Chapter 41
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Briar
“I trust you slept well,” he said.
I tensed. What game is he playing?
“After you finished watching the show, of course,” he continued.
Three heads swiveled toward me. I was determined not to let him rattle me, but heat burned my nape and crept into my cheeks.
“I slept fantastic,” I lied and cut a piece of pancake before shoving it in my mouth.
I’d been looking forward to the sweet treat with all its brown syrup and melted butter oozing over the sides, but it was like chewing sawdust as I glowered at him.
My hands rested on the table with my knife and fork clenched in them; delightful musings of jamming one of them into his eye danced through my head.
Knox watched me while his friends continued their meals. I’d resumed eating my pancakes when his voice sliced through the silence.
“What was your favorite part of the show?” he inquired.
My head rose as the handles of my utensils dug into my palms. Oh yes, I’d gladly plunge them into his eyes. He was trying to humiliate me, and while I couldn’t control my blush, I wouldn’t let him bully me into backing down.
“I’m not sure what my favorite part was, but my least favorite was when you came into my room with a stiff dick and an attitude,” I retorted.
I hadn’t known it was possible to shock these shifters, but Dromon froze with a fork full of pancakes halfway to his mouth, and the other two stopped breathing. Slowly, their gazes went from me to Knox.
The cruel spark in his eyes didn’t lessen, but rage radiated from him. He didn’t like having his game turned on him. Well, good, because I didn’t like being a pawn in his cruelty.
I cut off another piece of pancake and shoved it in my mouth. I chewed as I smiled at him.
“Maybe you’d like to join the three of them tonight,” he stated. “If I remember correctly, you were an amazing fuck.”
The three shifters exchanged a look as it dawned on them what show we were talking about. How they hadn’t figured out they were screwing beneath my tower last night was beyond me, but they’d been pretty focused on each other.
“That’s funny, I remember the same thing about you,” I replied. “But that was before.”
“Before what?” he growled.
I was walking a razor-thin line with him. The only problem was that I didn’t care. What more could he possibly do to me? I’d already had everything stripped from me… including the hope of him.
“Before you turned into a walking nightmare,” I told him.
His friends’ heads turned toward him.
“I am what you made me,” Knox said as he lifted his cup and sipped the liquid inside.
“I didn’t make you anything. I didn’t tell my mother about us.”
When he set the cup down, his friends’ heads swiveled back to him.
“How easily your pretty little mouth lies,” he murmured.
I smirked at him as I leisurely cut up more of my breakfast. “If I remember correctly, you once loved my pretty little mouth on your cock.”
With that, I shoved some pancakes in my mouth and angrily chewed while I glared at him. His amused air didn’t vanish as he bared his teeth at me in a macabre semblance of a smile.
“It was a great way to keep you from talking,” he said.
I swallowed my pancakes as I lifted the cup before me. The enticing aroma of coffee filled my nose as steam rose from it. I took a sip before setting it down again. “Fuck you.”
“Should that pretty little mouth be saying such words?” he taunted.
“Did you invite me to breakfast to try to humiliate me? If that’s why I’m here, then you’re going to be disappointed because it’s not working.”
“You’re here because I told you to be and you obeyed me… as you should. You’re learning your place here.”
My teeth scraped together. “And what place is that?”
He shrugged as he bit into a sausage. “That depends on how your Needing goes.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
He didn’t reply as he finished his sausage and lifted another one. I waited for him to answer, but his attention remained on his plate. The others did the same, but the air around them was as tense as I felt.
I contemplated the plate before me. My stomach had turned into a knotted mess. I wanted to seem as unaffected by all this as he was, and I wanted answers. I couldn’t bring myself to ask him again what my Needing had to do with anything, so I shoved a sausage in my mouth and chomped on it.
“So, ah, just so you know, last night wasn’t my best performance,” Dromon said.
I gawked at him before I started laughing. I didn’t kid myself into thinking any of them liked me, but it was nice to laugh; the last time I’d done so was with Seth.
“I can attest to that,” Lyra said.
Dromon gave her the finger, and the three of them grinned at each other before returning to their meals. Pierce finished first, pushed back his chair, and rose. He stretched his arms over his head, grunted something, and strode out of the room.
Lyra and Dromon followed soon after, but Knox remained. In no rush to return to my room, I leisurely ate my breakfast. I wanted to ask about the library but feared he’d take great joy in turning me down.
I also dreaded returning to that room. The idea of it made my skin crawl. I had my tiny friend for company, but not my freedom.
“I told Bertie I could help with the plants,” I said.
A knot had formed in my stomach, but I shoved another bite of pancake in my mouth. I couldn’t let him know how badly I needed to do something.
He’d given up on eating and sat half turned in the chair with his hand resting on the table but his head twisted toward me. I took that as my sign to continue.
“I’m very good with plants. I have a knack for them, and since I’m not bound to either the sun or moon god, I still draw most of my energy from nature.
I can funnel that energy into them. If you have some earth moss, I could use it in a potion to further nourish the plants.
The sprites are struggling to keep everything in the castle alive and thriving, and I’d like to help them. ”
“You would, would you?”
The low tone of his voice told me that he didn’t approve of my plan, but I wasn’t ready to let it go. “Yes. As I said, I’m really good with plants. They respond well to me.”
“And I’m supposed to trust you not to create something to destroy them instead?”
A million different things to say ran through my mind, but I bit them all back. What it all boiled down to was trust, and he’d made it clear I didn’t have his.
I wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction of begging to help him either. Instead, I slipped some fruit and bread into my pockets for my friend. I tucked some extra in my pockets to store away for him in case he was still with me when my Needing struck. I wouldn’t be able to care for him then.
I rested my hands on the table before rising. “I’ve had enough.” Of this place, of my breakfast, and mostly of him. “I’m returning to my room.”
I also wouldn’t give him the joy of telling me it was time for me to return. Instead, I kept my back straight as I strode toward the stairs and ascended them like I didn’t have a care in the world. I expected him to get up and follow me, to make sure I returned to my room, but he didn’t.
Instead, I found Bertie and two other sprites in the hall, waiting for me.
“We’ll escort you back,” Bertie said.
I hid my irritation over them being here the whole time, waiting and listening. Instead, I forced a smile. “Thank you.”