Page 25 of Wolf Caged (Bound to the Shadow King #1)

SAPHIRA

T he muted sunlight was warmer today, and I wondered whether it was spring here as well as back home as I stood on my balcony, fully dressed in my blouse, leathers and boots, longing to be down among the townspeople seeing more of this world.

Kaeleron had kept me shut in my room the last two days. The only people I had seen in that time were my handmaidens, who I had annoyed with so many questions during their brief visits to bring me my meals that they had eventually surrendered a few crumbs of information.

Firstly, I had learned that the younger of the females was called Thalina, and the older one was Beliana, and I had apparently insulted the latter by believing their ages to be vastly different.

It turned out that there was only a twenty-year gap between them and that was nothing when you were talking about ages in the hundreds.

I had believed Thalina younger than me, but she was close to two centuries older, and had been working for the castle for longer than I had been alive.

That had left me wondering how old Kaeleron was.

Neither had been willing to disclose that information, so instead I had asked where he was and whether I was being punished.

My captivity certainly felt like punishment.

He had given me a glimpse of his world and a taste of freedom, and then he had snatched it away again, and a small part of me couldn’t help but feel it was my fault.

It had been stupid of me to let my emotions get the better of me and my angry thoughts steal my focus away from the world so much that I hadn’t been paying attention to where I was swimming, especially when I knew there was a waterfall at both ends of the lake.

And how far that water fell to the sea below.

That moment reared up on me as it had so many times in the last two days, and my throat closed as jumbled memories barraged me, stealing the world from my grasp until I felt sure I was back in that frigid water, fighting for my life.

Desperate to live.

I looked down at myself, at my violently shaking hands as I held them before me, and curled my fingers into fists.

I owed Kaeleron my life, and he hadn’t even given me a chance to thank him for what he had done.

He had saved me, risking his own life to protect mine, and then he had held me so damned close.

So damned hard.

And by the gods, it had felt good.

His arms around me had felt more than good. They had felt strong. Comforting. Right .

That revelation had shaken me and I had tried to blame it on my instincts, that I was still struggling to grasp what Lucas had done and being held in powerful arms against a honed masculine body in an intensely protective embrace had made me think of my fated mate.

That was the only reason Kaeleron’s arms around me had felt right.

But no matter how many times I told myself that, I couldn’t bring myself to believe it.

I hadn’t been thinking of Lucas when Kaeleron had held me.

I had been soul-deep aware of whose arms I had been in, of who was holding me close and shielding me from the world.

I just didn’t want to admit how deeply he affected me.

I had wondered time and time again since that moment whether holding me had shaken him too, because no matter how I looked at things, his words to me hadn’t been wicked or teasing.

He had been trying to lighten the moment.

To break the hold we had on each other, clinging so fiercely to the other, as if they were a lifeline.

As if letting go meant greeting death.

A cold, slow and torturous death of the soul.

Maybe it had rattled him as violently as it had shaken me, and that was the reason he was keeping his distance from me. Ignoring me.

Was this to be my life now? A doll he would remove from its box whenever he was bored and wanted to play? An object of entertainment and nothing more?

I would be anything but that.

Ignoring the breakfast Thalina and Beliana had so kindly laid out for me on the balcony, I strode for the door, my confidence wavering and my boots sounding increasingly loud in the room as I approached it.

I could do this. I wouldn’t go far. Just a walk around the grounds for some fresh air and to test whether I was allowed to leave my room without permission from the king.

I eased the door open.

Glanced both ways along the elegant corridor.

A guard stood at either end, both dressed in matching thick black leather tunics, trousers and boots, and both resting one hand on the hilt of the sword that hung from their waist.

Would they cut me down if I tried walking past them?

Or force me to return to my room?

There was only one way of finding out.

I stepped out into the corridor, closing my door behind me, making sure it made a noise so they were aware of me.

Neither reacted. I took the only route I knew led to the garden, heading towards the vestibule, and my ears twitched as I sensed the male behind me moving, trailing after me.

