CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
STERLING
Winter disappeared down the hallway, his boots echoing against the stairs as he descended them, and Sterling grasped the cool handle of the door leading to her brother.
Someone she’d been waiting to reunite with for weeks, more than the glimpse she’d caught of him through the prince’s bedroom window when Cyan had been playing outdoors.
So why wasn’t she opening the door already?
Why wasn’t she barging into the room and running to see her brother?
“He hasn’t forgotten you,” Amalli said with a small smile, her shoulders squared as she stood near the wall beside the doorframe.
“You’re all Cyan ever talks about. What a wonderful sister you are.
His words are true, but I believe he was speaking them in hopes that we would set you free.
He knows you haven’t forgotten him either—I can promise you that. ”
Sterling’s hand shook against the knob and hot tears clung to her lashes. With a brief nod, uttering not a single word, she wiped the tears away. Amalli’s encouragement was all she needed.
Taking a deep, steady breath, Sterling pushed open the door, and her heart clenched when her gaze fell on her brother.
Cyan sat on a fur rug with his back turned, folding cream sheets of paper as he peered out the floor-to-ceiling window.
The room wasn’t a prison at all, but lavish and fit for Prince Winter himself.
Emerald silk sheets and brown-furred blankets draped the bed.
A chest of drawers with golden wolf knobs rested on another wall beside an ornate desk.
Paper decorations that Cyan had made dangled in streams across the room.
Carved wooden wolves and paintings peeked out between the art Cyan had made.
Ivory velvet drapes hung on either side of the window where bright sunlight spilled in.
As Sterling shut the door softly behind her, tears filling her eyes once more, Cyan held up a chain of paper shapes—a forest of trees and flowers, and in the center stood what she believed to be him and her. Brother and sister.
“Look what I made this time, Amalli.” A smile radiated in Cyan’s voice. “It’s Sterling and me walking without fear through the wolves’ forest.”
“It’s not Amalli,” Sterling murmured, her footsteps thumping against the wood as she padded toward her brother.
The paper fell from Cyan’s hands—he leapt to his feet and whirled around.
Disbelief crossed his face before a widening smile spread his cheeks.
“Sterling! You’re here!” he shouted, barreling toward her to enfold her in his arms, and she didn’t hesitate to hug him back.
Sterling had always feared she would lose him, that another person she loved and cherished would meet their demise, and even if that were true, she should’ve hugged him every opportunity she could.
“I love you, Cyan.” They were words she’d never uttered to anyone since her mother’s death, but she should’ve told him long ago.
He was her brother, the one person she’d spent her life protecting.
“When I discovered you were taken, I did everything I could to get you freed. And…” She sniffed, her voice wavering.
“I understand if you hate me. For not giving up my thirst for revenge. You’re worth more than revenge to me, Cyan, and I should’ve realized that long ago. ”
“It’s all right. I haven’t been hurt here.” He withdrew his arms from around her and inched back, his voice a whisper, “What’s your plan? I know you have one.”
Sterling cocked her head and studied her brother—though she believed Winter hadn’t hurt him, it didn’t mean someone else hadn’t.
As she observed him from head to toe, he appeared in better health than when she’d seen him last. He didn’t look as gangly as before, seeming well-fed, his deep brown skin holding a healthy glow. The prince had never mistreated him.
“My plan was to always remain as obedient as possible to keep you safe,” Sterling said.
Cyan folded his hands, a small sigh escaping him. “I don’t want you to hurt any more wolves. They’ve been nothing but kind to me. Amalli especially.”
It was true that some wolves deserved to be hurt, just as some humans, but not all.
“And Prince Winter? What do you think of him?” No matter that she was now Winter’s wife, that she’d fucked him, pleasured him, been pleasured in return, liked it all, she would choose her brother over the prince if there was any doubt in Cyan’s words.
And yet her chest tightened at the thought of never seeing Winter again.
“He hurt Nareth, but he admitted that he didn’t hunt him down after you helped him. I was angry at first, but there was hurt hidden in the prince’s eyes. Hurt like what you carry around every day with you.” Cyan squinted and held her gaze. “But I don’t see that hurt in you any longer.”
He was always smart for his age, could see deeper than those much older.
Perhaps the hurt was tucked further in her heart, or perhaps it had changed into something else.
“That day in the forest when you told me about the history of the wolves, you were right about it being time that they and the humans unite. Winter isn’t as horrible as I believed, but that doesn’t make him wholly good either.
Are any of us though?” There was one wolf that was certainly terrible.
King Valco. Sterling would have to ignore the king, behave in front of him for the foreseeable future while helping to unite the court. “I have news…”
“Good news?” Cyan beamed.
“That all depends.” She shrugged. “I’m married to the prince.”
Cyan’s eyes widened, his lips parting.
“I did it to unite the court,” Sterling continued. “As you would’ve wanted.”
He tilted his head and crossed his arms over his chest. “But that’s not the whole reason you married him.”
“All right, I did it to free you,” Sterling said and lightly pinched his cheek.
“You like the prince, or else you would’ve made a disgusted face when you admitted that you’re married to him.” Cyan smiled.
“I think we have other matters to discuss.” She ignored his comment, despite knowing he could see straight through her. Sinking down on the floor in front of the window, she picked up a sheet of paper. “Show me how to make a tree.”
“You might need to start simpler.” Cyan laughed and sat beside her.
He lifted one of the trees he’d made with curving and gnarled branches.
Sterling studied the paper, watching as he unfolded it, then showed her step-by-step how to create one.
She’d done this with him over the years, but she would never be able to create something more challenging.
