The gilded pet.
“I should kill you for the way you treated Auren. For the way you fucking allowed your husband to treat her. For doing nothing.”
And now, he wants me to show him her cage.
I owe a debt to Ravinger for saving my people, and he’s come to collect. He’s come to make me pay.
Turning, I head inside to lead the rotten king.
Surely, this is what it feels like to be stalked.
King Ravinger’s presence behind me stifles and goads, making my entire back prickle with threat. My body is teetering on a precipice of adrenaline, not knowing whether to try to fight or flee. Though my mind knows neither of those options would work if he chooses to kill me.
The only thing I could do is fall to the floor in another bow of supplication. One doesn’t run from the apex predator. One doesn’t try to fight a god with mere sticks.
You bend the knee and beg for mercy.
My thighs burn as I lead the way up the many flights of stairs, my weakened body protesting the ascent just as much as my burdened mind.
Highbell is in tatters, with stolen furnishings and chipped-away gold. Even though Queen Kaila ordered the white paint to be buffed away and the castle to be put back to order, it still looks derelict. Her efforts were half-finished and no competition for the soiled spots where rotted fae were felled.
The stench in here makes my eyes water.
With my spine stiffened, we make it to the very top floor to Auren’s room. The door is already open, with bleary-eyed windows feeding in a haze of light. I step aside, feeling Ravinger’s presence like a looming, deathly dark come to swallow me whole.
He steps in. Boots loud against the gilt floor. Passing by me, he stops before the cage bars. His head turns, eyes swiveling, as he takes in every single inch of the space. I look at it too, trying to see it through his eyes.
An elaborate bedroom, every inch gleaming. It would be a normal room, if not for the cage built inside of it. It stretches up from the floor, almost mocking in the beauty of its construction. Filigree bands meld around its base and top, the cage door curling with metal fretwork. The bars are thick, the space between them narrow and curving like a pretty birdcage, each one gathering together at the top like strands of hair caught in a tie.
A gilt greenhouse, trapping the golden flower that bloomed within.
As he takes it all in, Ravinger is so still that I startle when he suddenly steps inside of it. Warily, I watch as he slowly walks around the inside of the cage.
His fingers yank at the nearly sheer drapery hooked at the ceiling, letting it fall. The fabric allowed Auren to draw it down like curtains on a window. I suppose it offered some semblance of privacy against anyone who walked in the room so they couldn’t see her through the bars. Though how much privacy could it truly be? Now, it seems like such a paltry offering—more of a tease than anything.
His touch trails over her glossy bed, and he pinches the fabric between his fingers. He studies her bedside table, the wine pitchers, the gilt tray with plates and cups. Then he disappearsinto the threshold past her bed, his footsteps receding slowly. If he walks the entire length of her barred rooms, he’ll go through her closet and washroom, all the way to the library and atrium.
I stand utterly still, bones stiff, muscles tight. My heartbeat flutters anxiously in my chest, but I’ve no way to calm it. I simply wait. Trembling with every tick of the clock.
When he comes back, he stops and stares at the sole window. She couldn’t even have a proper look out, since the glass is iced over. Something I used to cruelly relish.
My stomach twists in a way that feels an awful lot like remorse.
Ravinger stands there for a drawn-out moment. The silence squeezes every part of my spine, like his grip is ready to grind down my bones.
Finally, he turns.
Walks toward me.
Stops.
My heart nearly falls out of my chest in trepidation. I don’t dare take a breath or make any sudden movement. His looming presence bears down on me with quiet wrath. I can hear every word he’s not saying as if they’re striking across my face.
I don’t know when something spurred between Auren and him, but it doesn’t matter. To stand here with him now, to witness him seeing this barred room, it coats me in terrified shame. He looks at me, full of fuming contempt and utter blame, and the truth is right there in his eyes.
We caged the woman he loves.
My chest aches with a longing sort of grief as it recognizes such a dangerous devotion, the likes of which I have never seen. His feelings for Auren permeate the very air, making me quiver beneath its weight.
