“Of course, you’ll sleep in this room,” I snapped. The silk was beginning to slide downwards. I let it go until it pooled around Torrance’s hips. “No newly mated stone sky god would sleep away from his bride. I’m surprised you would have expected otherwise. Is it different among humans?”

“Well, no, it’s not, but-”

“But what? I feel I have been very clear on the terms of this arrangement, Torrance. You must convince everyone, everyone, that you are my true mate. If you can’t even do that here among the Sionnachans, you will never make it past the keener eyes of other stone sky gods.”

Ah, there it was. That flare of pride I was growing to recognize in her.

“I can do it.”

“Good,” I said. “Now stand up so Aiko can drape you properly and get your measurements when she comes back. They won’t be much longer.”

It looked like I’d put acid under her tongue, but she did it all the same.

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OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE Torrance

Less than one full day into our arrangement and I felt like things were already going way off the rails. I thought I’d have more control now. But somehow, even though I was now more free than I’d ever been on this planet, I felt the walls closing in.

And all of those walls were named Wylfrael.

I stared numbly ahead, keeping a phony smile plastered on my face as Wylfrael and Aiko brought out bolt after bolt of fabric in every imaginable texture and colour. Aiko fluttered to-and-fro as Wylfrael growled orders at her about which colour or type of fabric to wrap around me next. Every time Aiko asked if I liked something, I gave perfunctory responses about how much I loved whatever she was holding, even though I could barely tell one item from another by this point. There was just too much of it. The chests were gigantic, enough fabric to clothe an entire army of fake human brides. And there was more coming.

“Torrance?”

“What? Oh,” I said, focusing on Aiko, who was speaking to me. “Yes. It’s lovely.”

“I... I know. You already said that about this one.”

“Oh.” My cheeks got hot. I didn’t mind blowing Wylfrael off, but I didn’t want Aiko to think I was being rude or not listening to her. “I’m sorry, what were you saying?”

It wasn’t Aiko who answered, but Wylfrael, who loomed directly behind me.

“She asked about your wedding clothing.”

My wedding clothing.

“Oh, that. A white gown,” I said.

Shit. I regretted my response instantly. If I’d had more presence of mind, I would have made something up, told them I wanted to wear a bright green jumpsuit, anything to keep this from feeling so alarmingly real. But it was too late now, and Aiko had already turned her bushy tail around to go dig through what was left in the second chest.

“Ah, yes, this one,” she said, straightening, her arms overflowing with material. “This one is just gorgeous.”

Aiko was right. It was silk the ethereal colour of moonlight on snow. Distressingly perfect. So lovely it made my chest hurt. Aiko wasted no time, immediately draping the softly shimmering material around me as I tried desperately not to give in to the sudden, unexpected urge to weep.

“Oh, my lord, come around here and see how beautiful she is.”

No, don’t. I didn’t want him to see my face now. To notice that my mask had slipped, that I was already failing.

Wylfrael breathed in tightly before taking crisp, controlled strides around to my front. He stood behind Aiko, who was currently holding the material up against me, his hands clasped behind his back.

I almost wanted to laugh through my tears. If I thought I was failing in representing my half of our happy couple, then Wylfrael was doing even worse than me. He didn’t look like he was on the verge of tears, like I did. He looked like he felt nothing. Apart from a twitch of tension in his cheek when he saw the unshed tears in my eyes, he showed absolutely no emotion. It was only when Aiko twisted back to look at him questioningly that he finally spoke, uttering five short, commanding words before he turned and swept out of the room, leaving us both staring in his wake.

“She will wear this one.”

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OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX Torrance

Wylfrael didn’t come back for a long time. So long that panic began to claw at me, panic that he’d gone back on our deal, that the whole thing was called off. That I’d go back to being shut away in the room at the top of the Dawn Tower, no chance of finding my friends or freedom.

When Aiko brought me dinner, she seemed surprised not to find Wylfrael with me, two plates on her tray. So, they don’t know where he is, either.

I’d beamed at her and thanked her for the food, as if everything was fine in Torrance and Wylfrael land. Eventually, she left, and I hoped she hadn’t gotten suspicious about Wylfrael’s absence.

Him being gone gave me a lot of time to pick away at my food and stare at the room I’d been left alone in. This chamber was magnificent, easily three times the size of the already large one I’d slept in until now. The Eve Tower was carved out of a silver-white tree, which made the walls of this room glisten like fire-licked platinum. The bed was outrageously huge, standing high on a silver frame, and I noted with both embarrassment and appreciation that Aiko had made good on her word and had supplied a stool for me to get in and out of it. Good thing, too, because I could already tell I wouldn’t be able to haul myself up there like I had the other bed. On either side of the bed stood gigantic green crystal armoires. The one on the left was mine now, and it was already stuffed with garments Wylfrael had purchased for me, just waiting to be tailored to my puny human frame by Aiko. When Aiko got to work on the rest of the fabrics he’d bought, sewing them into actual clothes, I had no idea where they were all going to go.

The floor gleamed silver, just like the walls, the only colourful tile in the massive pool of a tub carved into the floor near the towering fireplace. A green desk and chair were also near the fire, with what looked like sewing supplies, which I quickly remembered were actually Sionnachan writing supplies.

I was seated at a large, oval-shaped table, slowly eating my food, when my gaze finally came to rest on the empty chair across from me.

Bastard.

How dare he just disappear like this? After he had made such a big deal about a newly mated god not being away from his bride at night, too! It was late, I was exhausted and ready to fall (or climb, really) into bed, and my supposedly devoted husband was nowhere to be found.

I retreated into rage, grinding my teeth and glaring at the other chair. Anger was easier than acknowledging the teeny, tiny, absolutely minuscule possibility that I was maybe just a little bit hurt he hadn’t shown up. That he could just walk out of the room, leave this world entirely, if he wanted to, like I didn’t even exist.

No, screw that. I was not going to sit there and feel sorry for myself because the alien devil of a man I’d made a deal with was being a moody prick. I wasn’t going to wait for him, whenever he deigned to return, like I had nothing better to do. I had all kinds of more important tasks I could complete. Like...