Mist hangs over the loch and twists around the peaks of the mountains. The vastness of the landscape makes me feel small.

I wonder how long Callum will be gone for. I want to give him a piece of my mind.

But I dread his return, too.

Because when he comes back, the Wolf King will be with him.

***

For the next couple of days, I’m glad to have my job in the kitchens. It distracts me, and stops my thoughts from becoming too dark.

Callum thinks wearing his collar will keep me safe, but it seems that without him here in the castle, the hostility aimed at me is palpable.

When I head to the kitchens in the mornings, Magnus and his rat-faced friend shout lewd comments as they pass on their way to training. While picking herbs in the kitchen gardens one afternoon, Isla whispers something behind her hand to her friend and snickers as she swans by. And only Mrs. McDonald and Kayleigh speak to me—everyone else merely eyes me with contempt. They do not want a human in their midst.

The strip of red tartan around my neck prevents any further trouble, at least.

I eat as much as I can during lunch so I do not have to stray downstairs after dark when the alcohol comes out and the bagpipe music starts playing. I ignore Isla’s comments, and Magnus’s leers. And I spend the rest of my days reading, while the anger inside me grows thorns and shoots.

Why has Callum left me?

Is he okay?

On the third morning, I wake at dawn. The sun has not yet risen, and the air smells strangely like perfume and roses. I slept restlessly, and dreamt of Wolves and wilderness and darkness.

I turn to my bedside table to reach for Callum’s collar.

My heart stills.

No.

I jump out of bed and frantically shift books aside, sending parchment fluttering onto the floorboards.

My blood turns to ice, then to fire.

The collar is not there.

Someone has been in my chambers.

A hurricane rages in my chest, much wilder than the winds currently ratting the window of my bedchambers.

Isla.

It has to be her.

I stomp across the room, wrench open the wardrobe door, and change into the first dress I can find. How dare she. I storm down the spiral staircase into a corridor. I’m going to the Great Hall, and I will show Isla that it was a mistake to provoke me. I will show her what happens when she steals from the princess of the—

I make impact with a mass of dark hair and stringy muscle and stagger back along the torchlit corridor. My stomach drops and my feet grow roots that bind me to the stone floor.

“Hello, sweetheart.” Magnus leers. A slow grin spreads across his face, revealing a missing tooth.

His two friends, the male with ratlike features, and the muscular male with a dark beard, stand on either side of him—both in their green kilts, blocking my path.

For a moment, I cannot move. Then my instincts kick in.

I turn and try to run back down the corridor, but the bigger male grabs my arm.

“Get off me!”

I try to wrench away, but his grip is like steel.

“Where are you going, sweetheart?” drawls Magnus.

The air is sour with sweat. Magnus’s gaze travels up and down my body, and my skin turns cold wherever it lands.

I grit my teeth and glare up at him. “When Callum finds out—”

“Callum isn’t here. And you’re not wearing his collar.” He steps closer to me, and his acrid scent floods my nostrils. I almost gag. “That makes you free game.”

“You will pay for this.” I try to pull away but the bigger man’s hand tightens around my arm. “Callum will kill you, you fools.”

The three of them laugh and the wild and thorny thing that has been growing inside me for days sets alight.

“I will make you pay for this.”

“There’s no need to be like that,” says Magnus. “We can all be friends here. Now, the way I see it, we know something about you that you don’t want our acting Wolf King to know about, Princess. What will you do for us to stop us from—”

The warmth from another person washes over my back and a slender hand clasps my neck. Time slows down as I feel the whisper of silk against my throat. My heart is racing so fast I think it will burst from my chest. The gloomy corridor sways around me.

I force myself to calm down, and everything comes back into focus. Curling my fist, I get ready to fight.

Only Magnus and the other two men have already staggered back with fear in their eyes.

“We’re sorry. We didn’t know.” Magnus’s expression is wary. “We thought she was Callum’s. We never would have. . . if we’d known she was she was yours. . .”

When they get no response, they back away, then scurry toward the Great Hall.

Heart in my throat, I spin around.

And I find myself face to face with Blake.

I’m breathing fast as my mind races to process what just happened, what is still happening. “I. . . what are you. . .?”

His gaze drops to the collar that now sits around my neck.

His collar.

OceanofPDF.com

Chapter Thirty-Nine

I reach for the collar. Blake’s fingers curl around my wrist before I can rip it off.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he says.

He’s standing too close. His body heat bores into me, despite the cool expression on his face. The shadows wrap around him, and his dark shirt and breeches make him look at one with the darkness.

My breathing is fast, and I’m not sure if it’s because of the danger I just escaped, or the danger I’m now in. I try to calm my nerves.

I lift my chin. “Why not?”

“Because I will not offer it to you again.”

I choke out a laugh. “Why would I want this?”

The firelight from a nearby torch dances across his eyes. “You have no friends here, little rabbit. Callum is gone. Fiona is gone. Ryan is weak. And Callum is not as well liked as he may think. There are many more animals like Magnus who will take advantage of the situation you find yourself in.”

“What makes you any better than Magnus?”

His expression is devoid of any emotion. There’s a chill in the gloomy corridor, and my breath plumes in front of my face and mingles with his.

“Did you ever wonder why I have a Southlands accent?” he asks. “My mother was a human. She lived just south of the Borderlands. One night, a pack of Wolves raided her village. One of them forced themselves on her, and the consequence was me.” His tone is smooth, like dark silk.

“I tracked him down, of course, many years later. He cried when I showed him exactly what he had created.” His eyes bore into mine, and inside them there is nothing but darkness. Yet I relax my arm in his grip. “There is nothing more deplorable than rape.”

While his expression is unreadable, his gaze is intense. It is as if I am one of the strange books in his chambers that he is trying to read. Understanding seems to pass between us.

When he releases my wrist, I drop my arm to my side.

The air is thick with silence. I feel as if I should say something, but words evade me.

I open my mouth.

He turns and walks away, torchlight and shadows flickering across his profile as he passes the sconces on the stone walls.

“Come to my chambers at nightfall,” he says.

My eyebrows lift but before I can say anything, he disappears around the corner.

I’m rooted to the flagstones. I’d planned to confront Isla, but after the experience I’ve just had, I’m shaken. Not only by what Magnus planned to do, but by Blake as well.

I decide to head back to my bedchambers.

On the way to the stairwell, Isla and a pack of her friends round a corner.