When I reached the second male ahead of me, he allowed me to pass and then fell into step behind me.

Apparently, I didn’t just have handmaidens. I had guards.

But they weren’t stopping me from leaving.

Although, I was sure that would change if I dared to venture beyond the inner walls that surrounded the castle. What areas would be off limits to me? If I walked to the lake, would they try to stop me? Could I visit the forest?

Deciding I would test all these theories and learn the boundaries of my confinement, I stepped out into the beautiful garden.

Bees ambled around the blooms, and birds flitted between the trees I had taken to watching yesterday, once I had realised they were growing fruit as purple as the veins that marked their trunks and branches.

The delicious sweet syrup I had tasted at dinner with Kaeleron had to come from these trees.

I glanced at one of them, noticing small notches in the bark near some of the veins, as if they had been tapped.

I was so absorbed in it that I didn’t notice there were others besides my two shadows in the garden.

Ahead of me, lounging on the pale grey stone benches under one of the arbours, were several finely-dressed males and females.

Highborn. The name suited them. They barely hid their sneers as servants offered them refreshments and they spied more tradespeople delivering barrels to the castle through a side entrance.

I changed course, wanting to avoid them, and wanting a closer look at the great stags that pulled the carts.

This pair were so black they were like a void and had a shimmer to their fur that reminded me of raven wings.

“I do not understand why our king would pay so much attention to a mutt .”

I tensed at the snide female voice that cut through the birdsong and barely bit back a growl as my hackles rose.

She could only be talking about me. I peeked at her out of the corner of my eye, not wanting her to know I had heard what she had said.

The tall, dark-haired beauty wasn’t even trying to be subtle as she turned towards the female beside her, disgust written in every line of her sneer.

“Look at her.” She shook her head. “She wears the garb of commoners, so I suppose she at least knows her position.”

I liked my buttery-soft leather pants and loose blouse, and was much happier wearing these common clothes than restrictive dresses like the one Kaeleron had dressed me in for dinner—like the ones these women wore.

“Perhaps she is his servant.” A pretty, petite brunette female in the trio looked me over, more curious than disgusted by my presence.

The haughty one scoffed. “And she serves him how?”

Maybe they didn’t know I could understand them. They were being so open with their remarks. Or maybe they knew I could grasp their words and that was part of the fun for them.

Mock the little wolf.

The third female, this one as tall as the first, muttered, “Perhaps she is his mistress.”

The haughty one’s dark eyes widened and her face paled before crimson splotches coloured her cheeks and she scowled at me.

“Impossible. Our king would not sully himself with such a lowborn female. I will speak with him about it at our next meeting. I am sure he will set our minds at ease. I can barely tolerate her presence. Perhaps we should move away to somewhere that smells less like dog.”

I halted when rather than moving away, she led her little group right towards me, holding my ground and aware where this was going. Sense said to walk away, but my wolf side and my primal instincts told me to stand firm and not let them win by scaring me off.

This fae wanted me to run with my tail tucked between my legs and it wasn’t going to happen.

As she was passing, she dropped a handkerchief.

“Oh, how terrible. Be a dear and do your duty and pick that up for me.” She regally waved towards the piece of lace-trimmed white cloth.

I stared at it. “No.”

“It speaks back to me.” She fluttered her hand over the chest of her rich violet silk gown and looked at her two companions. “Did you hear how it spoke back to me?”

It .

“How terribly shocking,” the petite one said, but she didn’t look at all shocked. She looked as if she wanted no part in whatever her friend was planning as she went to pick up the handkerchief for her only to be stopped with a hand on her shoulder.

“Let the servant do that. It is the reason they exist.”

I looked around me. “I see no servant nearby that could assist you with your problem. How awful it must be to have to pick it up yourself. But don’t mind me. I won’t tell a soul that you stooped to pick up your own handkerchief from the ground.”

One of the guards behind me chuckled but it cut off when the female glared at him.

“Pick it up,” she said more firmly and pointed to it.