“Eat.” He jerked his chin toward the bowl. “You need your strength.”
I watched him warily, searching for any hint of deceit, any shadow of the cruelty I expected. But there was nothing—only quiet, infuriating patience.
A fresh wave of hunger gnawed at my stomach. Slowly, reluctantly, I reached for the spoon. The first bite was cautious, the warmth of the broth hitting my tongue, rich with herbs and spices. It wasn’t the bland, watered-down slop I’d been given in the dungeons. It was real food. Hot. Nourishing.
I hated how good it tasted.
Ashterion watched as I took another bite, his expression bored.
We sat in silence for a moment, the only sound the faint clink of my spoon against the ceramic bowl. My body screamed for me to devour it, to shove it down as fast as possible, but I forced myself to pace each bite, refusing to look desperate.
I swallowed down a mouthful. “Why am I here?”
Ashterion’s eyes held mine, unblinking and fathomless. In the flickering firelight, they shifted with shadows that weren’t quite natural.
“Curiosity,” he said, the word thrumming through the air. “I find humans… intriguing.”
I stared at him, spoon hovering above the bowl, my pulse thrumming in my ears.
“A shame you’re so filthy.” Ashterion studied me with the detached interest of someone examining a new species. “I would have liked to examine you properly.”
A dry, humourless laugh scraped from my throat. “Apologies for not donning my finest gown while rotting in your dungeon.”
Ashterion smirked. “I accept your apology.”
The absolutegallof him.
I clenched my teeth, fingers tightening around the spoon. “You’re a prick.”
He didn’t react, didn’t even breathe differently. Instead, he tilted his head, as if weighing the insult and discarding it as beneath him.
“There’s a bathing chamber through that door,” he said smoothly, gesturing with a flick of his fingers. “Get cleaned up.”
“Fuck. Off.”
Ashterion sighed, long-suffering, as if I were the one being difficult.
I lifted my chin, refusing to look away.
“Unless you’d prefer my guards scrub you down themselves,” his voice was calm, almost bored, “you will do as you’re told.”
The air in the roomshifted.
I went utterly still, my breath catching in my throat. Rage sank into my bones, twisted itself into my lungs, choking out anything but the sheerloathingI held for him in that moment.
If I had my power, I’d burn the skin from his bones, slow enough to make him feel every scream he’d ignored.
But I wasn’t stupid.
Not here. Not now.
“I can hardly bathe while chained.”
Ashterion sighed, then snapped his fingers. With a loudclink, the shackles on my wrists and ankles fell away, landing in a heap on the polished stone floor.
The collar at my throat, however, remained. I lifted my fingers to it instinctively, it was smooth, cool against my skin. A silent, inescapable weight.
“That stays,” Ashterion said, as if reading my thoughts.
