Once I was dry, Rose handed across underwear and a dress. Ignoring the silky and expensive feel to each piece, I just pulled them on and dropped the lilac-colored shift dress over my head. It was old-fashioned, falling to my knees and draping across the rest of my body. The straps were thin, with lace edging.
I reached up and ripped the lace free, the material giving away easily. I hated lace. At least there were no ruffles. Rose said nothing as she sat me in front of a large, ornate mirror and pulled a wide-toothed comb through my black hair. It was getting longer now, falling in a dark cascade to my mid-back. As it draped around my face, the blue highlights made the dark blue of my eyes pop.
“We really need to ugly you up a bit,” Rose said as she looked over my head. “The king likes pretty things. He’s going to be even more obsessed with you now.”
I snorted. “My mouth’s not pretty, and he’s sure as hell not going to like what comes out of it.”
Rose’s expression was scrunched, her thin eyebrows drawn together. “He’s a dragon shifter. They like fire. They like fight. Maybe you’d be better acting like me. Invisible.”
We both stared at our reflections. The contrast between us was strong. I wasn’t sure I could tame the fire inside of me. I too was a dragon, and a wolf, and both of them were wild.
“I’m going to beat him,” I said to her. “I’ll figure out how to break the marked bonds, then I’ll kill him. We’ll be free one day.”
Her scrunched expression did not ease, and I knew she had given up hoping a long time ago. My words meant nothing to her.
When I was groomed to her satisfaction, she ushered me toward the door.
“Why do you think Larky took you from your family?” I asked as we paused before the barred doors. “There must have been a reason he helped your village. He doesn’t strike me as the kind of supernatural to just offer his services out of the goodness of his heart.”
What had he wanted from them?
“For a long time I wondered the same thing as you,” she said, a spark of fire lighting up those dull eyes. “Then one night I woke and found him in my room. He was draining my blood and life force. I believe that for some time he’d been sneaking in, spelling me to sleep and stealing from me. The sleep elixir must have been weaker that night. I was able to hear some of what he said. He spoke of how my blood worked the best in his spells, that it was the closest thing he had to the blood of the shining ones. My father always told me we were descended from fey, and I think that was what he needed in my blood.”
So not totally human after all. Probably why she had adapted so easily to this land. The shining ones were the gods of Faerie, and if what she said was true, her blood would hold elements of their power. Blood was used a lot in spells. It was filled with life and essence; its strength was unparalleled. I wished Jacob was here, he’d know more about this than me. Faerie secrets were well guarded.
Hell, I really needed all of my boys. Most probably they were locked up right now for rampaging, pillaging, and killing stupid fuckers who wouldn’t tell them where I was. I stumbled then as the full-body ache of being away from my pack crushed in on me. Rose mistook my fumble as weakness from hunger.
She touched my arm. “Come, you must replenish your strength.”
I didn’t understand this girl. Sure, I had no real experience with humans, although she wasn’t really human, but she didn’t seem to hate or love Larky. It was almost as if she was indifferent, which was a coping mechanism I had noticed in some of the long-lived members of our races. They had endured through so much that eventually they just shut down their emotions. Of course, there were always exceptions to that rule. Louis, my powerful sorcerer friend, had proven that by finally coming back to the land of the living after the death of his chosen mate.
Rose grabbed her basket and moved across to the door. Her cotton dress swamped her slender frame and looked easy to pull on and off. Why couldn’t I have worn that style instead of this lace number? I swear to the gods, if Larky’s eyes lowered to my boobs for even a second, I would forego all of my fake calm and rip his head off.
Rose knocked a few times on the door. There was a pattern to it; I guessed she was alerting the guard on the other side. My sensitive hearing picked up the click as the magical locks released, then the door swung open soundlessly. Rose didn’t seem concerned to have her back to me. She was either stupidly trusting, or she had already sensed that I was not going to attack her.
To save my boys I would destroy anyone, but if I was the only one to think of, I could be more altruistic. Besides, I would have plenty of opportunities to escape. No doubt king dickhead would make a wrong move sooner or later.
My bare feet padded silently behind her, the floor cool but not uncomfortable. Like most of Faerie, the weather here probably did not change – not to mention everything here was infused with magic, so the floating castle and its surroundings would just respond to Larky’s will.
Rose led me back to the kitchen area, and then off into a large round room. The stone floor merged into a thick, warm carpet and my feet sunk into the luxuriousness. Despite my fatigue and hunger, I remained focused on my surroundings, cataloguing windows and doorways. Noting that the large wooden table was ornately set.
“This is where I leave you. Please take a seat and someone will be with you shortly.”
Rose nodded at me once – there was that spark of something in her eyes again – then she was gone. I watched her leave before refocusing on the table. It was made from what looked like a single slab of wood. It wasn’t perfectly square; the shape mimicked the natural stretch of the tree it had been cut from. It reminded me of the stunning wooden piece in the boy’s house in Stratford, the one that had been lovingly carved by Braxton. My dragon was talented with his hands, in more ways than one.