The blue-haired man is shuddering now. All his long hair is loose. It looks really pretty.
“Poor Osian,” whispers Mabon, and I don’t think he meant to speak out loud.
I look at him in surprise. His expression is one of vague interest. His eyes are blank. My leash is slack in his hand. Frowning, I look at his hand very closely. He is trembling. Ever so slightly.
My attention is snatched back to the ring. Gruffydd is pushing Osian down onto the floor. Now he is lifting his robes up. The crowd is cheering and shouting out encouragements.
Oh my god. No. Please tell me this isn’t what I think it is.
But it very clearly is.
This can’t be happening.
“Stop this!” I say to Mabon in a strangled gasp.
He gives me a confused, slightly irritated look. “Why would I do that?”
Then he turns back to the entertainment.
I’m going to be sick. I close my eyes and cover my ears. This is awful. Horrendous. Downright evil. Fey are such cruel motherfuckers. I can’t believe I was softening towards Mabon. He is not human. He is my enemy. He doesn’t have compassion or a sense of justice.
Mabon has no soul.
Chapter thirteen
Blearily, I open my eyes. It’s dark and quiet. Mabon has slipped into bed behind me. He is back late. I wonder where he has been?
He presses up to my back and the long slender heat of him spoons me. His hand drifts over my stomach, heading lower.
My arousal stirs at the exact same time as memories from earlier today come flooding back. The horrors of the duel. Mabon’s cold indifference.
I slide away from him. “Get the fuck off of me!”
He freezes. Suddenly as motionless and lifeless as a marble statue. Then he clicks his fingers and the lamps flare to life. I feel him shift position.
“Look at me.” Bizarrely, it sounds more like a request than an order.
But I turn around anyway. Better safe than sorry. He is sitting up in the bed, sheets pooled in his lap, but naked as far as I can tell.
His amethyst eyes rake over me. Assessing. Probing. Considering. It is so damn hard not to squirm under the scrutiny. I sit up, but it doesn’t make me feel any better.
“What’s got you all grumpy?” he asks.
His condescending tone grates on every single one of my last nerves.
“You watched someone be raped for entertainment!” I yell.
Mabon blinks slowly but seems otherwise completely unruffled by my fury. A slight scowl mars his perfect features.
“I didn’t order it to happen.”
Heaven help me. If he were human, he’d be completely unhinged. A psychopath utterly incapable of empathy. But he is not a human, and perhaps I shouldn’t hold him to the same standards.
“You didn’t stop it,” I say between gritted teeth.
He gives me a long, unreadable look. Then he sighs dramatically.
“I’m flattered you think I wield that much power.”
