CHAPTER TEN
Confession of a king:
I did not expect my Fae damned soul mate to react as she had. I thought I would see fire flying at my head, but, instead, I saw fire within her soul. My father may have held my hands in flames every day for a year, but that training did not prepare me for a furious elf’s silence.
I would have preferred my head set ablaze than the quiet.
MY JAW CRACKEDas I yawned wide, nodding my head distractedly to the two silent sentries in black that guarded my private study. The late-night flight home on Axel had almost lulled me to sleep. I was more than ready to rest my head upon my pillow, my sweet bed only steps away. I pushed through the door and tiredly shut it behind me.
I halted in place, my nose lifting into the air.
My nostrils flared as I inhaled heavily.
Jasmine.
The air contained one more scent.
A Fae-gift.
I jerked my attention to the left. I stared in disbelief and quickly reached back and locked my study’s door.
Penelope’s ass end, much smaller than King Traevon’s Fae-gift, was sticking out from behind my large desk, her black and red tail lying docilely on the stone floor—the rest of her unseen behind the piece of furniture.
My steps were unheard as I prowled to my desk, curving around the edge to gaze incredulously at the Fae-gift. She wassleepingon my Fae damned floor. The skin on my forehead wrinkled while I stood in place, trying to understand what was happening here. I was too tired for this shit right now.
I cleared my throat hard. “Penelope, what do you think you’re doing here?”
Fiery red eyes peeked open. Her teeth bared the smallest bit in annoyance for being woken. She…still did not move, though.
Penelope was much like her owner.
I nodded down at her hindquarters. “If you’re trying to hide, you’re doing a piss poor job of it. Your ass is hanging out.”
The Fae-gift raised her heavy head and crooked her neck to peer down at her body. She huffed quietly at the view, and, somehow, silently, scooted on the floor, hiding herself further.
I stared. “Your tail.”
It instantly swished over her leg, now concealed.
I used the palm of my hand to rub my face, chafing the skin roughly to wake up. I pulled the writing pad out of my travel bag and hastily shoved it inside a drawer. I growled, “Did your owner tell you to stay here, or is this your own marvelous idea to watch over her?”
Penelope bared her teeth—fully—her nose twitching.
“That is what I thought.” I peeled my lips back from my teeth, showing her my tiger fangs in a warning. “Next time, you should obey your owner.”
I turned on my heel and trooped to the caster-spelled entrance of my bedchamber, unsure of what lay ahead—what I would have to deal with now. I had grudgingly invited her. But I sure as Fairy hadn’t expected her to accept.
My steps were silent as I climbed up the masked stairs and entered my bedchamber. The space was silent, except for a hawk squawking in its flight outside my open balcony, only a few lights on inside my room. But…my bedchamber had changed a lot.
For one, an elf slept soundly on top of my bed, lying on the blankets, not under them, her head of red hair resting on my favorite pillow. A brown leather book I knew well lay open on her chest, lightly rising and falling with every breath she took as she clutched a pencil tightly even in her slumber. She only wore a black sweater that was far too large for her, the porcelain skin of her bare legs bright against the dark color of my covers.
As I eyed my former sweater, I quirked an eyebrow.
She had kept it. That was unexpected.
I’d thought she would eventually burn it.
Carefully, I removed the strap of my traveling bag from over my head, setting my belongings down quietly so as not to disturb the elf. I walked to the side of the mattress where she slept and then placed the old wooden stool down on the floor next to my bed. I silently removed my book from her sleeping form, and delicately pried the pencil from her grasp.
