Tears threatened my eyes. I placed both palms against the door and imagined bursting through it, bursting all the way out of this damn castle. My words were true. I didn’t survive longer than any human wife before me to just sit here and rot like some sort of prisoner.
I was Malachi’s wife. I was a princess to Rewyth. I hated that title, but I sure as saints was going to use it to my advantage if I had to.
Before I could open my mouth to plead with Serefin once more, the doorhandle began rattling.
I backed away as Serefin entered, shutting the door behind him.
“I can’t let you leave,” he said. His eyes assessed the situation, and I saw the tiniest bit of pity in them.
“You feel sorry for me?” I asked.
“I would feel sorry for anyone who’s going through what you’re going through. Nobody should have to live here against their will.”
I laughed. “Even a retched, useless human? Aren’t all fae supposed to hate us, anyway? What makes you so different?”
Serefin walked over to my open window and pushed it shut. He turned to face me before answering, “Not all fae think that way, Jade. That would be like you thinking all fae are evil, malicious beings. And you don’t think that, do you?”
I held his gaze. Serefin was nearly as tall as Malachi, with now-visible silver wings that tucked tightly behind his shoulder blades. His black guard uniform was perfectly aligned to his slim body. Serefin wasn’t my enemy. If anything, Serefin had been kind to me when he had no reason to be. He had shown me mercy.
I took a seat on the large sofa, but Serefin didn’t move from the window. “I don’t think you’re evil, no,” I answered with caution.
Serefin smiled. “Good. Then we’re off to a good start, princess.”
I tossed my head back and groaned.
“What?” he asked. “You don’t want to be a princess?”
“That’s a joke, right?” I replied. “In what world would I want to be a princess in a place where everyone wants me dead.”
Serefin paused as if he were debating whether or not to stay. But after a few seconds, he sighed and came to sit with me on the sofa.
“Malachi’s not so bad, you know,” he said.
This forced another groan from me. “Yeah, and everyone seems to keep reminding me of that. But he’s still the Prince of Shadows, Serefin.” I paused and shook my head, remembering the way he killed those men with no more than a blink of an eye. “He’s dangerous.”
“But he’s a great ally,” Serefin argued.
My head was spinning. “What type of ally would lock me in a bedroom for an unknown amount of time?”
“You know he just wants to protect you.”
“This isn’t protecting me,” I replied. “I’m a sitting duck here. If anything, this is more dangerous than the alternative.”
“The alternative?” Serefin questioned. “You mean it’s more dangerous than following Malachi around the kingdom to handle his court business? You really want to do that?”
I thought about it for a moment. “What type of court business does Malachi do, anyway?”
Serefin stood up and walked toward the door. “If you want to know so badly,” he said, “then you should probably ask your husband.” He grinned, and I caught myself wondering how old Serefin really was. He didn’t look much older than me, but fae lived for centuries, nearly immortal.
Serefin could have been hundreds of years older than me. And Malachi, for that matter.
“It’s a little hard to ask him anything when he leaves me locked in here.”
Serefin turned toward the door and opened it. “You better hurry up then,” he asked. “We’re going to get dinner.”
CHAPTER 12
Malachi
My heart was pounding. It hadn’t stopped pounding since the almost deadly attack on Jade.
It had gotten too close. The fact that blood had been drawn was already too much.
I had slept in an empty bedroom across the hall the past couple of nights, but it didn’t stop my mind from wandering to Jade’s wet hair from the shower, the way she looked at me when I showed her my wings.
Saints help me.
I walked down the empty hallway to my father’s quarters. I had spent hours debating on whether or not to trust him with the incident, and my mind was still shouting warnings at me.
My father wasn’t going to help me.
He didn’t help me with any of my other wives. Not even Laura. So, there was no way he was going to help me now.