House of Lies and Sorrow (Fae of Rewyth #1)(20)

“What?” Serefin asked, spinning to look at me. “Why? What did he want?”

I lifted my hands in defeat. If I knew, I wouldn’t have gone to meet him like an idiot.

“You can’t trust them,” Serefin warned me. He looked between Malachi and me. “You told her she can’t trust them, right?”

“That seems to be a common warning around here,” I mumbled.

“You don’t think they have anything to do with the murders, do you?”

“I don’t know. I can’t be sure about anything anymore.”

Serefin nodded. “I’ll be on guard all night. I’ll let you know if I run into any problems.”

“Thanks, Ser,” Mal replied. “This is going to be a long night. Nobody’s laying a hand on her.”

“Agreed,” Serefin said. An unsaid agreement crossed between them. I could tell Serefin meant it. He was loyal to Malachi. I might not have trusted a single soul in the castle, but Serefin trusted Malachi, and Serefin might have been the only person that Malachi actually trusted.

Either way, I knew Serefin would do his best to keep his word. Even if I wasn’t sure I could trust Malachi yet.

Serefin moved to open the door but paused and looked at me. “By the way, you make a beautiful bride Jade,” he said.

Heat rushed to my face, but he was already out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Leaving Malachi and I alone in his bedroom.





CHAPTER 8





Malachi





“You’re welcome to stand there all night, but it might get a bit uncomfortable,” I said. Jade had been standing there for the past five minutes as if that was going to somehow protect her.

She rolled her eyes and stepped away from her spot near the door.

“Is anyone going to miss us at the party?” she asked.

I huffed and shrugged off my thick jacket. “That party wasn’t for us. It was just an excuse to get drunk and party all night. They won’t be stopping anytime soon.”

“That’s reassuring,” she mumbled. Her words were strong but she crossed her arms over chest and refused to look at me. She looked at the bed, the couch, the walls. Anywhere but me.

It hadn’t dawned on me that Jade would be nervous about sleeping in here. After all the rumors she had heard about me before, certainly she expected something to come from tonight.

I wanted to reassure her, but stopped myself before I opened my mouth. Jade should be afraid. It was good that she had her guard up. None of my other wives had made it this far into the night. That might have been because we all over-indulged in the fae wine each time.

“We’ll both have to stay here the whole night,” I said, forcing myself to say something. “If you sleep in another room, I won’t be able to protect you. This is the best option.”

“I understand,” she said, walking over and sitting on the edge of my bed.

“Besides,” I continued. “I already get enough shit from my father. I don’t need to give them any more reasons to doubt me.”

She opened her mouth like she was about to say something, but closed it again.

My chest tightened. She really was terrified. It was surprising, I had to admit. This was the same girl that launched herself at a wolf over a tiny dead rabbit, and she was afraid to be in a room with me.

She wasn’t the least bit afraid of me in the woods. Granted, she didn’t know I was fae.

A tiny shiver rumbled down her spine, one that she tried to hide.

“You’re cold?” I asked.

She shook her head. Liar.

I walked to my closet and pulled out a shirt and pants. They would be huge on her, but it was better than wearing the gold wedding dress all night.

The dress I was sure Adeline had something to do with.

“Here,” I said, tossing them into her lap. She looked relieved when she realized what it was. “Bathroom’s that way. Use whatever you need.”

She stood and walked toward the bathroom with her head down, but paused and turned around. “You’re not going to kill me while I’m in the shower, are you?”

I laughed. “If I wanted to kill you, princess, you’d be dead right now.”

She gave a sarcastic smile before mumbling under her breath and walking into the bathroom.

I took a long breath. We had made it this far, which was a good sign. But something was definitely going on with my brothers.

And Jade had actually trusted Adonis over me. I knew she wasn’t going to trust me right away, but trusting one of them was going to be more dangerous for her than anything.

My brothers never had my best interests in mind. Never.

I listened to the bathroom until I heard Jade step under the stream of water. My mind wandered to the thought of her standing there, water trickling over her perfect black hair. She was beautiful, that much was true. She was different from the other humans who had been sent to marry me, somehow owing a debt to my father and thinking this would make up for it.

Jade was defiant. She wasn’t planning on listening to anything I said. I still wasn’t entirely convinced that she was actually afraid of the fae, but maybe she was at least pretending to be afraid for her own safety. She had survival instincts. When I saw her for the first time in the forest with the wolves, I knew she would be hard for anyone to try and kill. Jade had a certain fire to her that annoyed me to no end.