Chapter 74
CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR
Briar
I’d taken to spending a lot of time in the castle’s kitchen, so no one questioned me when I arrived to help the sprites prepare breakfast. I set a cauldron full of growing potion on a spit to boil, which was something they’d also gotten used to me doing since discovering the gorman.
Despite Zephyr’s knowledge of how to make the potion, I would ensure they had plenty of it after I left. The cabinets were already overflowing with vials, but guilt was chewing at my insides, and I couldn’t leave without making one final batch for them.
And I was leaving… today.
Last night had only solidified my determination to escape this place. Not only had Knox done exactly what I’d told him not to, but he hadn’t bothered to apologize for it or any of the other numerous things he’d done since taking me from the harem.
I was tired of being his toy, tired of being pushed around, and sick of having my feelings completely disregarded. If I stayed here, he would forever run all over me, and I refused to let him push me around anymore.
Knox and the beast could fuck off as far as I was concerned.
While I helped prepare the meal, it was easy enough to slip the sleeping potion into the tea and coffee the sprites brewed. They were in two separate cauldrons, both near the one containing my potion. I helped the sprites by stirring both pots while they gathered ingredients.
I’d fallen into the easy flow of their mornings as they bustled around the kitchen and halls. I was one more set of trusted, helping hands. That didn’t ease my guilt.
When Merribell asked me to add water to her pancake batter, I poured more sleeping potion into it instead. No one said no to Merribell’s pancakes.
I forced a smile and laughter as I moved about the kitchen; it was what the sprites expected from me—before the plants started dying—but a growing ball of dread was forming in my stomach. The sprites were my friends, and I was about to put them all to sleep. I hoped they could forgive me one day.
But that wasn’t my only cause for concern. My gaze drifted to the cuckoo clock on the wall. It was nearly breakfast time, but there’d been no sign of Knox.
He was sound asleep when I crept from his bed this morning. I was certain I’d wake him while I dressed, but he’d remained lying on his back with his arm draped over his head and his face turned toward me.
In sleep, he looked peaceful in a way I had never seen when he was awake.
His carved features were relaxed, his full mouth slightly parted on his breaths as his chest rose and fell steadily.
Black stubble lined his carved jaw, and for a second, I itched to crawl back into that bed with him, kiss him awake, and lose myself to him again, but I’d never leave if I did.
And if I didn’t leave Wildwood, he’d destroy me. He’d beat down my spirit beneath his domineering soul until nothing of me remained.
With a knot in my stomach and a lump in my throat, I’d tiptoed from his bedroom and across his large sitting room. The maroon curtains on the windows were all open, revealing the gray sky beyond the balcony overlooking the land.
A grandfather clock steadily ticked away the seconds as I crept across the room. I kept waiting for Knox to wake up and stop me, but he didn’t. I doubted he’d slept the entire time he was gone; he was making up for that now.
But if he stays asleep now, he won’t be here to eat breakfast, and if he wakes to find everyone asleep…
I gulped at the possibility. That would be so BAD.
If Knox didn’t wake soon, I’d find a way to spill the coffee and tea all over the pancakes before they left this room.
That shouldn’t be too difficult, I thought with a sigh.
And I didn’t know where the other shifters were either. Dromon and Pierce were probably exhausted too; were they all still sleeping?
I should have waited until tomorrow for this, but I was petrified that if I stayed another day, I’d never leave. I’d lose my nerve, be discovered, or give in to Knox and accept my fate.
A fate with a man who doesn’t respect you? And what if he learns about you being a necromancer? What will he do?
He’d never harm his mate.
That was true, but he’d completely broken my trust in him. If he learned the truth about me, he might decide to lock me away… again.
And I would not be locked away again. I had no idea what I was or what I was becoming, but I was far stronger than anyone knew or gave me credit for, and I wouldn’t be destroyed or caged, by my mother or Knox.
It would take me some time to figure everything out, but I would do it. And I would do it far from here.
