Chapter 70 Gilded Cage
❀ Maeve ❀
Can I trust this peace?
Awareness bled into me in soft waves. The aches and soreness in my muscles were gone. My mind felt more settled, my thoughts clear.
I almost didn’t want to open my eyes.
A presence dipped the soft bed on my left, and curiosity pried my lids open.
I gasped.
I’d never get used to that face. That sharp blade of a nose, healthy curls grown longer from a lack of trim. His cheeks were still sunken, evidence of the toll healing was taking from him.
Directly beside me was his stubby right arm. It was longer this morning, the flesh filling his long-sleeved shirt well below a joint I could tell was an elbow.
Had he worn a shirt to make me comfortable?
My heart warmed, and a fuzzy feeling tickled my stomach.
Wait. No.
I was angry at him. He was holding me hostage, keeping me from my family, my other mate.
I scowled and bumped him on the nose.
Then shrieked.
“Is that how you wake?!”
He tilted his head like I was the crazy one. “You mean effortlessly and elegantly?”
I mean, it had been elegant. His eyes had opened without any grogginess, face alert like he’d merely closed them in a blink.
“Yes… that.” I leveled him with a suspicious look.
Then I glanced around.
I didn’t recognize this room. It was bigger than the one I’d been locked in. The bed twice as large, the covers thicker with bleached, perfumed fur. Even the sconces were made of gold.
“After you fainted, I brought you here. That environment was holding back your mental recovery.”
He was spot on. I was glad not to be there.
“This is your house?”
“My estate, yes.”
I got the impression he wanted to impress me.
“It’s beautiful. Truly.”
His lips made the slightest movement as he held back a smile.
The room was majestic and minimal all at once. Gold accents, black bedframe and furniture, light gray walls.
The closed windows had similar sun-blocking shutters as the castle, but these looked less menacing, less like the bars of a cage and more like a tasteful choice.
“How do you feel?” He asked.
I countered, “How do I look?”
I studied his face, hoping he’d give me the most accurate report of my health and appearance.
He studiously maintained a blank expression, and I immediately knew I wasn’t completely back to normal.
I did feel far better, but the last stage was probably the rounding of my body and the healthy flush of my skin.
“You’re healing at a promising rate. Before long, you’ll return to the vicious little wolf you are.”
“And you’ll rue the day,” I threatened.
He smirked. “Looking forward to it.” He swept the covers back from his legs. “Breakfast?”
“Yes, please.” Then I paused. “Did you say breakfast? It’s morning?” I glanced at the sealed windows.
“It is. Do you not feel rested? You can sleep more if you wish.”
I burned under his deep, affectionate stare. “No, but aren’t you supposed to be asleep?”
“I mirror your sleeping pattern to spend as much time as possible with you.”
Wow.
He’d slammed into my defenses with a heavy blow.
Nodding dumbly, my gaze tracked his movements.
I watched his languid, catlike stretch, then his smooth walk out of the large matte-black double doors. The knobs were, of course, gold.
Sinking back into the bed, I mimicked his stretch and found it agreeable.
My fainting spell felt like ages ago, and I resolved to ask him how many days had passed since then. If he said another month, I’d jump out the windows.
Bastian would be worried out of his mind. He wouldn’t know that Nikolai would never hurt me, physically or intentionally, at least.
He didn’t know I was Nikolai’s bride.
What if he organized a raid or rescue mission to save me from Veilmoor? He could get seriously hurt.
The fragile peace between vampires and wolves in Blackbridge was worlds away from Veilmoor. They’d rip him apart.
I couldn’t afford to be pliant in this imprisonment. Since Nikolai wouldn’t let me go, I could… work something out with Drusilla.
I glanced about the room to make sure I was alone, guilt flushing my skin.
Drusilla didn’t want Nikolai distracted, and I was a huge one. And being regent of the kingdom, I doubted she wanted her best progeny tied to a wolf.
A snort burst out of me.
I hoped she’d be like a hateful mother-in-law who’d banish me to freedom instead of striking me down with claws of resentment.
That’s it. I straightened my spine.
Nikolai hid me away for a reason, so I would make myself known. Attract attention—
Nikolai appeared out of thin air.
I startled so hard I bit my tongue.
He tilted his head in that questioning, studious way of his.
“You were gone for a while,” I said, trying to keep my thoughts from my face.
If he figured out my plans…
“Had to get the best of everything.” He set the huge engraved ceramic tray on the bedside table. “A feast befitting a queen,” he declared.
I blushed, a smile blooming without my permission even as I desperately tried to remember my grudge.
He’s holding me hostage!
“Thank you,” I murmured, then set in.
After breakfast, I washed in his surprisingly urban bathroom. The polished pipes delivered perfectly lukewarm water that I stood under for what felt like years.
My sense of time was wrecked. Minutes felt like ages, and ages felt like they’d happened just yesterday.
Like the evening I’d received Nikolai’s first gift. The gem-covered dress for the mating ceremony. The way Mother and I had gushed over it.
Tears stung my eyes.
I pretended the liquid streaming down my face was bathwater and nothing more.
Nikolai suspiciously gave me a wide berth while I dressed.
But once most of my nakedness was concealed, he stood in the corner, dressed already, gaze glued to me.
I put my hair up with utmost care, studying my face in the mirror.
It was slimmer, more severe. My eyes haunted. A far cry from that first night, when I’d searched my reflection for the beauty Nikolai had proclaimed.
“Do you still think I’m beautiful?” I challenged.
My heart pounded in anticipation. My claws itched with promises of violence if his answer disappointed me.
He traced from the corner to stand behind me.
His hand slid around my nape, gathering the strands that had escaped the death grip of my ponytail until our hands touched.
Delicious electricity sparked.
He leaned until our faces were side by side.
His eyes glowed red with an intensity that made me swallow.
“You possess the prettiest, most alluring face I’ve ever seen. Your eyes, amber aflame with gold, see so much of me I’ve long kept hidden. But it’s what they cover that I covet most. Your power. Your heart. Your story.”
He kissed the skin beneath my ear. I shivered.
“And you wonder why I failed to keep myself away. Why I will never let you go. Why I would die for a chance to possess you, the North Star of my entire existence.”
When I remembered to breathe, my chest heaved on an inhale.
My cheeks flushed with color, my eyes luminous, lit from within.
And just like that, Nikolai did what he did best.
Reminded me of my worth.
I smiled.
“There she is,” he purred in a wickedly honeyed voice. “Now, are you ready for your surprise?”
“Yes,” I breathed. “Of course.”