“I am not a lord.” His voice, low, restrained, did little to ease the fear tightening my belly. “If you address me as such I will have no choice but to give you to my master’s enforcers. They will beat the proper responses into you.”
What the hell had happened to him? He wore the same face as the man I’d slept with, the man who’d held me so fiercely I thought I’d break. “Kaden…”
“I’m the envoy, Jaime. Remember that.” He released my chin and stood back. He ran a hand over his hair, his eyes fixed on the floor. A muscle pulled hard in his cheek. “Now get out.”
“Turn around.”
His soft laughter ran a shiver through me. It sounded…normal…after that strange burst of anger. He tilted his head. Amber eyes fixed on me, and the first flare of desire warmed them. “Why would I do that?” He drew in a breath, his gaze following my body under the clear water. “I’ve done a lot more than look.”
He didn’t affect me. He didn’t, so it was the cool air that made my nipples peak. “That was last night. This morning I’m delivered goods.”
Kaden held my gaze for a long moment, and my heart pounded. Whatever was going on with him, I didn’t understand. Was he angry at me or at himself? Then he turned on his heel and presented me with his broad back.
I pressed my wet hands to my face and held down a groan. I’d just spent the night with the First Dragon’s envoy. My gaze flickered over him. I hated that he was beautiful, that my gryphon still appreciated the indefinable power of the man. “Did you plan it?” I winced. I hadn’t meant to speak, but the question found its way out of my mouth anyway. Anger curled in my stomach. All his lies worked through my memory. Hell, the bastard had made me feel sorry for him. “Have a lot of fun at my expense?”
Kaden pulled in a breath, his shoulders lifting. “Get out and dry yourself.”
I pushed myself up and stepped gingerly onto the stone-tiled floor. Cool air prickled my skin, and I shivered. The towels were stacked on heated rails, and I quickly wrapped one around my body, tucking it over my breasts. I wrapped another around my dripping hair and felt marginally warmer. The bitterness at what Kaden had done was still a sour burn in my mouth. “And that’s all the answer I’m going to get?”
“Neither of us will discuss what happened.”
I gripped his arm, yanking him around to face me. “Are you fucking with me?” A cynical laugh escaped me. “Again?”
“Last night.” The muscles in his jaw flexed, but the hard gold of his eyes didn’t flicker. “Last night was what it was. This morning, I’m a menial to the First Dragon of the British Isles, and you’re his property. We both belong to him.”
“That’s my answer? You screw me seven ways and this is simply the eighth?”
“I didn’t plan…” His fingers hovered so close to my cheek I could feel their heat, almost feel the light pressure of his fingertips against my skin. My chest hurt. Anger and now this. What was he playing at? “I had to ensure that my master’s latest acquisition made it to him in one piece.”
“So you picked me up and kept me occupied. Nice.”
I pushed past him and padded into the long rectangle of the dressing room. Mirrors reflected me back, the reddening of my skin from the hot water and the flushed pink of my cheeks from the desire I had to seriously harm Kaden Rhodes. A door of the wardrobe slid open at my touch, the first of drawers it hid easing towards me. I pulled out underwear, and the drawer closed.
I wriggled my way into my underwear and dropped my towel to the carpeted floor. The rail held the last of my clean clothes, the ones I’d bothered to unpack, anyway. I’d wanted to make a good impression on the envoy…and that idiotic fact made me laugh as I took the smooth skirt from its hanger.
“Did your father teach you nothing?”
I looked up from buttoning the skirt over my hip. If he was going to be shitty, then so was I. “Such as?”
Kaden blew out a quiet breath. “This isn’t a game.”
“Then what the hell is it?” I yanked out the black silk top, shook the towel free from my hair and pulled the top over my head. “You knew exactly who I was.”
“Your breakfast is waiting.” He strode into the sitting room with obviously no plan to discuss anything about what we’d done. My gut cramped. And I thought my morning had been a disaster at Kaden’s leaving me without a word. Yes, his still being in my suite was so much worse.
I wiped a hand over my eyes, denying that they burned. He hadn’t hurt me. Pulling in a deep, calming breath, I straightened my shoulders. So what if I’d had sex with him? I’d enjoyed it. And so what if it wouldn’t happen again? Even if Kaden had fallen to his feet and professed undying love, Lord Sinon would never allow the relationship and it would cost us our lives to defy him.
I rolled those thoughts over and over in my head, willing them to sink in. It didn’t help that Kaden had opened the long expanse of glass that looked out onto the wide, wooden terrace. A sharp breeze from the river whipped through the room, ruffling his hair as he leaned against the open frame, a mug in his hand and his profile gilded with sunlight. He was beautiful…and power flowed from him. This man was a menial to the First Dragon? How impossibly powerful was Lord Sinon if a man like Kaden called him master?
That unnerving question forced me to sit at the table and pour myself a steaming cup of tea. I stirred in a thick run of milk. Sipping it, I let its heat ease the tight ache in my chest. Yes, I’d be a fool to antagonize such a powerful dragon. My gaze fixed on the man at the window. Almost-whispers in my mind and a rise of warmth that had nothing to do with the tea in my hand told me my gryphon stirred. She watched Kaden and gloried in him. To her, the defiance would be worth it.
I willed my gaze away and focused on the arrangement of dishes, food that forced my stomach to knot. But he hadn’t declared anything. I was a project to be kept occupied. Nothing more. No, Kaden Rhodes wasn’t worth losing my life over. And that knowledge hurt a lot more than it should.
Chapter Five
“Are you finished?” Kaden’s gaze flicked over the food I’d picked at. “You’re expected by noon. You should eat more.”
I sank back into the soft padding of the chair, and a brief burst of laughter escaped me. “I didn’t know you were so concerned about my wellbeing.”
He gripped the back of a chair, his fingers pressing hard into the pale leather. “The First Dragon will put you to work this afternoon. You have to be ready.”
I stared at him, the disbelief shocking me out of my animosity. “This afternoon?”
“You’re a means to an end. The more gryphons he has working for him, the more residual mythoi power his seals can convert for use by the humans.” A wry smile pulled at his mouth and it didn’t reflect in his eyes. “You’re a half-breed. That fact means he already despises you.”
“Way to make me feel welcome.”
“Lord Sinon suffers the diluting of other mythoi, but gryphons?” He snagged a small strawberry from the platter of fruit and pointed it at me before he bit into it. “Interbreeding with gryphons dilutes their abilities. If a gryphon hybrid can’t find power, then they’re useless.”
Hybrid. The word resonated in me and kicked at my memory. Yes, he’d used it about himself. A lowly hybrid. Connections seared in my brain, and I stared at him.
His eyes narrowed. “What?”
“You’re part gryphon.” His features hardened, as seemed to be the case when I asked him anything that could be seen as personal. “You’re part gryphon and you can’t find power. So, what? The First Dragon dresses you up in smart suits and sends you out as his errand boy?”