The sprites were busy getting all the plates ready, and I was ready to pour coffee into the pancake batter, when Knox arrived. The hair on my nape rose as I sensed him before I saw him.
With a lump in my throat, I turned to discover him leaning against the doorframe, his arms folded over his chest and his feet crossed at his ankles. A small smile lifted the corner of his mouth, and an amused twinkle filled his eyes while he studied me.
Despite the betrayal he inflicted on me, my heart somersaulted as I drank him in. I had to get away from him, but oh, how he could make my legs weak and my heart race. I wiped my suddenly sweaty palms on my apron.
He was gorgeous. Just absolutely, mouthwateringly gorgeous… and I was his mate, the one he would cherish for eternity.
What am I doing? He looks so relaxed and happy.
He looks like this because he forced something on you that you didn’t want! You’re saving yourself, Briar.
Be. The. Thorn.
Be the thorn. Yes, I would be the thorn. The thorn survives; the rose dies.
With my resolve firmly in place, I smiled in return and stirred the tea as Merribell fluttered over to shoo me away. “Go on now, we’ll bring your breakfast soon.”
I’d been eating with the sprites for most meals, but apparently they’d decided it was time to play matchmaker with Knox and me. I’d chosen a forest green shirt that hid my marks and would blend in better with the woods, but they must have sensed something different about us.
They probably saw that Knox was smiling. Him being happy about anything was a dead giveaway that something had changed.
“I can still help,” I offered.
“We’re fine, child,” Merribell assured me. “Hurry on, now.”
“I’ll stay here and let you know when they fall asleep,” Gizzi told me from where he sat in the doorway of the pantry; his cheeks were full of food.
“Thank you.”
I reluctantly took off my apron and set it on the counter. Once I left this room, I couldn’t turn back. There would be no stopping what I’d put in motion.
My steps faltered a little before I lifted my chin and strode toward Knox. The sudden hush of wings alerted me that every sprite had stopped to watch us. And they were all here since they prepared the meals and ate them together every day.
When Knox held out his arm to me, a collective inhalation went through the room. As I slid my arm through his, they all exhaled in relief.
They have no idea what’s coming.
I smiled as I tried to hide my growing nervousness. I did have a backup plan if the shifters weren’t in the dining room, where they usually ate breakfast together. Still, it would be so much easier if this went the way I needed it to go.
As my fingers curved around Knox’s bare forearm, my skin tingled with awareness, and I was sure the air around us became charged. No one would ever make me feel as good as Knox did, and after today, if he ever got his hands on me again, his touch wouldn’t be so kind.
I have to make sure that doesn’t happen.
I didn’t know if Devnair could protect me from Knox and my mother or if his brother-in-law would allow me to stay in Terra, but hopefully he could at least help me get on my feet. Knox would go to Terra first in search of me; I had no doubt about that, but I didn’t have anywhere else to go.
I studied the black tattoo on his tanned arm while we walked. His white, short-sleeved shirt emphasized the bulge of his muscles, the golden color of his skin, and the tattooed thorns that forever reminded him of the harem.
Everything about him electrified and scared me.
He was strong, powerful, ruthless… and a ticking time bomb.
“You were gone when I woke this morning,” he said as he led me through the hallway of glass windows and past the garden where the plants were steadily returning to full health.
“I enjoy helping in the kitchen,” I told him.
“I know.”
“And you needed your rest. Did you sleep at all while you were gone?”
“No.”
I waited for him to ask me how I felt about last night or if I was okay with what happened, but he didn’t. I wasn’t sure if that was because it would never occur to him to do so or if he was scared of my answer.
Instead, his thumb stroked my hand, and I shuddered as I recalled the way it felt circling my clit last night. I had to get out of here before I ended up back in his bed.
We didn’t say anything more, but I felt his gaze on my neck as he searched for the marks I’d covered. My heart thumped so fast that I knew he could hear it; I hoped he believed it was because of what passed between us last night, and not my coming treachery.