Page 46 of Wolf Caged (Bound to the Shadow King #1)

SAPHIRA

E ight days had passed since I had called Kaeleron an asshole and I hadn’t seen him once.

I wandered the gardens, not really paying attention to the pretty blooms and dazzling birds today, my thoughts firmly stuck on the annoying fae king who was giving me the cold shoulder.

It certainly felt as if he was anyway. That first night, I had been content to entertain myself, watching the lights in the town below and listening to the chatter of the people coming and going.

Even late in the night, the streets had people moving around them, and when they had all eventually retired, I had too.

The next morning, I had eaten breakfast, bathed and decided to walk the garden, following my usual route.

No sign of my guards. Either Kaeleron was beginning to trust me or he no longer cared whether I made a break for it.

I had settled on it being the former when I had walked too close to the gates to the city and had been scowled at by guards who had crossed long spears over the exit.

Hint taken. No leaving the castle grounds.

I had thought Kaeleron would summon me that evening, brushing off our argument and taking his doll out to play. But he hadn’t.

He hadn’t summoned me the following night, or the one after that and the one after that, or last night either.

Every night I waited.

And every night I went ignored.

I chalked it up to calling him an asshole, the part of me that had cooled down quickest in the aftermath of our verbal boxing match latching onto it and how at Beltane he had threatened to get imaginative with his punishment if I went ahead and called him that name.

“Not very imaginative after all,” I muttered, holding back a huff. “Cold shoulder is so old school.”

I had thought myself a master of it but it turned out Kaeleron excelled at the cold shoulder treatment. I wasn’t sure I could have done it better myself.

A familiar scent swirled around me, but it was only faintly laced with wild storm, mingled in with layers of vanilla and blooms whose names I was yet to discover.

Jenavyr.

I lifted my head in time to catch sight of her crossing the grounds at a pace, heading towards the gatehouse, and hurried to intercept her. She noticed me as I neared, her bright silver eyes swinging my way and the clouds in them lifting as she smiled.

“Saphira, it is good to see you. Have you been well?” Vyr stopped and turned towards me.

I lost my nerve as I neared her, asking if Kaeleron was around twisting into something else.

“His royal pain in my ass hasn’t been making me do stupid tasks for the last few days, so I’m great.

” I forced a smile, hiding how much her brother had hurt me as it all rolled up on me and I realised that his silent treatment had worked, blending with what he had said to shatter my confidence.

“I was wondering whether maybe we could walk around town again?”

Jenavyr’s fine eyebrows pinched together. “I would not let him hear you speak of him like that.”

“Too late for that.” I shrugged.

She sighed and shook her head. “At least hold your tongue a little in the coming days. Kaeleron is due to return tonight, and I expect him to come up with some foolish demand for you, but he will be in a terrible mood. He always is when he comes back from Belkarthen.”

“Belkarthen?”

Vyr pointed to the south, beyond the castle gates.

“A port city near the southern border. We grew up there, and moved here shortly after Kael ascended the throne. It is the most beautiful city… but not to Kael. He avoids it now and only goes there when it is absolutely necessary, or completely unavoidable.”

She stared off in its direction, her gaze warm and filled with unmistakable love for the city Kaeleron seemingly hated.

“The city council expects him to visit after each rite, to ensure everything ran smoothly and the rite succeeded. Kael has already been to the towns bordering Wraith Wood to check the Beltane celebrations were successful there too.”

My cheeks heated at the mention of Beltane and I slammed my mental barriers shut on any memories of that night that involved Kaeleron. “About Beltane… Is that usually how you celebrate?”

Vyr laughed, but her voice was serious as she said, “I will be having words with my brother about taking you. I warned him against it. We probably looked like heathens to you, but it is tradition, and both unseelie and seelie require the rites in order to generate magic, and magic in our lands is fed by blood and sex. So there are sacrifices made, and pleasure had. I am sure it all sounds very primal to you.”

It did, but it wasn’t the primal side of it I was hung up on as I looked at Vyr.

Had Kaeleron missed out on topping up his magic because he hadn’t slept with anyone?

Presuming he had been telling me the truth and hadn’t returned to the celebration to join in with the festivities.

I schooled my features in an unreadable mask when Jenavyr studied me a little too closely, plastering on a pretty look of interest rather than revealing how mortified I still was about what had happened and how angry I was with Kaeleron for what he had said.

And how frustratingly hot her brother made me with just a look.

Or a few wicked words whispered against my lips.

