Melchom pulled out a dish from behind his back. Water sloshed inside of it. The inside of my throat hurt as I swallowed again at the sight of the liquid. Melchom opened the gate for the Tax dog opposite me and placed the dish inside. Even the dogs seemed reluctant to approach him. I wondered if they sensed the inherent cruelty radiating from him, or worse, been on the receiving end of it themselves.
Melchom reached a hand out to pet the dog, but it balked, avoiding him. I smirked as Melchom sniffed offendedly and stood back up. I didn’t bother wiping the look off my face as he shot me one last snooty look before stomping out of the kennel.
When he was good and gone, the Tax dog approached the water and lapped at it. It met my eye almost apologetically. I sighed and sat back down. I hadn’t really liked this breed of dog before, but now that we were going through the same shit together, I felt a kind of weird kinship with it. Plus, it wasn’t so scary now that I’d been staring at it all night.
Time was a blur until the kennel exploded into barking again, signalling the arrival of another person. Surely Melchom hadn’t come back again? But my wariness turned to excitement when I heard Cecil’s soft voice cooing at all the dogs. The Tax dog across from me bounced to its feet, tongue lolling out in happy excitement, wagging its little nub of a tail. Its body language was completely different with Cecil than with Melchom, which made me wonder darkly what evils he’d wrought in private.
“Hey, Rock!” Elian greeted me. I still couldn’t tell if he was messing up my name on purpose or not. “You survived the night, huh?”
“Seems like it,” I said.
As the two approached my cell, the scent of pancakes came wafting with them. My stomach growled. I pretended not to notice it.
“Cecil, c’mon,” Elian called down the hall. To me he added, “He’s always gotta say hi to each one. What a sap.”
I smiled. “I think it’s nice.”
“Huh. Thought you didn’t like dogs.”
I glanced over to my Tax dog neighbor, who whimpered and pawed at the fence for Cecil’s attention.
“I don’t mind them,” I said.
Cecil finally plopped himself down in front of me. My heart fell slightly when I noticed only a single book in his hands. That couldn’t be the only book that mentioned fated mates in their entire royal library, right?
“Sorry we took so long,” Cecil murmured. “We had to have breakfast, and then I had to look through all my books, and it kept making me sleepy…”
Biting my lip, I asked, “Was Sebastian there?”
“Hm. No.” Cecil tilted his head. “I didn’t see him at breakfast, now that you mention it.”
“I haven’t seen him all day,” Elian added. “He’s probably sulking in his room or something.”
I didn’t know whether to be smug or concerned about that. Either way, it didn’t feel like a good sign that Sebastian had disappeared.
My stomach growled loudly again. I wasn’t able to hide it, and Cecil and Elian both heard.
“Did you not have breakfast?” Cecil asked.
“No, he didn’t, remember?” Elian said. “Seb threw a big fit about the alpha not getting to eat. We even offered him dog treats yesterday.”
I still wasn’tthatdesperate, though knowing these royals, the dog treats were probably made with the finest ingredients in all the land.
“I’m fine,” I told them. “I’m more interested in the book.”
Cecil hummed apprehensively as he opened it up. “I couldn’t find anything about it in other books, but IswearI remembered something about it in this one.” He flipped to a particular page. “But now I don’t see it.”
“Maybe you just forgot,” Elian suggested.
“No,” Cecil said firmly. “I know for sure I remember a part about fated mates. I remember ‘cause there was a part about pomegranates and kissing that I thought was funny.”
My heart flipped. It was a bit of a stretch, but could that be related to what Sebastian and I were going through?
“Let me see,” Elian demanded, taking the book. He frowned as he examined it. “Hold up. The story doesn’t make any sense. It’s talking about the God of Fertility being all lonely, but then the book just ends. I mean, I know it’s a book for kids, but even kids know when a story sucks.”
Cecil nodded. “I definitely read it when I was a kid. It’s been ages, but I know for a fact it didn’t stop abruptly like that.”
“Can I see the book?” I asked.