When they finished, while chatting about what he wanted to plant in the garden outside the manor, hers turned out decent enough.
The door opened, and Sterling looked over her shoulder to find Amalli staring at them with what seemed to be approval. “The carriage is about to leave for the castle, Your Highness.”
Cyan grasped Sterling’s wrist. “Can I come with you?”
She wanted to say yes, to have him at her side, but even if Prince Winter agreed, she couldn’t bring her brother inside those wicked walls of the king’s home. “No, you are safest here,” she answered softly. “The castle isn’t like the prince’s manor.”
Cyan leaned closer and spoke in a low voice, “It’s the king, isn’t it?”
Sterling nodded. Even though Amalli worked for Prince Winter, King Valco still ruled the court, and she would have to obey him.
She didn’t want Valco to use Cyan against her either.
“I’ll come visit you soon, and once it’s allowed, I’ll stay here with the prince.
We’ll be a…” Family wasn’t the right word. “Well, we’ll be together again.”
Cyan circled his arms around her, squeezing her tightly. She returned the embrace before meeting Amalli in the hallway.
“He’s a remarkable child.” Amalli smiled.
“Not frustrating at all?” Sterling drawled.
“No, but extraordinarily inquisitive.”
“He is.” Sterling always believed her brother to ask too many questions, but oh, how she’d missed them. She wished she could stay to hear more of them.
“Prince Winter won’t be accompanying you since he had to leave, but he should be meeting you at the castle shortly.”
She wondered what he had needed to attend to, and if she would be in his bed again tonight.
Sterling parted ways with Amalli and descended the stairs, the manor’s walls quiet and peaceful.
Once outside, the fall breeze rumpled her hair and Lijah helped Sterling into the carriage.
He remained across from her with neither speaking to one another, but his gaze didn’t hold an ounce of hostility toward her.
The horses’ hooves beat against the earth as they took off through the forest toward the market.
She leaned back against the seat, unable to stop herself from thinking about the night before …
and that morning. Her touching herself in front of Winter, then riding the prince’s face as she pleasured his cock, tasting the salty flavor of him entirely.
What occurred between them wasn’t only for her brother’s safety or to unite the court, but because she’d wanted to.
Because she’d liked it, yearned for the prince’s touches and sultry kisses.
Sterling stared out the window, watching the world pass before her. Would the court truly unite under her and the prince? Perhaps it would. Perhaps humans and wolves alike would want better. Perhaps she wanted better.
The carriage eventually drew to a stop, the castle looming above the foliage. Unease washed over her, and it was the first time an unsettling feeling truly had.
“I’m to take you to your room and remain outside your door until the prince arrives,” Lijah interrupted her thoughts. Only, there was something about the way he said it that made Sterling believe it wasn’t to hold her prisoner yet to keep her safe. But why? And where had Winter disappeared to?
“Thank you, Lijah.”
He bowed his head, and they crossed over the threshold into the castle when a familiar, gaunt-faced man stopped them.
“The king would like to speak to you, Your Highness,” Caston grunted.
“Of course.” What would he want to speak to her about? How to go about uniting the court? Or something else…
“Alone,” Caston added when Lijah trailed behind them. Lijah frowned, but his position rooted in place since Valco would most likely reprimand him … or murder him for being disobedient.
Caston led Sterling up the winding staircase to a door engraved with the king’s crown. “We aren’t going to the throne room?” she asked.
“No,” he answered simply.
Sterling pursed her lips as Caston opened the door for her, and she entered Valco’s bedchamber.
An opulent bed was tucked into the wall with heavy red velvet curtains sweeping down from the canopy.
Golden wolf statues hovered around the edges of the room, howling up at the skylight.
A small sitting area was situated in front of an unlit fireplace where an enormous gilded mirror hung above.
The king stood from behind his writing desk, wearing nothing but a pair of tan trousers. Peppered hair covered his chest, his taut stomach sporting the fresh scar that had kept him bedridden for so long.
“You wanted to see me?” Sterling asked as the door shut behind her, leaving her and the king alone together.
Valco stepped around his desk and prowled toward her. “I did. Tomorrow, you will travel north to the first human village to show them that we are indeed united. You will make them see that they can trust their king.”
Trust their king. Not the prince. Not her. But Valco.
Sterling halted her eyes from narrowing. “I will.”
“Good. I have another matter,” he purred, moistening his lower lip with the tip of his tongue.
“How may I be at your service?” Sterling asked, her fingers itching for a bow and arrow that was nowhere to be found. Only in her desperate imagination.
“Did my son satisfy you properly?” His gaze roamed across her body as it had the night before.
Sterling dug her fingers into her thighs before she used them to pierce his eyes. “Better than any lover ever could.” Winter may have been a virgin, but he knew how to please.
Valco trailed a finger down Sterling’s arm and she held back a shudder. “Just because you’re mated to my son doesn’t mean you can’t fuck your king.”
Sterling’s breath hitched, silence reigning inside her mouth.
“The prince was a pitiful lover last night, making you perform all the work.” His finger skimmed up Sterling’s neck to her jawline. “I’ll bend you over my desk right now and show you what it’s like to be fucked well.”
Sterling’s pulse raced as dread filled her. Was this what Valco had done with Talia? Lured her in as bait to use against his son? How she wished harder for a bow, to send an arrow straight into his throat.
He was so much larger than her… How would she escape this situation if he insisted?
Sterling squared her shoulders and stepped away from the king’s revolting touch. “I apologize, Your Majesty, but I’m true to Prince Winter.”
The king smiled wide—a cruel expression that reached his eyes. “Wrong answer. You should’ve begged for my cock, Sterling. The way your grandmother did.”