“Of course it was. What else could I expect? You’re the king, aren’t you? You always get what you want.” Her voice sounded more bitter than angry now, which I found considerably less entertaining.
“Iused toget everything I wanted, yes,” I corrected. “But not anymore.”
My heart’s deepest desire, to be free of this curse, forever remained out of my reach.
“Well, I prefer not to be watched by strangers while I bathe,” she insisted. “If you want me to take a bath, you have to leave. And take all your servants with you too, please.” She turned to the maids who stood by, ready to bathe her. “Thank you for getting it all ready and all, but I’d like to have some privacy now, please.”
The maids blinked, then turned to me for instructions on how to proceed.
“You realize that privacy is just an illusion in a palace of glass?” I pointed out.
I could climb all the way to the top of the palace’s highest tower, and I would still be able to see her lying in the tub down here, through the roof and all the walls.
“At this point, I’ll take the illusion over nothing at all,” she said with a sigh.
It was a long, heavy sigh that seemed to carry the weight of an entire world. She might be really good at keeping her composure, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t terrified of her new reality. The reality that included me.
Every fae monarch wished to be feared. But when everybody was afraid of you all the time, it got fucking old fucking quickly. My little human had been coping well so far, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t break if pushed harder. And the last thing I wanted was to watch her run away from me like everyone else did all the time.
“Alright. You shall have your illusion of privacy then.” I released the maids and strolled to the exit.
She grabbed the edge of the heavy wooden screen and dragged it to position between the tub and the wall to the drawing room where the dinner was being served.
I left her to it.
In the drawing room, the servants quickly moved around the solid-wood table, scurrying away from me like a school of fish in a tank with a shark. Not wishing to distress them any further, lest they mess up our dinner, I wandered out onto the patio that stretched along the entire ocean-facing side of the palace.
From here, all I had to do was turn around to see the human through the wall. By now, she was probably completely naked and getting into the tub. She had only one screen, and she had already used it to shield herself from the view of the servants in the dining room, leaving the outside wall open for me to see through if I wished.
Oh, I wished to see her naked, even if I couldn’t do much more than just staring. But I didn’t turn around.
Instead, I stared straight into the ocean, at the sun setting behind the horizon. I’d lived in this world for over a hundred years. I’d seen over a hundred sunsets. But tonight, the colors seemed a little brighter, somehow. The air seemed a little fresher, and the ocean a little less hostile.
Tonight, I had company for dinner. An utterly unexpected spark of thrill ignited inside me. After so many years, I remembered what it felt like to be looking forward to something.
MAREN
I saw the king standing just outside the glass wall of the room where I was taking a bath. Tall, broad-shouldered, and always imposing even when completely naked, his looming figure was impossible to miss or ignore.
Backlit by the multi-colored glow of the sun setting into the ocean, he looked more beautiful than ever, incorporeal, like an apparition from a dream. The ocean breeze gently played with his waist-long hair, and it fanned out like a gossamer sail of iridescent glow.
He rolled back his shoulders. Mesmerized, I watched his hard muscles roll under his ethereal skin. The glutes in his royal ass flexed as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Unable to look away, I bit my bottom lip, halting my breath in appreciation of the view.
The king was undoubtedly beautiful, but he was very muchcorporeal,with a body that any woman would love to run her fingers over. With my gaze glued to his back, I mentally dared him to turn around and look at me. But he stayed true to his word, giving me the privacy I’d asked for.
If he was a man of his word, then maybe his claims about me being safe in his palace could also be trusted?
I realized I’d been staring at his butt for way too long. Tearing my gaze away from it, I sat up in the tub, turned my back to the ocean with its king, and washed my hair. By the time I had finished and climbed out of the tub, the king was gone from the patio. I dried myself with the long towel left by the servants and grabbed the first dress that wasn’t sea-foam green. It happened to be gray, the color I often wore in the courtroom.
The thought came with an aching pang of homesickness but also gave a boost to my determination.
The handsome king with a gorgeous ass and a deadly touch called me a “little human.” For him, I was just collateral in his deal, someone to amuse himself with, to pass the time while waiting for Leslo’s return. He’d clearly forgotten about the words I’d tossed in his face while gripping his hair. But I was not going to forget them.
I said I would get out of here. I would find my way back home. And for that, I would make the king explain how it all worked in this magical world of his. He promised to answer all my questions, and I was going to use that promise to fish out of him every bit of information I needed.
I couldn’t lace the dress bodice properly on my own or even tie the laces on the back. So I just wrapped them around my waist like a belt and tied them in the front instead. If I broke some fashion rule by doing that, as a hostage in a forced confinement situation, I really didn’t care. I put on a pair of flat leather sandals that tied around my ankles with a pair of pink ribbons decorated with seashells. Then I straightened my long, layered skirt and marched out of the bedroom.
Determined and collected, I stepped into the room with a long wooden table. Two servants were still putting the finishing touches on the dinner and plating our food.
