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“Fine.” But that irritated huff came with a clear suggestion that I would pay for it later.
Smoothing my hair one last time, I pinched my cheeks to make them brighter and smiled at myself in the mirror.
The pink, flowy dress was demure, covering everything, but it was so feminine I loved it in a way I could never have loved my precious black dress. It was a shame I had no polish for my talons, which remained unfiled since Cyderial stole me. They had grown wickedly long, deadly sharp. Flaring my fingers, I found I didn’t want to dull them, even if they were only dark-gray and not glittering ivory like fair Maeve’s.
No one was going to measure my talons now. There would be no citations for lipstick, nor dresses, nor wearing my glorious hair down.
“No more playing, kitten.” He pushed off the wall to steal me away from my new treasures and deliver me to my mother. “It’s time to take you out into the world.”
3
I should have known things would go wrong.
“I wish for today to be a pleasure for you. Do not allow my agitation to take away from your moment of fun.” Lip curled, muscular frame dressed in a fresh uniform—shining ropes and glittering insignia leaving no doubt of his rank—the cold-blooded general marched me toward a waiting hover vehicle. “Yet I am finding removing you from our home more difficult than anticipated. I don’t want to share you, and the sensation is, frankly, painful.”
No different than he, I was willing to fight dirty if that’s what it took to gain my freedom and remain outside. Staring forward as his driver opened a door for me, I hissed through my teeth, “But you love me, so you will do this.”
And what was pain to those like us? Hybrids were designed to adapt to pain, suffer, and constantly knit ourselves back together.
Jerking us both to a standstill, Cyderial halted our march. All seriousness, reaching for where my hand rested in the nook of his elbow, he commanded, “Say it again.”
Confused, concerned I was about to be dragged back inside, I fumbled for words. “You love me?”
“Yes. Remember that.” Every bit the cruel taskmaster I had known, the softness he might have shared with me when we were alone evaporated, and the hard, scary man I suffered since I was a child took his place. “If at any time you want to return to our home, you let me know.”
Why would I do that? The city was remarkable, and I would not have to hide in the shadows to explore it. Adamant, I lifted my chin and gave him as good a stare as he gave me. “I want to see my mother.”
Leaning forward to set his nose to my hair, he drew in a deep breath. “Do you feel feverish?”
He was looking for excuses to deny me what he’d promised. And I had no pity for the beast within him. It already caused enough havoc in my life. Narrowing my eyes at his obvious ploy, I offered a smarmy smile. “No.”
“Please, put your hair up.” A muscle in his jaw jumped.
Agitated and embarrassed we had an audience in his driver, I snarled, “My mother is waiting for me. It’s too late for that now!”
“I’ll have her brought here.”
“Don’t you dare!” Miranda’s instructions were all I had to work with when it came to managing this man, and I was more than willing to bark at him if that ended this possessive insanity. “I want my mother, and she is waiting. You have kept me from her for long enough.” My voice dropped, vibrating with my thrum in a deep pitch I had not known myself capable of. “I order you to do what is best for me, not what is most comfortable for you.”
Fighting every impulse to serve himself, Cyderial struggled for control. I could almost see him wrestling with the beast—the twitching around his eyes and the unnatural lack of blinking unsettling.
But, with a few long minutes of tenuous silence, he won over the more primal parts of his brain. Silently, he handed me into the waiting vehicle, his every last glare threatening me a loss of all freedom should I disappoint him.
And he kept up the simmering temper the whole twenty minutes it took to descend from his high tower to the misty midlevel housing.
Unaware of the geography of the city, I spent my time marveling at the view from the window and ignoring his irritation as much as anyone trapped with a raging ogre might. Risa Colony lay at my feet, bustling and bursting at the seams. There were so many people moving in a lackadaisical dance. Like glittering insects crawling all over one another. Full of life, of color, all surrounded in high walls of fog that undulated as the filters forced the toxic air upward.
I gaped, whispering to myself, “There are so many of them.”
“Many more of them than us. Remember that, Lorieyn.” Cyderial’s warning was laced with something that forced a shiver up my nape.
Noted. But that didn’t make me like them any less. Glancing away from the window to take in the luxury of his transport—soft seats, the polished trim—I pursed my lips.
Cyderial’s hover car was something that would make even the wealthiest human envious. Growing up with hundreds of girls, I knew inciting envy was a foolish choice. And this vehicle was flagrantly ostentatious.
I didn’t like it at all.
Especially considering the hints of human unrest both Miranda and Cyderial had pointedly driven home. I had to wonder at his logic for choosing such a luxurious hover car.
