Page 78 of The Howling
He doesn’t look up. I feign boredom, putting one hand on a hip and gazing around me. Two can play this game as easily as one.
“I wasn’t expecting you to give up so easily,” he says eventually, breaking the silence and kicking out at the obsequious guard. It scuttles away. “Reivers,” he snorts, “only have one use.”
“In the Night Lands, to prolong your war?” I say, studying my nails.
“Who have you been talking to, my pretty?” Lord Soulis says, his too bright blue eyes raking over me, condescension dripping from every word.
I ignore him. “I’m here for Reavely.”
“And here I was thinking you were here for me,” he says without missing a beat.
“Release the Barghest and I’ll marry you,” I continue.
“What makes you think you have anything to bargain with, little human?” His fangs are out, his glamour slipping a little, revealing the demon within.
“This.” I pull out the Styne of Golorum and hold it as his eyes fix upon the glittering gem.
He reaches for it, but before I can pull away, his hand is jerked back as if by some invisible force.
“You wield it?” he says in hushed tones.
“Looks like that, doesn’t it?” I respond.
I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, and if I don’t find out where Reavely is and come up with a new plan, this confidence I’m pretending I have is not going to go much further.
Which is when I hear the first snarl.
“Reavely!” I spin around to see a dark streak heading my way across the polished floor like a missile.
I feel the dagger at my throat and smell the evil breath of the Faerie Lord.
“Don’t move, human, or you will lose blood,” he says. “Tell the Barghest to back off and maybe we can talk.”
REAVELY
He has her.
He has his hands on my mate.
I will bite them off and feed them to him one by one for even considering putting them on her beautiful skin, let alone the dagger point he’s pressing into her neck.
I skid to a halt, my claws scraping over the ground before I shift into my were-hound form.
“If you hurt her…” I snarl.
“You’ll do what?” Lord Soulis mocks me. “Deal with me as you did with Guyzance? I am not as weak as he.”
“Probably too good for you,” Wynter says, gazing directly in my eyes.
She has something in her hand, something she closes her fingers over, and the second she does, the dagger flies out of Lord Soulis’s hand, and she ducks out of his grip, flinging herself into my arms.
“My mate,” I rasp, running my hands over her again and again. “Are you uninjured, unwell? Did he hurt you?”
“I’m fine, Reavely, I promise,” she says. “Lilburn and your mother helped me.”
“My mother?” I gaze at her, hardly able to take in having her with me once again.
How can the short time I’ve been away from her make my mate more beautiful? Her hair shines, her skin is like dew, and her ruby lips are all I want.
