Page 79 of Wolf Caged (Bound to the Shadow King #1)

SAPHIRA

K aeleron’s scent of wild storm swirled around me as I rolled onto my side. I burrowed my face into the soft pillow beside me, breathing deep of his smell that was on it.

And on me.

In me.

I was too damned satisfied to be mortified by what he had done or how I had acted last night.

I stretched beneath the soft covers, arching more like a cat than a wolf, and most certainly feeling like I had gotten the cream.

The ache between my thighs was blissful, and the calm that lived within me, filling every fibre of my being, was heavenly.

I wanted to stay here in the cottage, floating in this bed and replaying everything we had done, but I’d had the strangest dream.

One of a vast dark grey desert and a glittering crimson crystal lovingly held aloft on a plinth crafted of bleached bones.

And I wasn’t wholly sure the dream had been mine.

Neve had pushed those images into my mind while I slept and it was open, unguarded.

I was sure of it as I shuffled from the bed and bundled my robe into a tight ball, tying it with the belt, my mind turning towards my task of finding the location of An’sidwain for Kaeleron.

I would grab breakfast in my rooms and then I would head straight to the library.

I opened the door, taking only a moment to breathe in the dewy kiss of morning as I stepped out of the cottage, and then closed the door behind me, shifted and grabbed the bundle of my robe with my fangs.

I let my paws fly over the long grass, my ears twitching as I listened to the forest waking up, seeking any sign of predators so I could avoid them, and then thundered into the trees, my strides lengthening as their canopy shaded me, stealing that beautiful sky from my eyes.

The run to the castle was shorter than I had expected, and I quickly found the path from the glade, picking up the trail and following it towards the garden.

And scented someone familiar ahead of me.

I ducked behind a tree and shifted back to my human form, and quickly untied the black robe and donned it, wishing I had something a little less flimsy to cover me.

The next time I decided to lose my temper, I needed to strip before anger got the better of me and I ended up ruining another set of clothes.

Riordan was just walking past as I stepped out from the trees, and he whirled and bared fangs, his eyes crimson and pupils elliptical as his hands came up in a defensive move. He huffed when he saw it was me and lowered his hands, the ruby bleeding from his irises.

“I didn’t mean to scare you.” I checked the belt of my robe was tied tightly enough and that the garment covered all of me, feeling uneasy to be in such a state of undress in the garden.

The servants were going to speak. Worse, the highborn would be talking about it for weeks if they caught sight of me.

Especially if they caught sight of me speaking with Riordan while dressed like this.

“I’m going to pretend you don’t reek of sex and be all polite.

Here goes. Oh, Saphira, fancy coming across you here.

” Riordan grinned at me and I barely resisted the urge to box his ears as my cheeks heated, and then he relaxed and shoved his hands into the pockets of his fitted black pants. “I heard you met Mal.”

I nodded. “I don’t think it went well.”

He shrugged, shifting his black tunic. “Don’t take it personally. Mal is a little twitchy around the whole slavery subject since he went through it himself and lost pretty much everything… including his sanity for a while there. Sometimes, still his sanity.”

“If I had known. I wouldn’t have said what I did.”

“How could you have known? Mal wasn’t meant to be back until today. Last report he filed to me had his return as this evening, and that’s what I told Kaeleron. Our royal highness probably wants my head for that. Vyr says he wanted to prepare you before you met Mal.”

“That would have been nice,” I said and fell into step beside him as we took the pale stone steps down to the main garden.

“I’m on my way to the library… via my room to bathe and have breakfast. Maybe I’ll see Malachi there.

He seemed rather at home there and I suspect that the chair I’ve been making my own was his all along. ”

Riordan’s expression pinched and he scrubbed his neck. “No library time for Mal today. He’s with Kaeleron in the great hall, greeting our unwanted guests.”

“Unwanted guests?” My mind leaped to my pack, my heart racing even as I told myself it wouldn’t be them. It was probably just another court come to visit.

“I’d steer clear if I were you.” Riordan waved as he broke away from me. “Vyr is with them so I need to handle the training for the recruits today. I’ll catch you later.”

I hurried into the castle and up to my rooms, somehow making it there without being spotted by anyone else.

