Page 57 of Wolf Caged (Bound to the Shadow King #1)

SAPHIRA

I stomped to the training ground the next morning, the heavy clouds that blotted out the twilight-kissed sky echoing my mood as I plotted all the ways I would use my training to punish Kaeleron once I was strong enough and skilled enough.

The clock was ticking for the fae king.

The brand the bastard had placed on my chest flared with a tendril of heat that chased around the ring, keeping me constantly aware of it.

It had been doing it all morning, had ruined my breakfast and my old favourite hobby of watching the people coming and going from the castle, had ruined my nice warm bath, and was threatening to ruin my new favourite hobby of getting strong enough to kick his ass.

Jenavyr glanced up from setting her sword belt down on the stone altar, took one look at my face and was crossing the glade to meet me. “What is wrong?”

Furious, and more than a little hurt, I yanked my navy blouse to one side, revealing the mark near my left shoulder.

Jenavyr’s beautiful face grew darker than the thunderclouds gathering above us, ribbons of shadows rising from her shoulders as she stared at the mark, a myriad of emotions crossing her eyes. Mostly anger, but there was a touch of relief too, relief I couldn’t understand.

She lightly brushed her fingers over the brand. “It was wrong of him to do this.”

“He said it was to keep me safe.” I looked at the mark, hating how beautiful it was, hating him, and tears pricked my eyes. I sniffed them back, because I was not going to get all weepy over this. I was going to get even. “I want to fight with swords today. You said we would train with swords.”

“I did, but that was before I saw this and your mood.” She shifted her hand to my shoulder. “Do not despise him for it. Do not punish him.”

I knocked her hand away with the back of my forearm and took a step backwards, away from her, as I scowled at her. “He fucking branded me, Vyr! Like property. Like a fucking animal.”

“No!” Vyr seized my arms in a tight grip, her gaze wild as she shook her head. Her hard tone softened as she added, “No, it is not like that. This mark is not that. It will keep you safe.”

I struggled for air as I wrestled to break free of her grip, my throat closing and my mind shutting down, refusing to listen to her, because she was lying to protect her brother.

“Listen to me, Saphira,” she murmured, keeping hold of me, her fingers flexing against my arms as she lowered her head so she was eye-level with me.

“It is not like that. This mark is a bond. Something only kings are capable of and something which few offer to others. It is a power that binds you to him.”

“Like a slave,” I spat.

“No.” She looked close to rattling me as I refused to listen to her. “Like a promise. It is a vow, Saphira. An unbreakable vow. A promise to keep you safe and to protect you. It was wrong of him to do it without your permission, but I cannot fault his methods, not really.”

I snorted. “I can.”

I looked at the mark as it pulsed with heat, gaze tracing the intricate lines of it and the animal I now recognised as an elkyn rather than a stag.

It was a pretty brand, but a brand nonetheless.

I had a hard time believing it was a promise.

Kaeleron had placed this on me to protect me, and I wasn’t fool enough to think its position on my chest, somewhere so obvious to other fae, hadn’t been selected for a reason.

He wanted others to see it. He wanted them to know I fell under his protection.

How was that any different to being branded like an animal was, to show they were owned by someone?

“I prefer your methods of keeping me safe,” I muttered to Vyr as I covered the brand again and then lifted my gaze to meet hers. “What would Kaeleron think of you training me?”

She straightened and blinked, and threatened to push my world of its axis when I had just found my balance again.

“Kael was the one who ordered me to do it.”

I blinked back at her, struggling to comprehend what she had said as that wall I had meticulously constructed last night, a barrier designed to keep the fae king out of my heart, cracked.

“I’m sorry. It sounded a lot like you just said your brother asked you to train me.” I stared at her, sure I had heard her wrong.

But she nodded.

“It was his idea.” Her brows furrowed as she glanced at my chest, at the spot on my blouse the hid the mark he had put on me. “He needs to know you are safe, Saphira, even when he is not here. This training and that brand will ensure that.”

Kaeleron had ordered Jenavyr to train me in secret, just as he had trained her, ensuring she could defend herself and could fight if necessary. With this one act alone, he had shown me how differently he viewed me compared with my pack, treating me as if I was an equal.

Not inferior to him because I was female.

Not something to shelter because I was weak.

He sought to make me strong. To make a warrior out of me. To give me the courage to raise myself up and stand tall beside any male.

Damn him.

I scratched at the brand through the thick fabric of my blouse, still hating it and how it burned at times.

Jenavyr was right and it had been wrong of him to do it without asking me.

If he had asked me, if he had explained what this brand was, would I have accepted it?

Yes. Because I would have known it was born of an act of kindness, a desire to know I would be safe, and a need to ensure no one dared harm me again.

But instead, he had forced it upon me.

And for that, he could stew for a while.

And then when I was done letting him stew…

He could grovel.