Page 11 of Cold Hearted
After stripping off my clothes and leaving them in a neat pile next to the tub, I stepped into the water and sank down, hissing when the hot water touched the raw skin at my wrists. None of the wounds were still open—thank goodness as a royal seelie I healed quickly—but the water still stung. I’d have to hide my rapid healing from Zander, as that might give me away, but it shouldn’t be too hard. I only need to think ill of him to recut my wrists.
“Everything okay?” Zander called, and I snorted. Like he really cared.
“I’m fine,” I said, and then added, “No thanks to you,” under my breath. I was pretty sure he heard me because he just chuckled.
The brute. Finding humor in my discomfort.
I gnashed my teeth, thinking about the ways I could make him bleed, but then had to force myself to clear my head when I felt the cuff’s teeth pressing against my already sensitive skin.
Picking up the bar of soap and small hand towel the houndsmen had brought up, I scrubbed myself clean and did my best to wash my long hair. My movements were quick and efficient, and I didn’t waste any time enjoying the warm water, because I was worried the brutish fae would make good on his threat and try to pull me out if he thought I was taking too long.
When I finished, I wiped myself dry as best I could with the only full towel available and then dressed.Before leaving to let Zander bathe, I grabbed the single towel and wrapped my hair up on the top of my head with it. Now he’d have to drip dry, or dress while wet, I didn’t really care. Getting one over on him, even in this small way, made me immensely happy, and I was practically whistling as I emerged from behind the blanket barrier.
Zander was reclining on the bed with a book, his gaze on me instead of the pages in front of him. His eyes were half-lidded and a bit glazed as he stared at me. Something about the way he was looking at me made a knot of heat tighten in my gut. I looked down at myself, but nothing was out of place, so I brushed it off.
“I’m going to go to sleep now,” I announced as Zander got to his feet.
“I’ll be by to secure your cuffs when I’m done. Don’t go anywhere or I’ll make you sleep on the ground next to me,” he said, his voice a little gruffer than usual.
I just rolled my eyes, a smirk on my face as I imagined him realizing I’d swiped the only towel.
Heading toward the bed in my adjoining room, I snuck a glance back at where Zander had just disappeared behind the blanket barrier and froze, my smile instantly fading and the towel I’d stolen all but forgotten.
The blanket he put over the clothesline was semitransparent, and the lantern next to the tub shone light in such a way that I could clearly see Zander’s silhouette as he pulled off his shirt and then reached down to untie his pants.
I gasped, realizing Zander had probably seen almost all of me as I’d gotten in and out of the tub, yet he hadn’t said a thing.
“You’ve gotten rather quiet over there,” Zander said as he started to pull his pants off. Shock kept my gaze glued to his form. “Should I be worried that you’ve tried to escape?”
Words clogged in my throat as fury mixed with embarrassment, each emotion fighting for dominance.
“Or should I just assume you’re enjoying the show?” he asked with a chuckle when I didn’t answer.
My fists clenched, but I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d unnerved me. “Not much of a show,” I managed to force out, but he just chuckled again as he stepped into the tub.
The sound of the water splashing as he sat finally snapped me out of it enough to turn away and march back into my room.
That fae!I fumed.The minute these cuffs come off, I’m going to castrate him.
This time when serrated teeth pricked my skin, I didn’t even mind.
* * *
One moment I was sound asleep and the next my eyes popped open, and I was fully awake. A muted shout from the adjoining room had me shoving to my feet and rushing toward it with my hands bound in front of me. True to his word, Zander had reconnected the cuffs after his bath. I followed the shout as I stumbled through the open doorway to Zander’s room to find him wrestling on his bed with a masked figure dressed in black. The fae above him was armed with a curved dagger and trying to slice Zander’s throat. I stopped short, confused why Zander didn’t just throw the assailant off—I’d seen first-hand how strong he was when he hefted me onto his horse,and it was just one fae—but then I spotted the barely discernable layer of sheer green magic blanketing him from head to toe.
They’d thrown a dampener spell over Zander before attacking, rendering any magic he had useless anddampeninghis physical strength.Smart. I didn’t know the full extent of Zander’s powers, just that according to the journals all seelie and unseelie in Ethereum had some sort of magic, just like in Faerie. For my people, it was to harness the sun’s rays, even to a small extent, but for him it might be to take a man’s breath or be able to lift twenty times his weight. I was guessing something like the latter.
Even with the dampener though, he seemed to be holding his own and hadn’t yet gotten his throat slit.
“A little help?” Zander growled through clenched teeth when he spotted me behind his assailant, the dagger inching even closer to his neck.
I started forward, but then hesitated. With Zander gone, I’d be free of these cuffs. I’d have lost my guide to Noreum, but maybe I could find another. Perhaps it was in my best interest to just let this play out?
“Did I forget to mention that if I die before your cuffs fall off, you’re stuck with them forever,” he said, the strain obvious in his voice.
Drat!
For better or worse, I was well and truly stuck with this infuriating fae.