I made fast work of bathing, and when I left the bathroom my breakfast was waiting, and I blushed as I saw it was almost double the usual amount, as if Kaeleron had told the cooks I would be extra hungry this morning.

Bastard.

I devoured the food anyway, not leaving a single bite, and drained the tea pot before quickly dressing in a fresh pair of black leathers, a cream blouse and a supple dark brown suede under-bust corset, and boots.

I braided my hair as I left my room.

Intending to go straight to the library.

But what Riordan had said slowed my steps and had my focus turning towards the floors below me.

What if the unwanted guests were wolves? What if it was Lucas?

I told myself to go straight to the library, but somehow found myself on the ground floor instead, sneaking towards the arched doors of the great hall at the end of the broad entrance corridor. They were ajar and I strained to hear what was happening inside.

And flinched and reared back as someone unleashed a shrill cry of pain.

I shoved the right door open, bursting into the room, my heart in my throat as my hackles rose.

But it wasn’t anyone I recognised kneeling on the marble floor before Kaeleron.

Malachi was a deadly shadow in head-to-toe black leather, blades sheathed along his ribs and his onyx wings spread as he loomed over one of the trio of blond males, one of his small knives buried in the male’s chest as he pinned him to the floor.

All three of the males were young, the oldest looking no older than nineteen to my eyes. They were just boys.

Kaeleron turned glacial silver eyes on the middle male and growled, “Speak your reason for being in my court.”

When the young male hesitated, shadows rose around him, sharp lances poised to strike as his green eyes darted to them and he shrank into himself, his arms coming up to shield his vital organs. As if that would save him.

“Speak,” Kaeleron boomed, the command echoing around the cathedral-like chamber, ricocheting off the carved black columns that supported the vaulted ceiling.

The male hesitated still, and I flinched away as those shadows flew at him, as they stabbed him one by one, piercing only deep enough to inflict pain rather than a fatal wound.

The fae unleashed a blood-curdling scream as his body jerked and twisted with each shadow that struck him.

Malachi lifted his head and shoved off the one he had stabbed, his onyx gaze alight with reddish-purple fire as he looked at the one Kaeleron was torturing.

I looked at Kael.

At the cold male who stood on that dais at the end of the aisle, dressed in black armour and a thorny crown, ice coating the hard lines of his face and his eyes empty, soulless pits that revealed no emotion as he stared at the fae he was striking with his shadows, not even giving him a chance to speak.

“Stop!” I stepped further into the room, my heart pounding as I forced myself to do something rather than stand by and let him do this, let him torment these fae, and maybe part of me didn’t want to see this reminder of the male he could be.

The cold, ruthless unseelie king.

The fae closest to Malachi made the mistake of trying to move towards his companion, and Kaeleron made a small gesture with his hand, a flicker of something twisted and predatory in his eyes as he watched the two fae.

Malachi immediately caught the male around the throat and shoved him back against the floor, his blade against his throat this time, poised to cut it.

Kaeleron’s lips stretched in a satisfied smirk as the fae in the middle cast a terrified look at the younger male Malachi had pinned, his face crumpling as tears lined his pale lashes.

“Wait.” That word was garbled and the male coughed, bringing up blood that trickled down his chin as he reached for the male beneath Malachi. “Stop. Wait. Do not harm my brother.”

I gasped as I looked between the two of them, and then looked at Kaeleron.

And saw only darkness in his eyes.

Victory.

He had found a weakness among them, and was going to harm the brother to make this male speak.

I stared at Kaeleron, hating this brutal reminder of who he really was, a male so different to the one who had come to me last night, who had taken care of me and had held me in his arms while I slept.

“Stop,” I said and stepped further into the room.

Kaeleron’s eyes lifted to me, his expression dark and unreadable, and then he gestured to someone off to his left, his voice cold as he ordered, “Remove her from the room.”

Jenavyr nodded and stalked towards me, her face as cold as her brother’s as she closed the distance between us.

I shot Kaeleron a hard look. “You’re harming innocents.”

He snarled, baring jagged fangs, the lines of his face hardening with it as he stared me down.

“The only innocent in this room is you, and you are a blind fool if you believe I will show mercy to these wretches simply because you asked it of me. I have no mercy to give. Take her to her room and lock her in it.”

Jenavyr seized my arm and I started, entire body tensing before I recognised who had me.