His mouth pinched, and he was muttering beneath his breath as he gave in and bent over to jam a foot into a boot. And then—
His face twisted with pain.“Fuuuck!”
I cocked my head to the side, blinking innocently and trying not to snicker. “Something wrong, asshole?”
He briefly squeezed his eyes shut as if he was trying really hard not to explode. Easing the foot free, he kept his furious gaze on mine as he pulled three wall tacks out of the bottom of his foot.
I hitched a shoulder, shrugging. “Your arts and crafts box hadloadsof fun things in it.”
Graysen stalked to the dining table, tipped both his boots upside down, and the metal tacks I’d dropped in there earlier, along with a few pink sequins, rattled all over the surface.
Shoving his feet into each boot and running each of the zippers up, he couldn’t even look at me as he strode past and left our quarters in his pink sparkly boots, slamming the door behind him.
I headed to the balcony. The tower’s magic brushed against my skin, raising the fine hair on my body as I stepped through the space Graysen had carved in the walls. I leaned over the stone railing. My wavy hair draped and swayed in the brisk breeze like ocean currents teasing seaweed. I watched the goings-on below, the servants and soldiers crossing the inner courtyard, until a few minutes later, I heard the low rumble of Graysen’s motorcycle. I snatched the barest glimpse of him in the distance, as he streaked down the long winding driveway and disappeared into the thick copse of trees that separated the fortress from the estate’s gates.
He always left for a few hours every day, and when he returned, he’d arrive with the faintest scent lingering on him. An earthy smell as if he’d strode through a forest; the stale smell of cigarettes and alcohol, a bar he’d sat in for a short time; or like yesterday, a mixture of pungent scents as if he’d walked through a spice bazaar.
Knowing that I was stuck here alone, I pushed off the railing and headed back inside.
I needed a plan, and I needed to get out of this room. The only way free was Graysen, none of the other Crowthers had come uphere. His brothers had returned home last night, and Ferne had kept well away the past week.
Graysen was it.
I wanted this collar around my neck gone, and he was the only Crowther here that could untie it.
I flopped straight-backed onto the couch, gnawing at my bottom lip and wondering how to break him. The first thing to do, because I knew he’d never undo the collar’s knot, was to get myself out of this tower.
15
Nelle
The sun’s dying rays spread a sheen of fall throughout the room. Streaks of pale yellow and shafts of rust and burnished amber played with the creeping shadows on the pillars and in the deeper recesses of my prison. I was pacing again, as I’d done in the early days of being ensnared within the tower. But this time it wasn’t despair that had slunk like thick, smothering ivy around my soul and whispered insidiously that I would never be free. It was an uneasy, prickly feeling that harassed me.
I was worried.
Graysen had spent the entire day elsewhere, the longest he’d ever been gone since I’d awoken from nearly slipping into hibernation.
I didn’t understand what had kept him away.
Me?
Or something else?
Sage lay beside Graysen’s monstrosity of a bed, his head on his paws and ears alert.
I didn’t know what to do. If I should be worried or not. And I didn’t wish to think about what could have kept him away, but it had been tormenting me for the past few hours. Was he with a girl? And I hated that bitter jealousy ate at my insides at the thought of him entwined with someone else.
Scowling, I shoved that jealousy aside, stuffed it down deep, stomped on it like I’d want to stomp on him if he came back reeking of sickly perfume. I had no right to be jealous. He meant nothing to me.Nothing.
He was my jailer, and that was all.
The man I had to destroy to get myself free.
Spinning around, I flopped into the oversized armchair. My baggy dress hung limply, and I absentmindedly plucked at the delicate leaves embroidered on the skirt, trying to loosen a silver thread. As much as I hated to admit it, I was worried.
Suddenly, Sage surged to his paws. He let out a deep, rumbling growl as he prowled ahead to place himself before me, staring right at the entrance to Graysen’s rooms.
A moment later I heard the muffled sound of voices.
