She was always better with words than me. Will she ever use those skills again? Will she get to finish the education she so deserves?
Eventually, I end up back at my new chambers. Grigore and his large black direwolf are stationed outside the rooms, a minor comfort. He and Helene will split the days, with Anassa, Cratos, and Stark filling in when they can.
The attendants in my chambers will be instructed to keep away from her door. The official excuse is that Saela is ill from her months in captivity.
I murmur a greeting to Grigore and then head through my living area and into Saela’s room. It’s been stocked with books already—did Stark do that? The hearth is blazing. And she’s wrapped up in blankets on her bed, her back to the door.
She doesn’t stir when I sit down on the bed. Either she’s asleep or just pretending to be. My heart tears at the thought. I reach out a tentative hand and stroke her long brown hair—so similar to how mine used to look.
Everything has changed since my hair looked that way.
And still—this is what matters the most.
“I’m going to fix you, Sae,” I whisper.
Which one of us am I trying to convince?
8
STARK
If someone told me I’d one day lose sleep to keep a Siphon safe from harm, I’d have laughed in their face. And then probably snapped their neck for good measure because they were too stupid to live.
Yet, here I am, seated on the uncomfortable stone tile of the hallway, doing exactly that.
It’s only been a quarter of an hour or so since I relieved Grigore of his guard duty, taking his place outside Meryn’s chambers to ensure that nobody unwelcome goes in… and that Saela doesn’t come out for a midnight snack.
Cratos is curled up next to me, his pose lazy but his green eyes sharp and ready for action. He and I have been mentally reviewing the day’s events, talking through what must be done in the morning—specifically, the things we’ll be expected to help out with before the coronation.
With the newly Bonded finally departed for the front, it will be quiet around here tomorrow.
It was strange, watching them leave and not going with them. I’ve beenaway from the front—and from the rest of the Daemos pack—for far too long. Thankfully, my Beta is seasoned and stays in constant communication.
But somehow, even though I spent the past four months waiting impatiently for Meryn to get it the fuck together and reclaim her crown, I always assumed I’d head back to active duty.
Hanging my head, I take a deep breath, then crack my neck. An itchiness builds inside me. I don’t do well with sitting around or with feeling like I’m not in charge, and the past few months have been too much of both.
It’s enough to make a man lose control.
A soft, feminine cough comes from somewhere inside the room behind me, and I clench my jaw. If she’s not careful, I just might lose control onher.
Last night, when she had that dream, Cratos opened himself back up to me, that asshole. I felt her agony as if it were happening to me, too, and I’ve never moved through the halls so fast, desperate to just make itend.
And then there she was.
In a fucking silk nightgown hitched up to her hips, her nipples hard through the thin fabric, and that horriblemate bondon full blast. I slid a hand down her arm to wake her up and so nearly lost it, marveling in the sensation of her soft skin.
She let out a mewling moan at my touch, and it took every inch of my control to not keep going, to see what other sounds I could strum out of her with my hands.
Thankfully, she opened her eyes and lied to my face. Whatever was happening, it was far more than some bad dream, and I could tell. The lie was a splash of ice water on a freezing day.
By the time Cratos brought the shield back down, I got a good hard look at the utter pigpen she created out of her room in a matter of hours.
Who lives like that?
My disgust shook me out of any last lingering, insensible attraction.
I don’t know what I’m going to do about Meryn Sturmfrost. But since ripping her clothes off and bending her over the breakfast table isn’t a viable option, I might throw her irritating ass out a window the next time she tries my patience.
