Page 67 of Slaying the Shifter Prince
He wasn’t lying.
His kindness had crashed to an end with his beast form crashing through that ruin.
Today’s outfit was a skimpy dress so short it barely covered my arse and no underwear. He tossed my blanket on the floor, so I guessed my time on the bed was over. He even had me kneel as I served him and his friends at breakfast.
After that, he worked in his study. He made me sit on the floor and write over and over again, “I am a stupid human. I will lift Prince Sepher’s curse.”
My fingers ached at the rub of the pen, the repeated movement. My shoulders and back burned from hunching over the floor. I wasn’t allowed to use a table. Furniture was not for pets, as he reminded me.
“Is that all you’ve done?” He snatched the pages from me and rifled through. “You weren’t even trying.” He tossed them into the fire, which sputtered and sparked pink and orange.
I glared up at him, jaw clenched. After asking who’d killed my sister, which he’d refused to answer, I’d gone back to my silence. This time, though, it was less to punish him and more because… what the hells was I supposed to say?
I wasn’t going to apologise. Even if he hadn’t been the one to kill Zinnia, he’d never raised the alarm or handed over the names of his friends who’d been there that night. He’d played a part in denying her justice.
He probably knew who’d killed her. Yet, he hadn’t told me.
So, no. No apologies for him.
But every moment, my mind churned over it all, from the unhelpful “You were wrong” to the unanswered “Who did it?”
It was easier to manage those thoughts with my mouth shut.
A tight smile on his face, the prince swept down and grabbed my collar. My head snapped back as he yanked me to my feet. “You’re lucky it’s notyouI’m throwing on the fire.”
For a second he held me there, teeth bared, face an inch from mine, his glare savage, inhuman. Then he shifted his grip to the back of my collar and shoved me ahead of him.
“Maybe I should get you a lead. Though”—he yanked, cutting off my breath for a moment—“I do like keeping you close like this. A little reminder of who your life belongs to.”
Him. And it hadn’t even got me any closer to Zinnia’s killer.
At least when I’d been so sure he’d done it, being his pet kept me near him. I was ready to strike the moment I had access to a weapon that would end his accursed life.
Now?
Now, I had nothing. I’d never been further from avenging my sister.
Head hanging, I walked ahead and went wherever he steered.
I wasn’t surprised when we arrived in the dining room, though I hadn’t realised it was lunchtime already. The morning had disappeared in ink and my cycling thoughts.
Celestine’s brow furrowed as her gaze landed on me and the collar biting into my throat. She cocked her head at Sepher in question.
Instead of responding, he marched me to one end of the table and shoved me to the floor. “You made it look too easy this morning, my precious pet.” His smile didn’t meet his eyes as he pulled a pouch from his pocket. “So,soprecious that I’m going to pave your path with gold. Well…” He shrugged and upended the pouch. Dozens—hundreds of clear gems rained upon the floor, catching the light and refracting it into rainbow flashes. “Pave it withdiamonds.”
They glinted, all different sizes, throwing tiny motes of light across the floor.
I swallowed when I saw they’d all landed with the large, flat facet on the floor—the one that would face outward on a ring. That left the sharp back pointing upward.
Oh, great.
The prince’s steps crunched over the diamonds like they were nothing more than gravel, and he sprawled into his seat, legs spread. Glare fixed on me, he gestured to the sparkling floor. “Kneel and come to your master.”
I didn’t see who the sharp intake of breath came from, but I’d have placed my money on Celestine.
An odd mixture of quiet murmurs and the rustle of fae leaning forward to get a better view spread across the table.
I’d caught my breath from being marched here with the collar pulled tight, so, with all the grace I could muster, I rose to my knees. The nearest sprinkle of stones was six inches away. For now, I only had to deal with the unyielding marble of the floor… and the equally unyielding gaze of the prince as he sat back, waiting.
