Page 76 of Slaying the Shifter Prince
As for our relationship, if it could be called that…
It was a mess. Not even a beautiful one.
He seemed more angry at me than ever—there’d been no smiles as we’d dressed for this evening. It wasn’t even the kind of anger that pleased me. For some reason, it tangled in my gut, like I’d let someone who didn’t know what they were doing pack away my silks after a performance.
I didn’t even have a plan to cling to, a relentless call to revenge.
I had nothing.
It had been easy to forget that for a moment with his burning wax and then his burning touch. But now the full weight of it added to the decanter’s heft, tugging on my arms.
My next step was to find out whohadkilled my sister. There would be no new plan until then.
Just because it wasn’t Sepher didn’t mean the real killer was out of reach. They might even be here. Maybe Celestine knew.
“Oh, pet,” Roark called, a mocking lilt in his voice. “My glass needs filling.” He waggled the empty vessel, leering at me.
Trying to hide my exhale of relief, I stepped off the stool and lowered my arms. My elbows and shoulders strained, aching from holding the same position for so long.
“Lord Roark.” I gave him my smarmiest smirk as I bowed and filled his glass.
“Lord Roark? Oh, I like that.” He grabbed my collar before I could straighten and tugged me closer. “Maybe I’ll make you scream it when Sepher grows tired of you. He will soon. And he likes to share his toys once he’s done with them.”
Was that what he’d done with my sister? Had his fun, then let his friends have theirs?
It was such a well-worn path, my mind instantly leapt to those questions. Except Sepher hadn’t killed her. It was embarrassing the number of times I’d been forced to remind myself of that fact today.
Turned out, rewriting a belief held for a decade wasn’t easily done.
Despite Roark’s solid black eyes, I could see the moment his attention slid from my face and his gaze skimmed over my see-through gown.
But his distraction gave me an opportunity.
Still smiling sweetly, I poured more wine into his glass… and didn’t stop. It spilled over, splashing into his lap, making him jump and spill yet more of his drink.
“You little bitch!” He yanked my collar, jolting my head back as I stumbled into him.
“Roark.” Sepher’s voice cut through the chatter and clink of glasses. “Kindly refrain from damaging my property.” He said it with a mocking lilt, making a few of his friends laugh.
Not Roark, though. Eyes narrowed, he hissed and released me.
When I straightened, I found Sepher’s eyes on us. He smiled, but it was a stiff, gritted thing. He sat up when I met his gaze, chin rising. “Breaking her is my job. Back to your post, little bird.”
I returned to the stool and took a deep breath before raising the decanter again. My muscles complained at returning to the same position, but I treated it like training or another exercise routine—this one for endurance.
Enduring the pain, but also enduring the prince and his return to cruelty.
“I don’t think she needs breaking, Seph.” Celestine canted her head at him, one side of her mouth curling. But there was something fragile about her expression, as though it wasn’t as casual as she was trying to make out. “She’s so well-behaved. I think you’ve… trained her perfectly.”
Eyes narrowing, he made a low sound, then returned to his quiet conversation with Anya.
I tried to ignore how close she sat to him, the little touches she gave his arm as they chatted and she laughed. And I especially tried to ignore the way it twisted in me, like I’d spun on my silks too many times and their lengths had snarled up.
His gaze was now firmly upon her and not me.
And I wasn’t sure I liked the idea of sharing his attention. Not that Iwantedit, more than I enjoyed that he was a slave to it. A slave to me.
“… Told me to ready the hounds for tomorrow.” I caught the tail end of Cadan’s sentence as he murmured to Celestine.
