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She ignored me and whirled around to face her brother instead. “You have a very big mouth. If you’ve finally finished spilling secrets to this woman you hardly know, we should go.” Odessa glanced back at me, her eyes cold. “For all we know, she could be a...”
“A what?” I demanded. My eyes widened. “A spy? Is that what you were going to say? You think I’m a spy for Valtain?”
Odessa scowled and tossed her head with its heavy crown of braids, in a gesture both annoyed yet also graceful.
“You think your prince would bring a fae girl home to meet his mother who was secretly a spy? I suppose that tells me more about what you think of your prince than it does anything else,” I said flippantly.
“We trust Prince Kairos,” Odessa snapped. “We are loyal to the Umbral Throne and the true Venator heir.”
“True heir? Does that mean there’s another?”
“Don’t answer that,” Odessa commanded her brother. To me, “We are shutting the door now. If you have more questions, you may take them up with the prince when he returns to you.”
The look in her eyes and the little sniff she gave with her nose told me what she really thought of me. She might not have stooped to using the crude word Lyrastra had, but Prince’s Paramour or not, she clearly saw me as little more than Draven’s unwise indulgence.
My cheeks flared with heat and I opened my mouth to argue but it was too late. The door had already closed in my face.
––––––––
CHAPTER 4
When the door to thebedchamber opened later that evening, I was ready and waiting.
I sprang up from my chair as Prince Kairos Draven, who I was now silently referring to as “morally gray asshole,” entered the room.
I had spent the afternoon and early evening hours alone. Hawl had disappeared. But before they did, they had been kind enough to leave out platters of freshly-prepared food. I had gorged myself on a salad of fruit and tender greens, fruit tarts, and a rich creamy dish of seafood and rice.
After which I had spent roughly two hours pacing back and forth across the rooms of my suite, endeavoring to get some exercise and help my body to strengthen itself again.
Finally, I had given up, exhausted, and begun to explore the nooks and crannies of the rooms in which I was trapped.
In the bedchamber, I opened a wardrobe to find a set of clothes that seemed to have been made for a woman close to my size. Decadent gowns, soft robes, sleeping sets, and even what looked like a riding habit hung neatly side by side.
I chose a simple pair of short pants and a sleeveless tunic that looked like they would be comfortable to sleep in. The clothes were loose-fitting and draped softly against my body. The lavender fabric felt like a whisper against my skin. Silver lacework trimmed the edges of the tunic, adding a small touch of luxury.
Feeling self-conscious about wearing what were essentially sleeping garments around Draven, I added a long black velvet robe for modesty then pulled it around myself and sat down in an oversized armchair near the bed with a stack of books perched beside me and prepared to wait.
