She was alive.
Rubbing her cheek on Kye’s hand, Ilona slowly opened her eyes and gave him a sultry look.
“There is nothing sweeter than a werewolf’s knot on a full moon night,” she said huskily. “In my beast form, I’d rip you to pieces, Your Majesty.”
He gave her an amused smirk. “I bet you would.”
“And what a waste that would be.” She pouted regretfully, then added as a proposition, “Any other night, however, I’d gladly spend with a siren like you.”
From her words and the seductive smile she gave him, it was safe to say the Moon Goddess didn’t demand either purity or celibacy from her worshippers. Ilona didn’t look scared and wasn’t acting like a victim. Maybe she didn’t know about the curse and didn’t realize the danger she had just so narrowly escaped.
But Kye knew, and he’d been fully prepared to murder Ilona to test the magic of his silk.
He patted her cheek through the fabric and praised, “You did well.”
I’d seen him kill monsters, but only to defend us from them. I believed he valued life and killed only out of necessity. Had it been necessary to expose Ilona to deadly danger? Did it make his actions any less reckless or cruel just because she survived?
Kye’s actions, as his emotions, often stretched beyond limits and crossed the lines that I’d been raised to respect. He hated fiercely, fell in and out of love quickly, punished ruthlessly, and claimed swiftly. There was a certain thrill from just being at his side. But there was also great danger in growing close to him, even for those he claimed to favor, the danger that didn’t just come from the curse.
Sidling next to me, Leslo cleared his throat. He seemed uncomfortable in the situation and eager to be done with it.
“Alright then.” He grabbed my arm again. “Since the silk works, our deal is complete.”
Slowly, almost reluctantly, Kye turned toward him. The gaze of his iridescent, multi-faceted eyes cut to thebrack’shand on my arm.
“Ah, about that...” he murmured.
Leslo’s hand promptly released me, and I had a feeling he wasn’t even fully aware of the action himself.
“What are you planning to do with the human?” Kye asked, looking bored.
Leslo shrugged. “Do you want to test your silk on her too?”
A muscle in Kye’s jaw ticked.
“No,” he retorted coolly. “But I’m willing to take her off your hands. For a good price too.”
He spoke in a detached, indifferent voice, not sparing me a glance as if I wasn’t even there. I knew he cared about me.I understood he deliberately downplayed his feelings for me in front of thebrack. That did not negate the fact that two men were about to negotiate a price for my person.
“How much?” Leslo drawled, in an obvious attempt not to look too eager either.
“Well, let’s see...” Kye tapped his chin, squinting into the trees to his left, as if searching for an answer in the forest.
“She’s the only human in the whole of Nerifir right now,” Leslo inserted into Kye’s pretend contemplation. “You’d be the only king with a pet like her.”
“We don’t know that for sure.” Kye waved a hand in a vague, elegant gesture. “There might be more. But I’m willing to buy this one. It’ll save you the hassle of dragging her all over Nerifir in search of a suitable buyer.”
Leslo snorted skeptically. “I don’t think finding a buyer would take long in her case. Humans are rare and treasured higher than gold. Another king or a high lord would snatch her the moment he learns she’s for sale.”
Kye moved a shoulder with a slight wince at the mention of another man buying me, but his voice flowed smoothly, “Maybe, but that would still take time. Instead, you can go back to your goddess right now. Tell her the good news that you completed the task she gave you. Collect your reward. She would handsomely reward a good, obedient slave like yourself, wouldn’t she?”
Temptation thickly infused his voice.
Leslo lowered his head defensively but croaked, “I’ll only take gold or precious stones for the human. And no more quests or favors.”
Their negotiations made my skin crawl. I felt dirty without being touched, cheap without even being sold yet, empty of heart and void of soul like an inanimate object.
Unable to listen for even a moment longer, I stepped away from them and toward the vast ocean that promised limitless freedom, but there was no escaping my fate. I’d begged Kye to set me free, yet he refused, making it clear he’d never let me go. I had no future in this world but the one he approved of. No identity but the one that connected me to him. And no free will unless he allowed it.
