Page 52 of Psycho Beasts
As he piled the food onto my plate, I leaned forward discreetly. “How dare he treat you like this. I won’t stand for it.”
“What, Mistress? What are you talking about?” Walter’s bushy gray eyebrows quivered with confusion.
Voices sounded close by, and panic raced through me.
“Blink once if you want me to do something drastic,” I whispered as I busied myself grabbing a glass of orange juice.
“Sadie, you haven’t showered yet?” Xerxes sauntered into the kitchen. Two female servants followed, staring up at him with pink cheeks.
My stomach dropped as I turned away from Walter.
I’d been so close.
Xerxes grinned at me. Unaware of my ire, he wore a silky black robe that was rolled up at the sleeves, showcasing his long, corded muscles and veins. His almost too-pretty features fit in among the stunning opulence of his house.
The prince was home.
I turned away from Xerxes with disgust and focused on Walter. As he handed me the overflowing plate, I stared at him intently, waiting to see if he’d blink.
Walter’s eyes were wide.
He stared back at me and didn’t flinch.
Wow, Xerxes had him so under his thumb that he was clearly too terrified to even blink.
Things were worse than I’d thought.
Xerxes chuckled as he stood beside me. “Are you going to eat or just stand there?” His cinnamon scent spiked sweet, and he flashed a row of white teeth.
“Um, sure.” I winked aggressively at Walter—to let him know I was still going to save him—and the poor man choked.
He’d clearly never had someone understand his plight before. That was going to change.
Trying to act casual, like I wasn’t about to stage a coup d’état and free all Xerxes’s servants, I settled into a plush chair at the long black table.
Then, like a true lady, I shoveled my entire plate into my mouth in less than twenty seconds.
The good news was I’d eaten so fast that my body didn’t even know it was supposed to be full.
Taking advantage of my momentum, I went to get seconds.
Xerxes sat across from me at the table, and we ate together in silence. When he went to get thirds, I followed. I wasn’t about to be shown up by any man.
After my tenth bread roll, my ire calmed down.
I was no longer ready to launch a bloody rebellion; a small uprising would do. After my fourteenth chocolate-chip cookie, I magnanimously decided no one needed to die.
They just needed some maiming.
In between my violent thoughts, I inspected Xerxes. He hadn’t showered either, from the sticky helmet of blood that still coated his mane of blond hair.
“So do you like your room?” Xerxes’s smooth accent rolled off his tongue like honey.
From what I’d seen of the beast realm, as small and as bloody as my experience had been, everyone talked with accents. But there was something about Xerxes’s lilting voice that made my skin tingle.
His words were smooth.
I nodded and impressively swallowed two bread rolls at once. “Yeah, the four-poster beds are amazing. I already feel more elegant and dramatic, like an old Victorian lady from the human realm.”