Page 40 of The Wolf King

Callum’s brow furrows.

“My wife? What are you—?” Suddenly, he throws his head back and roars with laughter. It makes me jump as the sound echoes around the cold space.

“Fiona? She’s not my wife!Ghealach! Don’t let her hear you saying that. She’d not be best pleased with you!”

Something that feels traitorously like relief blooms in my chest. I swallow, pushing it down. “Oh. You’re inappropriate withallwomen then?”

He laughs. “I gave her ahug, Princess. She’s my oldest friend. But wife? No. Whatever gave you—”

He halts and looks at me searchingly, his head tilting to the side. His smile broadens.

“What?” I fold my arms across my chest.

“Sothat’swhat that was all about.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know, Princess, that as a wolf, I have exceptionally good senses.” His eyes glint in the torchlight. Then he starts moving again. “You were jealous,” he says.

Chapter Fourteen

“Iwas not jealous!”

I march ahead of Callum. My bare feet slap painfully against the flagstones. I have no idea where I’m going, but I need to get away from the aura of amusement he is emitting, and the wide grin on his face.

I was... caught by surprise when he hugged that woman. That’s all. He’s a wolf! An enemy! I wasnot...jealoushe might have someone back home.

I’m so flustered that as I turn a corner, I barge into a servant. She yelps, and her basket of potatoes spills onto the floor.

“Oh, Goddess!” I say.

“Watch where you’re going—” She sniffs the air, and her lips curl into a snarl. “Human.”

I take a small step back.

“What are you doing here?” she growls, advancing. “Your kind isn’t welcome—”

Suddenly she stiffens. The girl’s eyes widen at something over my shoulder, and she bows her head in deference. Her cheeks flame.

Callum stands in the doorway behind me. He picks up a potato that has rolled into his boot, then walks over and places it in her basket.

“Everything okay, Kayleigh?” he asks.

“Aye,” she mumbles. “Thank you.”

She rushes off, presumably toward the kitchens, leaving me feeling rattled.

“Shehatedme,” I say. I’m used to indifference within the walls of the palace, but not hatred.

“Can you blame her?”

I swivel round to face him. “I have done nothing to her. And she looked like she wanted to kill me.”

He sighs. “You’re a human, Princ—” He stops himself from saying my title. “Rory.”

He walks past, and I fall into step beside him.

“Kayleigh’s father was killed by Sebastian’s army in an attack on their village, just north of the Borderlands,” he tells me as we navigate the gloomy corridors. “Her mother was taken—she’s presumed dead too. The humans burned the whole village. That girl, she barely escaped with her life. So, aye, she doesn’t like humans very much.”

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