Page 121 of Slaying the Shifter Prince
It didn’t bring me peace—I’d already claimed that for myself in my new life—but it was cleansing.
And, perhaps, most of all, it was a relief.
The obsession that had suffocated me for so long ebbed away with the sword’s magic, as the blade grew heavier in my hand. I took a deep, deep breath, deeper than any I had drawn in years, and surrendered the sword to Sepher.
It was done.
Epilogue
Ipaused at the door that led from the bathroom, a little zing of nervousness darting through my veins.
Technically, I wasn’t his pet anymore, so I didn’t need his permission, but still. Sometimes I liked to ask for it or challenge it or outright disobey him. It always led us to suchinterestingplaces.
I touched the blunt ends of my freshly cut hair. It hung an inch above my shoulders in thick, choppy waves. In the mirror, with my newly regrown teeth, it looked good. It looked… like me. Or at least the person I was becoming, rather than the sister I’d mimicked.
Despite the change between us and my continuing thrill at disobeying him, I wanted Sepher to like this.
Still, if he didn’t, it wasn’t the end of the world.
I thought I’d gone through that the night I found him standing over Zinnia. But that wasn’t the end. It wasn’t even the beginning. It just was another doorway I’d stepped through. And that corridor had stretched on and on and on, twisting and turning like a maze I thought I’d never escape.
But I had.
And now I was here with a life and an identity of my own to build, ameto get to know.
It wasn’t going to be easy. But when had anything in life been easy?
Sepher and I had got through the worst of each other. We’d got through the whispers and stares of Luminis, and the stiff welcome from his parents a few weeks ago. Together, we could get through anything.
Thinking of that, unable to control my smile, I stepped into our bedroom.
From the armchair before the fireplace, Sepher’s gaze snapped to me at once.
The closeness of his attention still had the power to make my heart skip a soaring beat.
As he took me in, his eyes went so wide, they were in danger of falling out. “You cut your hair.”
“Ten out of ten for observation.” I smirked at him. “What do you think?” I fussed it, enjoying how much lighter it felt.
“Hmm.” His eyes narrowed as he put down his drink. “Come here. Let me get a closer look.”
Something inside me saiddanger, a delicious thrill that sent my pulse racing. “I thought it would be better for the beach tomorrow,” I said with a shrug, like I wasn’t aware of the trap he was laying for me.
“You know I’m going to fuck you in the sand.”
The rawness of his words pulled my muscles tight. “I’m counting on it.”
“Good.”
I took my time approaching, not technically disobeying his instruction, but edging towards rebellion, pushing his patience, tempting his punishment.
I paused at the table and stroked the ink and watercolour picture I was working on. As part of discovering myself, I was diving into the art supplies he’d bought me, and this was an initial study of Zinnia. I was pleased at how I’d managed to capture the complex shades in her hair and the sweet light in her eyes.
Sepher had promised that when I produced a painting I wanted to display, he would make a prominent space for it in the palace. Somewhere we’d see it every day and remember.
“Little bird,” he growled. “You wouldn’t be disobeying my instruction, would you?”
For a moment longer, I smiled at my sister’s face, at the way the colour made her look more alive than she ever had in my pencil or charcoal sketches. Then, I turned to Sepher with wide, innocent eyes, and clutched my chest. “Disobey? Me? I wouldn’t dare.”
