Total pages in book: 218
Estimated words: 205594 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1028(@200wpm)___ 822(@250wpm)___ 685(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 205594 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1028(@200wpm)___ 822(@250wpm)___ 685(@300wpm)
I don’t like this tower version of who I am. She’s far too vulnerable. Tears threaten again and I jab my nails into my palms until the pain makes the tears vanish.
I’ll cry later. Tomorrow. Next week. When I get out of this fucking tower. Just not now.
Chapter
Thirty-One
Istay upstairs and glare in silence at the ceiling for what must be hours. I don’t feel like coming down from my room, because then I’ll have to face Nemeth, and I really don’t want to. He made me feel ashamed and hurt and it pisses me off. I’m considering just staying up here for a few weeks—maybe longer—until things settle between us. There’s not as much of a need for firewood now with the weather warmer, and if I miss his company, it’s my own fault for trying to entice a stupid, stubborn Fellian into liking me back.
I hear Nemeth’s approach in the dark, silent halls of the tower before I hear the knock on my door. “Come out, Candra.”
“Piss off.” Am I being sulky and childish? Yes. Do I care? No.
“It’s time for your potion.”
I sit up in the darkness. “I’ll do it myself.”
“No, you won’t.” That stubborn note enters his voice. “You hurt yourself when you do. Come downstairs and I’ll administer it for you.”
“Quit being a bully,” I yell back. “I can do it myself.”
“Not without your tools, and they’re currently in my room.”
Oh, is it going to be like that? Indignant, I get to my feet and feel my way across the room, finding the door. I fling it open, and sure enough, there are the brightly gleaming, narrowed eyes of my Fellian nemesis.
He puts a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll guide you.”
“I don’t want guiding. I want to be left alone.”
“I’m not going to do that,” he growls.
Insufferable Fellian. I jerk away from his grip and head for the stairs, my hand out. I’ve made this journey hundreds of times in the dark, have I not? I know the way.
From behind me comes a feral snarl. “Stubborn little princess.” In the next moment, I’m grabbed and tossed over his shoulder, the wing moving backward to accommodate me. He smacks my butt as if I’m a child and hauls me down the stairs towards his quarters.
I’m furious.
I’m also turned on. How fucking dare he spank me. How fucking dare he act like he owns me. Like he can take care of me better than I can myself. I grit my teeth, hating that my body is responding to his, especially after he’s made it quite clear that he thinks I’ll just diddle any man put in front of me like a shameless tart.
And even if I did, so what? He enjoyed it. He’s more angry about that than anything, I suspect. He let himself be jerked off by a human and he liked it, and now he’s mad at me about it. My anger fires up and by the time he sets me down in the pleasant, lit warmth of his supply-crowded quarters, I’m past all reason once more. I glare at him, indignant, and then race for the table where my medical supplies are kept, intending to snatch the bag and race upstairs with it.
I don’t want to depend on him. I don’t need to depend on him.
He growls, grabbing my wrist before I can reach the table. “So it’s going to be like that, princess?” Nemeth hauls me over to the bed, and I struggle to break free from his grip. “You’re so gods-damned stubborn.”
“Me?” I sputter. “You’re the arse who thinks he’s the Gray God’s gift to humans. Acting like you’re too good for a slutty human’s touch, is that it? Because I’m not some pristine virgin you think I’ll just grab any cock put in front of me? You think—”
I break off because he whirls me about, and then I’m on my belly, bent over the side of the bed. He pins my arm down on the mattress next to my head, surprisingly gentle despite the strength and size of him.
“You, princess, will be the death of me,” Nemeth snarls into my ear, his voice deadly with fury and…something else. A moment later, a hand goes under my skirts and skims up my leg. “The absolute death of me,” he repeats again, and this time his tone is hot, distracted, as his claws scrape my thigh.
I suck in a breath.
My ass is in the air and I’m pinned to the bed, half under him as he presses his weight over me, keeping me secured in place right where he wants me. That searching hand goes between my thighs, and I realize what he’s doing a split second before he speaks.
“You can be my secret, and I’ll be yours, remember? Just tell me to stop and I will.”