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I should’ve fought harder. I should’ve humiliated him.
No—I should’ve been worse. I should’ve given up from the very beginning.
Whatever I’d just done here was not the right choice. That was the same look I’d seen in the hallway—and at dinner, before he’d murdered a court member in cold blood. The same look I was trying to stop.
I bowed politely to the king and started toward the staging area. I couldn’t bear to stand here under his unreadable gaze with the cheers and howls of the crowd around me.
Before I made it two steps, though, the king stepped forward and caught my wrist. I was still in my sparring mind, and I reacted on instinct, turning on my heel and then leaning back, using his hold on my wrist for momentum as I directed a snappy kick right at his shin. He barely dodged it, awkwardly lunging back, and bared his teeth at me in response.
“Fight’s over,” he growled, but the corners of his lips were still lifted, and his eyes, now golden, sparkled with amusement.
I met his gaze steadily.
He tightened his grip on my wrist and wrenched me closer. My instincts went wild, my wolf howling to be released—to submit or fight back, I wasn’t sure.
I stumbled forward, nearly falling into his chest, but I caught myself and reeled backward. “Let me go,” I hissed through gritted teeth.
“You did well today, little wolf,” the king said in a low voice. He nodded toward the tear in his shirt. A thin red line was visible on his skin, and tiny drops of blood threatened to spill over from the miniscule wound. “Rarely has an opponent managed to draw blood from me in the arena.”
“Ah,” I said. “My—my apologies, Your Highness.”
He grinned again, showing his sharp teeth. “You apologize for succeeding in another trial?”
“A lady shouldn’t draw blood,” I said. Being this close to the king was making my head feel like it was full of cotton.
“A lady, perhaps,” the king said. “But a wolf should.”
“And I am a lady,” I snapped.
“You say that,” the king said with a grin, “but the way you speak to me suggests otherwise.”
My cheeks burned, and not from exertion. I wrenched my wrist out of his grasp. “I’ve said nothing that is untrue, nor anything that the court members do not already know. You’ve shown your true colors.”
He reeled back as if struck.
“A lady has good manners,” I said, “but she is also honest.”
The king’s eyes burned gold, and the air around him crackled with energy. I turned on my heel and hurried back to the staging area. I didn’t want to see him in his wolf form again—and I didn’t want to be struck dumb by its power and forced to bear the full weight of his terrifying attention while the crowds watched from the stands.
I fixed my ladylike mask back in place and beamed at Barion as I approached; playing up my exhaustion, I had him escort me back to my quarters without much fanfare.
10
The next morning, when Rue and Amity entered into my bedroom and flung open the curtains, I groaned and pulled the blankets back up over my head.
“Milady?” Amity asked. “Are you all right?”
I’d hardly slept at all. I’d had dreams of running through the forest, either pursued by the king’s great wolf, or running alongside him. My body ached from the sparring, and I was just exhausted. Emotionally and mentally. The thought of going down to the solarium to play nice with Rona and Lady Glennis, and potentially the king himself, made my head pound.
“I’m not feeling my best,” I said. “Might I have breakfast here instead of in the solarium?”
“Ah, you did put on quite the show yesterday,” Rue said with a smile. “Certainly, we’ll inform Lady Glennis and have a meal brought up.”
The girls hurried out of the room.
I sat up with a sigh and pushed my hair out of my eyes. All I’d thought about, and dreamed about, was the king, the king, the king. I was sick of having him dominate my days and now my dreams at night. I’d come to Efra with hopes of learning more about the continent—of travel, and friendship, and experiencing a little bit more of the world than I had before, and then leaving.
If I had a rare morning to myself, I was going to enjoy it, and not think about the king at all. I pulled the slim volume I’d picked up at the bookstore out of my nightstand’s drawer. The History of Fae in Frasia. I opened to the beginning of the book and settled back into my cozy bed. Immediately, I was entranced by the detailed maps drawn carefully in the very front of the book.
