stemmed glass with what looked like red wine.

Oh gods, I hoped it was red wine.

Another servant placed a bowl on the plate before me and ladled a cream-coloured soup into it that smelled faintly like parsnips and spice.

I pulled the glass towards me and subtly sniffed it as I lifted it towards my lips, pretending to take a sip as I checked to see if it was wine or blood, but of course he noticed.

The king gave me a bland look, dismissed his servants and poured himself a healthy glass of wine. “I do not dine on blood or the entrails of my enemies.”

“That’s not what I heard. Neve said entrails of your enemies was your favourite dish when she was giving me the run down on your majesty.” Would it be rude if I just grabbed several of the platters of meat and dragged them to my end to devour them before he could select a slice or two?

I squirmed in my seat, finding it hard to remain as civil as my clothes made me appear as my mouth watered and my wolf side snarled at me to claim every scrap of meat for myself before he could steal any of it.

He canted his head, watching me like a hawk watched a mouse. “I doubt that. But… I am curious. What did my seer have to say about me?”

I had lost myself in staring at the roast beef—or I hoped it was roast beef because it certainly smelled like it and I wanted to dive into it—and only the weight of his stare pulled me back to the world and it hit me he had said something.

“That you’re not a monster. I haven’t made my mind up about that yet.

The jury is still out, I’m afraid. But this,” I gestured to the sumptuous food spread before me, half of which seemed familiar while others were new, like the sweet cakes and sticky buns that sat beside a clear pitcher of glowing violet syrup that smelled incredible as I pulled it towards me to get a closer look, “is a good step towards improving my opinion of you.”

A deep, rumbling chuckle escaped him. “Feast, little lamb.”

That word halted me in my tracks with a spoonful of soup halfway to my mouth.

Feast. Fight. Fuck .

This certainly was a feast, every inch of the table covered in delicious looking food, and I wanted to taste every item, to eat my fill until they had to roll me back to my room.

My gaze drifted to the male at the other end of the table and my wolf side growled at the sight of him, lounging in his high-backed chair, firelight dancing across the angular planes of his sculpted face as he watched me with a glimmer I couldn’t decipher in his cold silver eyes.

Was this the thing unseelie did better than my kind, or was it one of the others?

Fight?

Or fuck?

My cheeks began to heat and I scrambled to cover the reaction, grabbing my glass of wine and lifting it to my lips as I turned my head away from the light of the fire to conceal part of my face. I drained half the glass, not caring how I looked. If I blushed now, I could blame the alcohol.

I studied the long wooden side table that occupied the entire right side of the room as I calmed myself, gaze dancing over the silver trays of crystal goblets and decanters filled with liquids in shades of amber to crimson.

Inset pillars added interest to the plain black marble walls, both accented with pure gold.

Warm light from the chandelier suspended above the dining table chased over the gold and the facets cut into the glassware, drawing my gaze up to it.

Beautiful.

Not just the chandelier made of globes of golden magic that drifted among gold vines and leaves, but the ceiling above it.

I had never seen a ceiling like it.

Elegant golden cornicing surrounded it on all sides, like a frame for the stunning masterpiece someone had painted on the ceiling.

A fresco that made me feel I was deep in a forest, surrounded by trees and gazing up at a sky filled with aurora and stars.

The more I looked at it, the more I noticed the details.

Dragons flying over faint jagged mountains beyond the trees.

A stag-like creature grazing among the rugged trunks.

Night birds perching in the branches. Motes of glittering gold light drifted around the ceiling, almost as if the stars were moving.

Kaeleron’s gaze bore into me but I refused to look at him or end my perusal and enjoyment of the room. The most elegant room I had ever set foot in. A room fit for a castle and its king.

“Eat,” he growled.

I somehow made it through the soup with all the genteel manners a fae king might expect, but the delicious warmth of it didn’t satisfy the deep craving for something more substantial—for meat. I set the empty bowl aside and longingly looked at the platters just beyond arm’s reach.

While Kaeleron was watching the fire rather than me, I stealthily leaned over the table and reached for the nearest platters of meat, my senses focused on him as I snared my prize. I piled what looked like beef and chicken onto my plate, together with a pie that smelled of pork and herbs.

It was only when I sat back, my prize secured, and had stuffed an overly-ladened forkful of meat into my mouth and bit back a moan at the juiciness of it, that I noticed Kaeleron was now staring at me.

I chewed and swallowed, hating how vulnerable and exposed I felt as some part of me waited for him to comment on my behaviour.

When he said nothing, simply continued to stare at me, I bit out, “What?”

He swept his hand out towards the vegetables with a regal elegance that only made me feel the difference between our table manners even more fiercely.

“You’re welcome to them,” I sniped, feeling it was too late now to act civilised so I might as well act like myself rather than trying to please a male who had sunk so low as to buy another person. I was better than him, even if my manners weren’t quite as refined. “Don’t hold back on my account.”

I jabbed my fork into another slice of beef and devoured it as I stared right at him, my wolf side rumbling in approval.

“I should have presumed a wolf would prefer meat.” Kaeleron eased back to lounge in his chair again, as if it were a throne and he was holding court, a challenge in his eyes as he swirled his wine. “I have something you can wrap your pretty lips around if you like the taste of meat.”

I didn’t miss a beat. “I’ll bite it off.”

I snapped short fangs for emphasis.

His throaty chuckle was alarmingly thrilling as he held my gaze, the bold challenge in his eyes joined by a glimmer of amusement, and then his focus shifted to his drink, freeing me of his hold.

I wasn’t sure how he did that. Was it some kind of power he had?

His gaze was magnetic and demanding, holding me fast at times, even when I wanted to look at anything but him.

Silence stretched between us, pulling something inside me taut as I struggled to find something to say while shovelling more meat into my mouth. He had brought me here for conversation, and if I failed to provide it, he might deem tonight a failure and not reduce my debt.