Page 6 of Wolfkissed
“It’s probably just a wildman,” Orlen dismisses the man in the cage. “A human.”
“He has wolf ears,” Mina says. “And a tail.”
My blood freezes in my veins. Wolf? Impossible. My heart booming, I take an involuntary step back.No. No, they wouldn’t.
But the servants proceed between the long tables, oblivious to my fright, carrying the cage, and the man inside grabs the bars and snarls.
My cousins were right, he’s not human. A male fae, that much is clear. As the cage approaches us, the servants moving toward the center of the hall, I hear whispers around me, the guests talking behind their hands, their eyes wide.
“They caught a dark fae.”
“It’s a wolfman.”
“They brought a wolfman into the manor. After what that accursed race did to Miss Rosamund?—”
I can’t speak. My throat has closed. My knees buckle, and my vision goes hazy.
“Rosie.” Orlen grabs my arm, keeping me upright. “Are you all right?”
“I’ll bring you some water,” Mina says. “I’ll?—”
Stepfather claps his hands. “Silence! We have a joyous announcement to make.”
Why isn’t he saying anything? Yelling at Lord Sinen that there has been a mistake, that of course he didn’t mean to bring a werewolf in here. Yelling at him to take that horrible creature out of here! Throw it out, kill it, bury it, or send its body back to the wilderness whence it came.
But Stepfather doesn’t look concerned or surprised. Did heknowabout this?
“Grab your goblets,” Stepfather goes on, “and raise them. My stepdaughter, as you might know, is leaving us soon to get married to a rich and powerful human lord. The journey is long for a lady, fraught with danger, so we agreed…” He glances at his wife. “We agreed it would be best to give her a bodyguard.”
No.
“And since the road passes close to dark fae territory,” he goes on, “indeed, werewolf territory, what better bodyguard than a fae werewolf?”
No, he didn’t. He can’t have. I’ve misheard. Misunderstood. It’s not possible.
I want to ask him how he let them do it, bring this creature into our home, knowing. Knowing what it would do to me. Knowing what his species already did to me. I want to speak, but my teeth are grinding, my jaw clenched too tight.
He brought my worst enemy, my worst nightmare, into my house, and now he’s going to force me to travel with him.
To be in close quarters with the creature who killed my mother, kidnapped me, and almost ended my life as a child.
If I’m dreaming, it’s time to wake up.
CHAPTER THREE
ROSAMUND
“Rosie. Sit down.” Mina drags me to my seat behind the table and shoves me into it. “Stay here. I’ll grab you some water.”
“Wine.” I grip her wrist. “Or aquavit. Something strong.”
“Of course.” Her eyes hold sympathy, and although I love my cousins, I don’t want to see it. I don’t want any more pity.
Which means I have to steel myself and face this new twist in my path with as much dignity as I can muster.
I can’t think straight. The urge to flee the great hall, to hide away in my room, or even escape the manor altogether and run to the forest is tensing my every muscle. I said I wasn’t going to run and hide from my fate anymore, but which God’s sick idea of a joke is this?
I will simply… refuse. Refuse a bodyguard. Refuse a werewolf. Nobody can make me accept this madness. That’s it. If I must have a bodyguard, I’ll choose another. A human.
