Page 24 of His Darkest Desire
You could tell him the truth.
Kinsley crinkled her nose. “Yeah, because he totally wouldn’t kill me for that.”
Hadn’t he already threatened to return her to where he’d found her? Exactly as he’d found her?
She was stuck here until she could find a way to escape, and so far, every attempt had led her back to this cottage. That last time, when she’d plunged into the fog…
Frowning, she lifted her hand and studied her wrist, tracing a finger over the skin where that strange mark had glowed. It had been the source of her pain when she’d been in the fog.
He’d placed some sort of spell upon her.
Or a curse.
There was so much wrong here, so many things that didn’t make sense, that shouldn’t have been possible. But if this place really was filled with magic, it had to have its own rules. Just because she wasn’t familiar with them didn’t mean they didn’t exist. And somewhere in those rules was her way out.
If that’s what you need to tell yourself to carry on, Kinsley.
Well, what else am I supposed to do?
A hint of blue light spread across the canopy. Brow creasing, she turned her head. A wisp was hovering beside the bed.
Kinsley started, then narrowed her eyes. The sounds last night, the glimpses of light from the corner of her eye, they hadn’t been imagined. She hadn’t been alone.
“You’re his spy, aren’t you?” she asked.
Shifting its arms behind its back, the wisp bowed its head.
“Well”—Kinsley sat up and scooted toward the edge of the bed, keeping the blanket tucked around her chest—“you can go tell him I said to jump in a loch. And stay down there. Deep, deep down.”
The wisp shook its head and pointed at her, its soft, unintelligible whispers tickling her ears.
Kinsley touched her hand to her chest. “Oh, I should tell him, should I?” She rose, wrapping the blanket around her body as she padded to the wardrobe. “I’m sure I can find a way to let him know the next time I see him.”
She opened the doors. That spicy, woodsy scent wafted out, flooding her senses and igniting an unexpected, unwanted heat in her core.
No, damn it!
It was bad enough that his scent had enveloped her all night, coming from every thread of the bedding. For her body to respond to it with anything other than revulsion was a betrayal.
Scowling, she took out a tunic and looked it over. It was elegant and archaic, made with soft, pristine fabric. She might’ve questioned the pair of vertical slits on its back had she not seen those large, powerful wings spreading out behind him the night before.
Don’t go there, Kinsley.
She wrinkled her nose and held the tunic up. Her captor might’ve been tall and broad shouldered, but he was lean, and there was no way her boobs would fit in this garment. She might’ve been able to get it on if she sucked everything in, but she’d only end up popping the buttons with her next breath.
Kinsley tossed the tunic away over her shoulder.
She removed another garment, and another, throwing each onto the floor to join the first, along with the sashes. When nothing remained hanging, she tugged open the drawers and surveyed the neatly folded pants within.
A blue light caught her attention. She glanced over to find the wisp looking back and forth between her and the pile of clothing.
“What?” Kinsley asked. “Do you think it’ll bother him?”
Though she couldn’t be sure given its flickering, flamelike form, she swore the wisp’s shoulders were shaking, and its whispers had become a light, tinkling sound. Laughter.
Kinsley smiled and, with immense satisfaction, added the pants one by one to the growing heap on the floor, followed by the boots that had been tucked at the wardrobe’s base, until nothing was left to remove.
She turned around to survey the mess. It wasn’t enough. Whipping the bottom of the blanket aside, she drew her foot back and kicked the pile, scattering the clothing farther. The boots thumped on the floor as they fell.