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“That must hurt, Killian!” Silas purred gleefully.
7
Barbie
The house magic had redecorated my room as a welcome-back gift.
It had shipped a rocking chair from someone else’s room and put it in mine, so I could read a book by the full window and overlook the partial fairy forest. The biggest change was the theme of the room.
The wallpaper was now pale blue with flowery patterns. Tiny golden stars with wings sparkled on the ceiling. The surrounding was devoid of pink. My princess’s room in my god father’s palace had been all pink. When he deemed that I was a good daughter, I got to sleep in my pink, silky bed instead of the snake pit.
I still had nightmares about my father coming to my pink room to feed on me, gnawing on my essence, my screams rocking the palace walls. After he left, it’d always been Sy who took over our form and cleaned up the mess—gore and blood all over my pink, silky bed—while I cowered and curled within her, sobbing, fearing the coming of tomorrow and the terror it promised. In those years, she’d always been a solid rock that had carried me through.
The worst thing in my father’s care? I couldn’t die.
I’d make sure Ruin would never get a chance to feed on me again.
We’ll cut him to pieces before that happens, Sy snarled, then peeked at the books on the table, intrigued. Now what smutty book are we going to read? Are you sure the house can’t set up the internet like in human cities? I prefer porn over smutty books.
I thanked the house, slinked my spoiled butt onto the rocking chair, and picked a book with a discreet cover of roses, dragons, and a crown that the house had selected for me. There were a couple more books that had a manchest on the cover. The house had probably taken those books from Cami’s room.
I was glad that the house wasn’t a cat, or it would bring dead mice to my feet. But I wouldn’t object to the house borrowing things for me to enjoy; I would just make sure not to let anyone in my room, so no one would know what went missing from their dorms. Pucker had also collected half a dozen sexy gowns for me, and I no longer bothered to ask him where he’d gotten them, just to save the headache of keeping track of his shenanigans.
That was why I hung a “Privacy” sign on the doorknob, but I doubted it would stop Killian and his important minions from coming to bother me. When they did, I usually parked myself in the doorway to block their entry, a hand firmly on the door to keep it mostly closed to impede their view and to show them that privacy was important to me.
But they never got the hint.
That was the moral of my story, a new chapter now.
This was the first place that felt like home. I’d never thought that I could have this, not even temporarily. My gaze zoomed in on the two photos that the house had framed on the sidewall—one was a selfie of Bea and me. The other one was me amid the princes with my eyes half-shut in a food orgasm, taken on a date with Rowan in his villa. Cade had sent me the pic.
The house wanted me to be attached to my friends, to the realm, to it. It didn’t want me to leave. Ever. And I appreciated it.
I used to think that craving a home and relationships was dangerous. But I’d started to get used to this life, and I wanted them. A wave of shame and guilt washed over me at wanting a life while I’d tried to deny Sy when she wanted the same for herself.
I understand, Barbie, Sy chimed in. I won’t fight you again. I’ll take what I can have.
She’d need to feed soon. She’d see Rowan. But she wouldn’t insist on sleeping in his bed and spending a night with him, which she craved.
One day, we’ll figure this out, Sy, I vowed to her. When we’re safe and when we take down our father. Both of us knew that we’d face Ruin eventually, and we should never forget the danger he posed to this realm, to every being on Earth, and to us.
A new kind of fear brewed in my middle, as I was suddenly terrified of being torn away from this place, this life, my friends, and Killian. To distract myself, I started to turn the book in my hands and read. After a page or two, Sy lost patience. She didn’t care for the setup. She wanted me to go straight to the smut part.
It needs to build up. When the tension is high, there’ll be more flavor, I told her. Going to fuck right away is erotica!
Let’s read erotica! she cheered.
I propped my feet up on the armchair as I turned another page.
“Hiya, Barbie.” Pucker popped out beside me in his solid form, making me jump out of my skin. “Good to see you up early.”
“Pucker, do you ever knock?”
“But it’s me, darling girl,” he said. “We haven’t had a chance to have a long talk since your return. I have to tell you that you didn’t look too hot in that godforsaken dungeon.” He wrinkled his nose in distaste. “Blackened eyes. Left swollen beyond recognition. Pitiful bruises and small cuts all over your bleeding face. And you looked terrified and crazed at the same time. Those motherfuckers put an iron mask on your face. That barbaric practice was banished twelve centuries ago. The princes were all shell-shocked when they first spotted you, and so was I, but I swallowed the sting of my tears.” He tilted his head as he studied me before he nodded in approval. “You look peachy now, Barbie. I’m not surprised at your speedy recovery, considering you’re basically a goddess.”
“Shush. Shush!” I said, cutting him a stern look, as I didn’t want anyone, especially Killian, to find out more about me.
Also, I was still pretending to be in an agonizingly slow process of recovery to keep reaping all the perks Killian bestowed on me.
