The Architect saved me, and now I owe him. After everything I’d been through, I should have seen this coming.
Chancellor Morgen pointed to my abdomen. “You’re starving, girl. The little blood you cycled with is being caught by a simple spell and evacuated every time you piss.”
Although I heard her words, I still fought my shock. I was trapped in this castle, waiting for the king to wake up and demand payment, whatever that looked like, for saving me.
“You’re not crazy.” Chancellor Morgen tapped the table with her human fingers. “At least no more than the rest of us. Calm down.” She put a hand on my shoulder and took exaggerated breaths. I mimicked her. “I meant what I said when you first woke up. You are safe here. No one will touch you.” She stood, one hundred percent human once more. “You can go.”
I met her pink gaze. Lines of life and experience crisscrossed her hard, wrinkled face. This woman had seen some shit, and though she terrified me, I believed what she said. My panic subsided. The Architect, the man I owed my life to, still slept. I had time. I was going to black out soon, anyway. I might never need to deal with this.
I put my hands on the table. “What about the placement?”
“You will fail it like you failed the others,” she said smoothly. “The Architect saved you, and it’s his will that determines your future, not any of these pointless placements.” She jerked her chin. “Go, make friends. I see the youngest Abernathy on the left, and I believe that’s a Silver in the back. Either of them would make excellent companions.” She narrowed her eyes. “I assume you are smarter than to seek the company of a Lawson.”
Why did everyone hate Cayden so much?
Before I could ask her, the sound of talking popped back into existence.
I looked toward the first man she pointed out. His dirty-gold topknot had a metallic sheen that almost made it look as though it had been painted on to his very round face. He glanced at me before whispering to another man on his left.
My gaze moved to the Silver, and my memory snapped into place. Seth Silver, the trainee Winston tried to set me up with.
He noticed my attention and smiled, starting to rise. My heart raced, and not in a good way. Chancellor Morgen’s words sank in.The Architect’s people were steering me toward certain friends, which would probably help them influence my decisions. They were trying to control me. Women were a commodity. Brit had said it, but until now, I wasn’t sure I truly understood how that applied to me.
A sharp whistle split the air. I turned toward the sound. Cayden held up my cloak before putting it on the chair next to him. I let out a relieved breath and fled to his side.
“You still hate me and think I’m an idiot, right?” I stood, poised to take his offered seat.
“I mean, hate is a strong word.” Cayden pursed his perfect lips. “I think strongly dislike would be more accurate. And yes, you are an idiot.”
No questions. No demands. Just insults.
Tension drained out of me, and I dropped into the chair. Whatever ‘being a Lawson’ was didn’t matter to me. Cayden didn’t follow me around or ask about my fertility… actually, he didn’t ask anything personal. He existed here, like I did. I pushed away the unease Chancellor Morgen filled me with and focused on my fellow outcast.
“Takes an idiot to know an idiot.” I poked him in the ribs.
Cayden rolled his eyes. “Pull out the book you were talking about last night. The one ‘the handsome enforcer’ gave you because his suitress sucks.”
I flushed. “I said all of that?”
“You said girlfriend instead of suitress.” He pulled two sandwiches out of his bag and put one in front of me. My stomach rumbled, and my mouth flushed with saliva. I was so hungry. Cayden hadn’t stopped talking to notice. “And when Everly corrected you, you couldn't stop laughing.”
“Oh.” I didn’t take my eyes off the sandwich. “I don’t remember what she corrected it to.”
Cayden raised an eyebrow. Although he’d already said ‘suitress’ twice, I wanted to hear him repeat it. Looking up from the sandwich, I twirled some of my hair around my pointer finger and batted my lashes.
Cayden sighed and steeled himself. “Suitress. A female suitor is a suitress.”
I bit my bottom lip, trying not to laugh, but that only made it worse. A flurry of giggles bounced out of my chest before I controlled them. “I mean, contracts are no joke, so the formality’s good, right?”
Cayden pursed his lips before his gaze landed on my oily, bruised cheek. “May I heal your face at least?”
Healing. This mysterious sleeping Architect had healed me, and now what? Did I owe him a child? My exchange with Chancellor Morgen hit me again, and I rubbed my arms.
“Maybe it’s better if I don’t owe you anything.” I pushed the sandwich back toward him. Brody and the string of men on the road, who were only nice to me to use me, filled my memory. “I’m not having good luck with that.”
Cayden caught my chin with his fingers. “You won’t owe me. You’re hurt, and it’s simple for me to fix it.” He pushed the sandwich back toward me. “And you’ve touched that now; I refuse to ingest your idiocy in case it lowers my IQ.”
I snorted, but we shared a smile.
