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He set a slice before me and urged me to eat. Fork in hand, I took a bite of perfect cake.
It really was delicious, not that I had a basis for comparison, but the flavor felt floral and soft. Something to be savored and not rushed for the sake of decent clothing.
Enjoying his own taste, the general offered a compliment to the baker. “Your birth mother is very talented. Many humans accept the payout for selling their offspring to the academy and waste it on frivolous foolishness. She invested it into a business that is very popular in her quadrant of the city, from what I understand.”
Clenching my fist around my fork, I snarled, “She didn’t sell me.”
Sardonic flash in his eyes, Cyderial disagreed. “The contract humans commit to is very clear, the terms generous if the human can birth a healthy hybrid and keep it alive until the age of five. It is a bill of sale, cashed in when the exchange is made.”
What a horrible way to view the woman who loved me. Angry, I ground my teeth. “That wasn’t what it was like. She was a good mother.”
He took a bite of cake he did not deserve. “I don’t want to subtract from your memory of this human. But she birthed you with no intention of keeping you. Once her burden of seeing to your care was over, she built a human family from the profits gained by your sale.”
We were eating a cake she made, and he was making my mother sound like a monster.
Angry enough to bristle, to snap out a warning drum, I said, “She made this cake, becauseshe cares about me.” Reaching for his slice, I snatched the plate right out from under him. “If you cannot respect that, you don’t get to eat it.”
Unmoved by my temper, he dared look at me with compassion—as if I were some delusional child. “I wish to gently prepare you for what you will find outside the academy. You are not human, and the population will not treat you as one. Some will see you only as cannon fodder they are entitled to throw into danger to preserve their sense of safety. Others will covet your beauty. Many human men will see you only as a sexual object. There is some respect for our kind, but it often gets swallowed up in their sense of the exotic. Humans need us to survive; therefore, we are tolerated. You can’t trust them. Love them if you want, but remember that you were sold, trained, and expected to die for human benefit. Many will just want to know when you’re going to breed more hybrids so they don’t have to do it anymore.”
This male was supposed to be my mate and had failed me so far on every score. “I am warning you to stop speaking!”
My threats were nothing to a man of his stature. “I’d rather you be angry with me now than heartbroken later. It can be very shocking for academy students to leave the safety of their kind for the heart of a corrupt human city.”
For crying out loud, why would he not shut up? Screeching, I rose to my feet. “I never wanted the city! I wanted the fog, and you stole that from me!”
Cold-blooded, he smiled darkly. “Yes, I did. And I will steal it from you again every single day when you suffer with heat and realize you cannot leave me, no matter how much you may wish to. Hybrid’s mate for life. The fog cannot have you, Lorieyn.”
I had never done anything so ridiculous in my life, but I lifted his plate with that beautiful half-eaten slice of cake and threw it down on the floor to shatter into bits. “You’ve always been horrible! Pretending to be some adoring mate, tricking me into letting you do things to my body that you knew I didn’t understand. How do I know you’re not misleading about the heat as well? You are a conniving, lying jerk who exerts power over me, because I would never come to you any other way!”
“I know.” Not a speck of shame in his acknowledgment. Rising to tower over me, he narrowed his eyes. “And I do have complete control of you, my dear. Force me to wield it, and I will not hesitate.”
I was going to rip out his throat. Snarling, baring my teeth, I stretched my fingers, ready to slice him to ribbons. “Going to hold me down again?”
Face growing deadpan, Cyderial's voice grew melodic. “Some rest will do you good, so I am going to make you sleep before you accidentally cut your foot on broken glass.”
Put me to bed like I was some child? The morning's fear had been bled out of me. I was furious and eager for my pound of flesh.
But the room began to smell better than wedding cake, powerful sound moving through the air to soak into my skin. Every inch of me felt as if he wrapped me in the snuggliest blanket, beautiful oblivion flowing through my veins.
Already woozy, the edges of my vision went fuzzy. “Stop that!”
“No.” He approached, and I took a wobbly step back.
It was unfair how easy it was for him to catch me, or how good it felt to be lifted into his arms and held against the vibrations emanating from his chest.
I was taken from thedangerousglass, swept toward the huge bed where I had begun the difficult day. Laid gently upon cool sheets, Cyderial carefully arranged my body as I tried and failed to put up more than token resistance.
High on his tricks as I was, it might not have been resistance at all. My fumbling hands clung to the monster, and no matter how I tried to puzzle them out, they only seemed to pull him nearer.
Sitting at my side, he took those needy hands, holding them while I melted into softness.
Addiction was not a strong enough word for this. No matter how I tried, I could not stop myself from sucking in deep breaths of his sweetness, of enjoying the ripple of music in the air.
I could even admit, staring up at his striking features, I might have even thought him handsome had I not disliked him so deeply.
Cyderial was very beautifully made.
Tone having gentled, he looked down at me and smoothed my hair. “Don’t put yourself in danger, Lorieyn. I cannot control myself when you do.”