“The feast was rather lavish, but where does all the leftover food go? It seems like such a waste when it was hardly touched.” Terrible subject change. I grimaced at it.

Jenavyr looked at the gates behind me. “Nothing is wasted. The food is distributed to the less fortunate in the city.”

That was good. I fidgeted with the ties of my corset, trying to think of something else to say and beginning to squirm under Vyr’s scrutiny as she narrowed sharp silver eyes on me.

“You know,” she said, slowly, thoughtfully, “my brother grew bored of the celebrations more than a decade ago and now he just attends them rather than participating.”

I recalled how many females he had turned down at the rite. “I’m surprised to hear that. I was sure your brother would have liked having his ego petted so thoroughly.”

She laughed, the sound bright and real. Not forced. At least one of them knew how to laugh. I shut out the sound of Kaeleron laughing at Beltane, banishing it from my mind and pretending it had never happened. There was no warmer side to Kaeleron. Nope.

“Perhaps.” She gave one last chuckle. “But believe it or not, my brother spends all his time thinking about the business of running the kingdom and very little about his own wellbeing. He could probably use a little time spent seeking pleasure.”

I toyed with my hair, trying to conceal my blush as his deep voice rolled through my mind, telling me how he had stroked himself off while thinking of me. Had he really done that or had he said it to get a rise out of me?

Jenavyr stepped closer and glanced around us before settling her gaze on me and whispering, “Do not think it went unnoticed that he left shortly after you did. Several guards saw him crossing the green to the castle. I hope he did not overstep, Saphira.”

I shook my head, letting my own mask fall away so she would see that her brother hadn’t done anything I hadn’t wanted, because as angry as I was with him, I didn’t want her thinking badly of him.

He hadn’t done anything against my will.

In fact, he had waited for me to ask him.

He could have taken me right then, taking advantage of my mating frenzy, but he hadn’t.

And I was beginning to think he had told me the truth and he had held back for my sake, knowing I would regret what we had done in the cold light of morning, when the heat no longer gripped me. He had been chivalrous. Kind. And a bit of an asshole.

But many males would have taken everything I wanted to give during my frenzy, using my delirium to get what they wanted.

“I didn’t see you there.” Another poor attempt at changing the subject.

Vyr was kind enough to go along with it. “I was busy elsewhere. Not everyone gets to enjoy the celebrations. I had work to do.”

“You weren’t the only one absent. I didn’t see Riordan either.

” I was pushing it. I knew it when she tensed, her shoulders going rigid, and the warmth left her eyes.

I wasn’t mentioning the vampire to upset her.

I wanted her to know he hadn’t been there, enjoying the rite, in case she had avoided it so she didn’t have to see him with other females.

“Kaeleron seemed surprised by his absence.”

Vyr’s shrug was stiff. “Oh, really? Well, I do not know what the vampire was doing. Perhaps he was celebrating elsewhere. He is not fae so he does not need to join in with the festivities in order to regenerate magic for the lands.”

“I’m not fae either, but I was there. Other non-fae were there too, joining in.

” I mentally cursed when I blushed, wishing I could master them and stop them from happening whenever I thought about what I had seen that night or someone brought up sex.

“Doesn’t everything we do that night help with the magic? ”

Had Kaeleron been better off finding a fae female to pleasure?

“It only takes one of the partners to be fae for it to work, and the stronger the connection between them, the deeper the lust runs, the more potent the magic they generate will be.” Jenavyr sidled closer still and murmured, her eyes on mine, “Do not think people failed to notice their king did not return.”

So he hadn’t gone back then. I blushed harder. Godsdammit. Giving myself away judging by the little smile on Vyr’s lips.

“Tell me you were in control at all times, that the magic in the air?—”

“I was in control,” I interjected, unable to bear the thought of her mentioning what I had done with her own brother. It was too embarrassing.

“Good. Then we shall leave it at that and a warning to not provoke him when he returns. He was in a foul mood when he left.” She waved as she walked away, heading for the gates, and I cringed as she added, “It might have had something to do with someone righteously calling him an asshole.”

She smiled over her shoulder at me and disappeared from view.

I groaned.

How many people in the castle knew what I had said to him in the garden? Worse, how many people were aware that he had come after me that night, and hadn’t returned to the rite?

What rumours were circulating about me?

About us?

I stiffened as the air around me chilled and a female voice growled behind me.

“Did you spread your legs for him, you filthy mutt?”