Page 44 of Slaying the Shifter Prince
“I’ll take that as a yes. Here you go.” Grinning, he threw a pastry in my direction. It landed in the snow three feet away.
I’d eaten from his hands. I’d sipped from a saucer. But I wasn’t going to eat off the floor.
Arms at my sides, I kept still and tried to ignore the biting cold. It tugged on my muscles, whispering at them to shiver for warmth. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing my discomfort.
With a grunt, he shrugged and returned to his food. “Suit yourself.”
As the minutes ticked by, I kept my arms clamped to my sides, but eventually I couldn’t help shivering. Icy cold stabbed my toes in wave upon wave of shooting pain. At least my teeth weren’t chattering.
Subtly, I lifted one foot, giving it a brief respite from contact with the snow before replacing it on the floor and lifting the other. I wasn’t sure if the chilly air against the wet slippers was better or worse, but I was stuck for ideas about how else to alleviate my suffering.
The prince was on his second cup of coffee when Cadan came out with a handful of letters. He wore leather boots and a thick coat with a fox fur trim. I couldn’t help but stare at it longingly.
I’d been forced to cross my arms by this point, trying desperately to tuck my hands into my armpits for some measure of warmth. At least my toes were numb rather than painful now. My nose and cheeks had lost all feeling, too.
Cadan eyed me as he passed and flashed a quick smile while the prince wasn’t looking. I wasn’t sure what to make of him. Was he trying to become an ally? A friend?
“These arrived this morning, Sepher.” He handed over the letters. “I think they’re all from Luminis.”
“Oh, joy.”
I could only see the prince in profile, but his lowered eyelids and flat mouth still spelled out his sarcasm. Being unable to hide his beastly side had made his relationship with the capital strained.
The first time I’d seen the prince in the audience for one of our performances, he hadn’t looked so different from Cadan. Pointed ears and sharp canines, but otherwise human-like, albeit taller and more attractive than any human I’d seen.
His shapechanger magic had allowed him to hide the claws and tail, and there’d been no sign of stripes on his arms, either. It had helped him blend in, make himself acceptable for the capital.
But a curse had taken that all away. Now, he couldn’t hide the beast within.
Good.
It was a tiny candle flame of comfort amongst the gnawing cold and my shaky breaths.
The prince rifled through the letters, though Cadan hovered at his side. “Was there something else?”
“Your… pet.” Cadan threw me a glance. “She looks very pale. I think her lips are turning blue.”
“She’s fine.” The prince’s tail twitched in the same way someone might flick their hand dismissively. “If she needs mercy, she’ll ask for it…” He looked up from his letters and gave me a wide smile. “Or beg.”
That wasn’t going to happen.
I squeezed myself, holding back my shivers for a moment as I tried to give him a bored look. He was so fucking tedious.
“Perhaps she’d like my coat?” Cadan undid the top button.
The look the prince gave him was colder than the snow. “You willnotgive her your clothing.”
The knot of Cadan’s throat rose and fell as his hands fell away from the fastenings of his coat. “Of course.” He inclined his head and left, a crease between his eyebrows as he passed.
Again, he’d tried to help me. He must disagree with my punishment. Celestine had made it clear with her disapproving frowns that she did, too. I wasn’t sure if I could use that to my advantage, though.
It wouldn’t matter if I could find my dagger. Hugging myself, I mapped out the palace in my head and marked off the sections I’d been able to search. Not many.
But the longer I stood in the cold, the harder it became to keep hold of all the threads of my thoughts. The image grew fuzzy. Had I searched the library or had I only thought about it? Was there a lock on that door or was I misremembering?
The plumes of my breath came slower and slower as my mind grew sluggish. At least my shivering had stopped.
I just needed to stand here and wait for the prince to grow bored and head indoors. He rarely stayed away from others for long. He’d go inside for company soon.
