Page 70 of Wolf Caged (Bound to the Shadow King #1)

“I’ll let you see it again if you answer a few questions.” I wasn’t above bargaining to get what I wanted.

She eagerly nodded. “Yes, yes. Very well. Ask your questions about Kaeleron and the path you walk together, but know I have been bidden to remain silent on the subject so there are things I cannot say… and things I can say.”

“Why did Kaeleron buy me?” I leaned towards her, resting my elbows on my thighs, desperate to know the answer to that question. Even if she couldn’t tell me anything else, perhaps she could confirm my suspicions about this.

“Vengeance tastes delicious, and Kaeleron is starving. Each day that passes without feeding, he only grows more hungry, more reckless.”

“You said I was necessary. That he can’t walk this path alone. You mean I’m vital to his vengeance.”

She nodded.

I exhaled hard, shock sweeping through me even though I had suspected as much. “He needed me strong. That’s what he said to me here in this dungeon. He made me eat because he needed me strong. Why?”

“Because you were in danger of breaking, and you are no good to him broken.”

“Is that the reason he let me leave the cell, too? Because I was breaking.” I had been.

I had been in a vicious downwards spiral, letting my grief and my pain slowly devour my will to live.

And then I had been moved to my current rooms and shown this incredible world, and little by little, my grief and pain faded and were forgotten.

Replaced by a hunger for vengeance.

“What is my purpose?” My breath lodged in my throat as I waited to hear the answer to that question, as if everything hinged on it.

But Neve shook her head. “That I do not know. The visions are fickle. They refuse to come, and I fear if they do not come soon…”

“What? What will happen to you? Will Kaeleron hurt you?” My hackles rose again at the thought of him harming Neve.

“How ill you still think of him, despite all he has done.” Pity shone in Neve’s amber eyes as she looked at me.

Guilt churned my stomach.

“I never know what to think. I never know what he’s capable of,” I admitted, hating myself a little for jumping to the conclusion that he might harm Neve, when he had shown me how protective he was of those he cared about.

“He is not a monster, not to those he loves. He only becomes a monster when those he loves are threatened… as you well know.”

Flashes of Elanaluvyr’s battered body hanging in the courtyard crossed my eyes.

A violent death Kaeleron had wrought because the fae female had hurt me.

Had become a threat to me.

“Kaeleron would never hurt me,” she said with utter confidence and opened one of the books, her gaze scanning the first page. “He would ask me to force a vision, and in doing so I would hurt myself.”

That sounded a lot like Kaeleron would be the one responsible for hurting her if he forced her to have a vision.

“He seems content to attempt to decipher your role in his vengeance without my assistance though.” Neve flicked the page, a small smile teasing her lips as she glanced at my hands, at that hidden ring. “In fact, he seems to be rather enjoying it.”

Her head lifted and she sniffed the air.

And then waved me towards the door.

“Run along. A storm is coming.”

A storm?

I scented the air too, and smelled nothing but the musty dampness that clung to the stones surrounding us.

“Visit me again soon,” Neve said, her eyes glittering with gold as she stroked the books on her lap. “Bring me my present.”

I nodded as I pushed to my feet and went to the door of her cell, opening it only enough to squeeze through it, which seemed to please the dragon as she smiled fondly at the book on her lap and began humming softly.

The steps up from the dungeon seemed even darker as I climbed them, and I frowned at the heavy clouds that roiled in the sky as I exited the arched entrance, stepping out into the courtyard. Maybe Neve was right and there was a storm coming.

Not wanting to get caught out in it, I hurried to the castle and had barely made it inside before the skies opened.

Thunder shook the building. I yelped as my shoulders hiked up, ducking my head as the vicious growl of it rolled over the land.

I glanced back out at the courtyard, but the other side of the castle obscured my view as another great rumble of thunder made the ground beneath my feet quake and stole my breath.

I had never heard such a violent storm.

Wanting to see it, I hurried up the stairs to the first floor, to the bank of windows that rattled as another great boom shook them.

Lightning flashed across the mountains, forking wildly as it lashed at the jagged black peaks.

Crimson lightning.

It was both terrifying and beautiful as it struck at the world, illuminating it with bursts of blood red.

Rain hammered the lands in thick sheets that obscured the mountains and devoured the sea beyond them, and wind whipped through the garden, battering the castle with such force I feared the windows might shatter.

My eyes widened as the storm raged, ravaging the world, driving sheets of water across the garden paths and tearing at the cloth hangings in the gazebo and arbours, and I realised something.

People were out in it, servants who rushed to gather the wooden chairs that were being pushed around in the gale.

And they weren’t alone.

Kaeleron battled the wind, shielding his face with his forearm as he helped the servants chase down the unruly furniture and directed those without something to do towards the banners and hangings. Mad fools!

Thunder echoed around the black mountains.

Waves crashed against the cliffs and the tower I could barely see beyond the docks, spraying white foam high into the air.

Wind howled through the garden, battering the trees and making the water on the patios ripple violently before it slammed into the castle and rattled the glass before me.

I had never seen anything like this storm.

It was raw fury, pure power that made me feel small and vulnerable but bewitched by it.

Kaeleron almost lost his footing as wind ripped through the garden and sent one of the hangings from an arbour flying at him. It slapped against his side, plastered to him, and his face twisted as he struggled to peel it off him and fought to bundle it up.

I hurried down the steps, considering adding myself to the list of fools out in the rain, but when I reached the entrance to the garden, I almost ran into Kaeleron as he jogged inside.

Looking more like a drowned rat than a noble king.

He smirked at me, water rolling down his face from his soaked black hair, his tunic and trousers stuck to his skin. “Did I provide adequate entertainment?”

I looked beyond him to the almost empty garden. All the furniture and hangings were gone, and even some of the planters had been moved to more sheltered positions.

“I’m surprised you didn’t just teleport straight inside and let the servants deal with it alone.

” I looked from the storm battered garden, watching the wind catch the rain as thunder boomed overhead, closer now, and I did my best not to shrink into a small ball as it shook the ground beneath my feet, refusing to let Kaeleron see how easily it shook me.

His silver gaze narrowed on me as he canted his head and ran long fingers through his hair, tousling it further. “Would you, if you had already been out there?”

I had been about to go out to help, even though I had been dry, and he knew it.

I shrugged. “I’m not a king. I’m just a wolf.”

“Just a wolf,” he echoed, sounding as if he didn’t believe that for some reason, and then he beckoned me to move closer, a wicked light in his eyes. “You had your entertainment and now I shall have mine.”

My lips flattened as I glared at him, aware where this was heading.

“I will give you a choice. Stand out in the storm for a full fifteen minutes, or help me out of my wet clothes while you run me a bath.”

I huffed. “That’s an easy decision to make.”

I went to pass him, heading for the garden, but he snagged my arm and his skin was so cold my entire body locked up tight as goosebumps broke out across my skin.

He was freezing, his skin paler than usual, and I looked him over and then beyond him to the storm that continued to rage, sheets of rain dancing across the garden as thunder rolled.

“Do I get a bath to warm up afterwards?” I asked as I looked from the storm to him.

“No.” His smile was feline. “Not even a handsome king to remove your wet clothes, unless you ask me nicely.”

I weighed it up. Freeze my ass off in a storm that was getting worse because I was feeling stubborn, or undress him.

I had done worse things and I had already seen him nude, so it was an easy choice to make after all.

“Fine.”

Darkness devoured us both.

And Kaeleron’s husky chuckle as I quickly clung to him caressed my cheek and teased my neck.

Rousing a dangerous, needy heat in my veins.