Page 32 of Alien God

My stomach dropped, and I clutched the door for support. Clearly, there was interspecies breeding present here, considering how some of Asha Wylfrael’s features so closely resembled those of the fox people and yet in other ways, he looked completely different.

Now I wished there was a lock on my door. To keep him out. Not that it would do much good against someone of his obvious power.

I stumbled over to the bed. Hoisting myself into it was a feat of strength I didn’t know I had, but, arms like noodles afterwards, I managed it. My wrist throbbed, pain I’d forgotten and ignored until now. I shook my head at the redness there, the beginnings of the bruise. Striking myself with the hammer seemed like it had happened a lifetime ago instead of earlier today. I wondered if Suvi and Min-Ji and the other women had escaped on the ship, or if they’d been killed. By him.

A choked sound ripped out of my throat. A sob without tears. Gasping and shivering, I got under the thick, white fur and burrowed into the pillows and mattress. Like a child hiding from monsters, I pulled the fur duvet up and over my head, curling into the darkness as if it would protect me.

But it wouldn’t. I knew it wouldn’t.

I wasn’t a child anymore.

And the monsters, it turned out, were very, very real.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Wylfrael

I woke at dawn. I could tell the sun was rising by the soft bloom of colour warming the walls of the chamber, making the deep pink into something almost orange. The crystal walls were too thick to let in the starlight at night, necessitating firestone lanterns. But sunlight penetrated with much stronger rays, making the castle glow almost as if from within during the day. When the sun rose, it warmed this tower first. Then, it trekked above the centre tower, the Day Tower. The third tower was the Eve Tower, which lay closest to the mountains where the sun set each night.

I sat up in bed, stretching my wings experimentally. Good. The shallowest wounds, the ones created by the human weapons, had already healed during sleep. The deeper ones, inflicted by my cousin, would take longer, though.

I bit back a rush of impatience at that. I didn’t have time to sit around here waiting to heal. I gave a grim, short laugh when I remembered that things could have been worse. I could have been on the brink of death, forced into an ages-long slumber to recover, the way I had been after my last fight with my cousin.

I slipped out of the bed, feeling a sharp ache all around my torso and back where Skalla’s claws had dug in so deep. My tail snapped back and forth, my wings flickering with tension. Where are you, cousin?

A soft rap at the door pulled me from thoughts of Skallagrim.

“Enter.”

Shoshen opened the door and came in, ears flattened.

“My lord. I heard you rise and wanted to bring you fresh clothing.”

I took a bundle of soft Sionnachan leather from his hands.

“You heard me rise?” I asked, lifting a questioning brow. Sionnachans had excellent hearing, but not good enough to hear me from the servants’ quarters in the Day Tower.

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