“Is that why you brought me here?” I demanded. “Because you thought watching me get beaten to death would inspire mortals? Why do you even care about mortal sentiment?”
“There are consequences to not coming forward when you’re dragon-marked.” His voice was maddeningly calm. “You were a dead girl who hadn’t stopped breathing yet. Taking a bit of a beating in the ring in a few days isn’t so bad in comparison.”
“Why would anyone have ever known? Look at me. I’mmortal. I’mnot supposed to have this mark. I’m not supposed to be a dragon shifter.”
“Who’s to say what’s meant to be? Fate’s the ultimate trickster.” His gaze caught on me, his lips tilting upward. “Maybe you’re the little mortal who will burn this twisted Fae kingdom to the ground.”
His words were so mocking. I felt myself flush hot.
“Come and hurt me, Cara,” he said with a smile.
But of course, I couldn’t.
Twenty-Three
Icarried a pocket full of smoked meat and cheese—rolled up in a napkin—into my room after lunch. I was looking for a place to hide it when the sound of clicking nails over hardwood startled me into panic.
Rees was watching me curiously from the doorway, his head tilted and his ears cocked. If my heart hadn’t been fluttering in my chest like the wings of a frantic bird—and if he weren’t the size of a small cow—he would have been cute.
“Are you hungry?” I asked, kneeling to roll a smoked sausage across the floor to him.
He gobbled it up and looked at me expectantly.
“You’ve got to keep it our secret,” I told the dog.
He growled, and my heart rate spiked. Well, apparently we weren’t friendly if I weren’t actively feeding him. I rolled him another sausage.
“What secret?” Maura sounded bored as she leaned in my doorway, and I jolted to my feet, throwing the napkin bundle under my bed.
She studied my face, then smirked before I could answer. “Don’t worry, mortal. I know your secrets are dull.”
She’d been exceptionally miserable since we met, and while Fieran had tried to excuse her behavior, no other shifter I’d met had beensomean.The other clans might see me as a piece of furniture, but she went out of her way to insult me.
“Did I do something to offend you?” I asked.
“We can talk about that while we train,” Maura promised me.
“What kind of training?”
“Making sure you don’t humiliate yourself in front of the clans during Recruits’ Trials.”
That seemed awfully optimistic from the woman who’d been tossing around the jam jar earlier. I was not remotely surprised when she went on to add, “I don’t meanimpressinganyone. I just don’t want you crying before someone lands a punch. We all know you’re going to embarrass yourself.”
“Very comforting.”
“Do you want to train with Fieran instead?” she asked pointedly.
“Lead on,” I said.
She marched me into an empty room in a quiet hallway off the arena.
“Perfect,” she pronounced, glancing around the unused space, which had a vaulted ceiling and plain whitewashed walls. “Short distance to the healers, but still private.”
“What?”
“It’s always horrifying the first time someone punches you in the face.” Maura leaned in like we were conspirators. “Lucky you. I’m here to get it over with.”
“I didn’t?—”
