Zoey passed her room, went through the gardens, and headed to the kitchen. She was not all that hungry, but she didn’t want to go to her room and find Fleur there. She had had enough of bitchy females for one day. Her mood worsened when she bumped into Rane. She could only assume he was on his way to the dining hall which made her wonder if that was where she was supposed to eat today. He took one look at her lip and smirked. She wanted nothing more than to slap his face.
“Did that silver tongue get you into trouble?”
“Go away, Rane.”
“I’d say the same to you, but…” He shrugged.
Subtly reminding her she was cursed and couldn’t return home made her furious. Then again, Rane did want to get rid of her. Feeding her to the leopards would be simple enough.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were in on it,” she said.
“In on what?” Caynin appeared behind them.
“Nothing.” Zoey turned away her face, but it was too late.
Caynin reached for her chin and made her look at him.
“Who did this to you?” The anger flared up in his eyes like a snowstorm.
“No one,” she said.
“Why won’t you tell me?” he growled. His grip tightened and brought with it the realization that when he asked a question, he was used to being answered. “Do you think I don’t care enough to do something about it?”
“Actually, I know you’d do something about it.” She pulled away from his touch. “And I don’t want you to. I can’t have you defending me all the time. It makes me look weak.”
Something softened in Rane’s eyes, but returned to normal so quickly, Zoey wondered if she had imagined it.
Caynin appeared to consider her words. “Then you better find a way to start defending yourself.”
Rane laughed bitterly, and she knew he had no faith in her. They saw her as weak, vulnerable, fragile, and mortal. Her stomach turned because they were right.
Caynin went to the dining room, and they followed him inside. The table was neatly set with silverware, food, and wine goblets.
“Are you going to join us for breakfast on a daily basis?” Rane asked.
“Yes,” Caynin answered for her. “She’ll be joining for dinner as well.”
“What will the queen say?” Rane asked.
“As for now, the queen has gone hunting,” Caynin said. “She has asked for some space and will be dining alone most, if not all, of the time.”
What did the Fata hunt? Deer? Rabbits? She recalled how the winged leopards had hunted her and then brushed aside the thought. They weren’t hunting humans, were they?
“But she won’t be hunting tomorrow morning. And what if she changes her mind and decides to join us?” Rane asked. “She won’t be pleased to have a human dining with her, and you know it.”
“This is my kingdom, my rules.” The muscle in Caynin’s jaw jumped.
“She can overrule you, and you know it,” Rane reminded him. “The one with the most power, makes the rules.”
Zoey was not going to let Rane scare her away, so she sat down in the same seat she had before. Rane glared at her. “If she’s staying, I’m leaving.”
“Suit yourself.” Caynin watched Rane leave without eating anything. He sat down next to Zoey, and she touched her broken lip, aware of his eyes that strayed to her mouth. She was going to have a hard time eating with her broken lip. Caynin must have shared her thoughts because he reached over, and Zoey did not pull away from his gentle touch. He sent a warm, tingling feeling through her lip, and when he pulled away, she realized she had been healed. He then reached for her hand, which she had cut on the glass the previous night, and healed that, too.
She licked her lip, touched it, felt it, and then she observed her hand which was perfectly healed. She couldn’t help but gape at him. “You have the power to heal me?”
“Of course,” he said, as if she should have known. “You look displeased.”
“When I fell and broke my leg, you could have healed me right then and there! But you chose to prolong my pain.” You forced me to stay in your company, she almost added.
Caynin did not hesitate to respond. “You wanted to take that flower to your sister, and you needed to see that it worked.”
“Don’t lie to me,” she said. He had ulterior motives from the start…
“Fine.” He groaned. “You were terrified, and I had to find a way to win your trust. My giving you the flower allowed you time to realize that I meant you no harm.”
“You didn’t gift it, you traded it. A flower in exchange for my time.”
“You make that sound so dirty.” He winked.
Zoey almost cursed at him and then at herself when her stomach flipped at those words. He was a manipulative, arrogant bastard who had toyed with her. He had taken advantage of her broken leg, her vulnerability.
“Don’t be crude.”
“Your mouth says one thing, but your scent says another.”
“My scent?” She exhaled, aware of her heart beating faster, her cheeks growing warm, and the heat between her thighs. Could he smell her desire for him like he smelled her fear?
“Your scent.” His voice dropped, and he leaned closer. Yes, he could certainly smell her desire, and he reciprocated it. He was leaning in, his lips inches away from hers. For a moment, Zoey almost let him kiss her, wanting to know what his lips tasted like. But then she regained self-control; making out with the Everwhite prince was foolish.
“There must be something wrong with your sense of smell.” She turned away her head.
Caynin leaned back in his chair, the hungry look in his eyes replaced by exhaustion. He had, after all, been seriously injured the previous night and was still recovering.
“You are so hard to please, Zoey Wright,” he said softly, but not seductively.
Was that what he was trying to do? Please her? He had given her a luxurious room, a place to live, enough delicious food, and beautiful clothes. But why?
“You’re too good to be true.” She had finally confessed what had been bothering her.
Was that why she kept looking for flaws? Was that why she kept waiting for him to make a mistake? She was waiting for everything to fall apart, and when it didn’t, she got skeptical.
Things with Eric had been too good to be true, once upon a time, and then it had fallen apart. But what she had with Eric could never be compared to Caynin, who made her forget that Eric, and all other weak human boys existed.
“I’m not good at all,” Caynin told her without any humor. She was about to respond when Rane stormed into the room.
“Did you miss me so much you came back?” she asked him, and he ignored her.
Rane’s eyes were as wide as crystal balls, his arms twitching at his sides, as he spoke to Caynin. “I just found another Enerly.”
“The castle is filled with them, if you haven’t noticed,” Zoey said.
“She’s dead.”
Rane’s eyes remained fixed on Caynin, and Zoey instantly regretted her snarky remark. Death was nothing to joke about. Caynin got to his feet, and Zoey pushed her chair back so that she could follow.
“Stay here and eat, human.” At least Rane was acknowledging her now.
Zoey looked to Caynin, as if he could help her, but the warmth had disappeared from him as if he had been doused in cold water.
“This does not concern you,” Caynin told her with cold authority. Done was the flirting, back were the commands.
She watched the two of them leave the room. Caynin’s words were a reminder that she did not belong there. She was not a part of this – she was not a part of anything. The room was uncomfortably quiet when they left.
She helped herself to the food and after a while realized they weren’t going to return. She took some of the fruit, so that she would have something to eat during the day, before leaving so that the servants could clean up.
Back in her room, Zoey put the fruit on her bedside counter. She did not see Caynin or Rane for the rest of the day, and a part of her hoped that Caynin would come to her room again. He did not.
She spent the day enjoying the library, which was big and had too many books to count. Two spiral staircases led to the second floor where even more books were kept. She scanned the titles and was surprised to find novels written by authors she knew – human authors. Plenty of books were about the Fata and Erken, too. She spent most of the day reading there then carried a few books to her room when it got dark. She went to have dinner and ended up eating alone. She still did not know where Caynin or Rane were.
After eating, she thanked the cooks, who pretended as if she was not there. She then went to her room, closed the door, took a bath, and got dressed in a different night gown. (The blue one had Caynin’s blood on as well as the towel that Zoey had used to clean. Fleur must have taken both these Items from her room for cleaning. Fortunately, she hadn’t asked any questions.
When Zoey made to get into bed by pulling off the blanket, an object that had been placed under her pillow fell to the floor. Confused and curious, Zoey bent down to pick it up. She had no idea who had left it in her room and held it up to study it better.
It was an iron knife – a weapon that could kill Fata.