A ghost in the night, leaving a trail of crimson behind.
“My lady. My lord.” Bert bows. “I’ll remove him immediately from your presence, tie him up out of sight. If you?—”
“He stays,” I say.
It’s Valen’s turn to stare at me.
Stepfather places his hands on the table. “Daughter,” he says. “I’m surprised to see you standing so close to this beast.”
“I’m sure you are. Didn’t expect it, did you?”
“There was an attack on her ladyship’s life,” Valen says. “You wouldn’t know anything about it?”
“An attack!” People start whispering among themselves. “Here at the manor! Again!”
I wait for him to say something more, betray himself, admit he planned the attack on me, but he’s quiet, giving Valen a long, calculating look.
“Are you sure?” Stepfather finally says. “This girl is prone to fits of panic. A sad side effect of her past, I’m afraid. She sees ghosts where there are none.”
“I was there,” Valen says. “Those men attacked her with swords. They meant to kill her.”
Stepfather arches a brow. “Oh? Am I to take a dark fae’s word, now? And I see you standing side by side with her and wonder what you have cooking between you. A little conspiracy perhaps?”
Now he’s lost me. “Conspiracy? Against whom?”
“Your own future, and mine, of course.” Stepfather’s lips thin. “Did he tell you pretty tales of the mountains and that he’s not like other werewolves? That you can trust him?”
“No, he didn’t. He protected me,” I say. “Just as you wanted.”
Valen protected me from my own kind. Of all the insane things to happen, of all the unexpected things.
“My lord!” A servant rushes, breathless, toward us. “We have found two of your servants dead, gutted and throats slashed. They say it was a werewolf?—”
“Indeed it was,” Valen says, a slow grin spreading over his blood-splattered face.
This time, the silence that follows is deafening.
“Her ladyship and I made a deal,” Valen says after long moments, breaking it. “I will accompany her to her destination, and she will let me go free once I deliver her there safe and sound.”
“You made a deal, huh?” Stepfather shoots me a narrow, unhappy look.
Heat rises in my neck. I force myself to gaze back impassively. “It is as he says.”
“And you trust a filthy animal’s word?”
“What choice have you left me?” I bite out. “Unless, of course, you wanted me dead.” If I hadn’t been gazing at him in that moment, I might have missed the barely-there flinch that betrays him. “Now, you don’t have to concern yourself with mysafety. You have indeed given me the best bodyguard. Who could ever stand against him?”
I’m standing close to Valen, way too close, and he’s free of any bonds. Those claws, those teeth, they’re all I can see. If I said I wasn’t afraid, I’d be lying, but the satisfaction of seeing the annoyance on Stepfather’s face is worth it.
It’s like jumping off a cliff, the waves crashing below, like plunging into a fast-moving river. My heart is racing, slamming against my ribs, heat racing over my skin. Exhilaration pushes the fear back, but later…
Later I’ll pay for it, I know it. If Stepfather doesn’t demand his dues, the nightmares will. Stress always turns into pain, sooner or later. But right now, the defiance feels good, as does surviving the attack I hadn’t seen coming.
“Then… take a seat. Have some dinner,” Stepfather says, waving the servants off. “Everyone, sit down! Dinner continues as planned. Daughter here is making pacts with wolves, as it seems. Isn’t that amazing?”
Scattered laughter meets his words, but everyone is too shaken to play along this time.
Good.Let them see what they have contributed to, what they elected, bringing the savage wolves back into our lives.
