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Page 69 of Throne of Ice and Blood

This mysterious fae woman is real. She has to be. And I am going to find her.

I flick a glance up and down Draven’s muscular body as his words from earlier echo through my skull.

You’ll pay for this little stunt tonight.

My heart starts beating irregularly in my chest.

Yes, I will find the mystery fae. But first, I just need to survive whatever punishment Draven has in store for me tonight.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Water drips down my body to land on the smooth ice floor. This is the only room in Draven’s quarters that doesn’t have wooden floorboards. Which I suppose makes sense since it is a bathroom. But still, it creates a stark contrast between the warm water in the bathtub and the cool ice floor.

Goosebumps spread across my arms, and my nipples harden, at the sudden coolness. I reach for a towel and quickly wrap it around myself.

Despite Draven’s earlier threats, he didn’t do anything to punish me. Once he was finished terrorizing the humans in the city, we ate a tense dinner with his clan, and then we returned to his rooms. He took a bath and then disappeared into his bedroom. So I simply took a bath too.

And as I dry myself off, I can’t help but feel a little… disappointed. I know that it makes no sense, but this little war of bantering and challenges and sly threats that Draven and I have going on gives me a sense of normalcy.

My entire life right now consists of balancing on the edge of a knife. Every time I step foot outside this room, I risk death and torture for one reason or another. I’m not actually broken, but I need to pretend as if I am in front of everyone. Otherwise,the Icehearts will begin torturing me themselves. I’m helping the humans plan their heist and I’m also trying to start a full-scale rebellion on my own. If anyone finds that out, I’m dead. One mistake, in anything I do, and I’m doomed. Sometimes, the pressure of all of that is so intense that I can barely breathe.

But when I’m with Draven, that life and death threat is somehow gone. And I feel like I can breathe again. Feel like my life isn’t a gigantic deathblow waiting to happen. So I was almost looking forward to seeing how he would exact his revenge after I stripped almost naked and strolled through an entire room full of his soldiers.

Letting out a long sigh, I shake my head at myself in the mirror and then wrap the towel around my body again. I left my nightgown in my room, and I don’t want to put my normal clothes back on now that I have just come out of the bath.

After drawing a hand through my long silver hair, I open the bathroom door and walk back out into the living room.

My heart jerks.

I come to an abrupt halt a few strides into the living room as I find Draven waiting for me.

Only wearing a pair of black underwear, he is leaning against the desk so that he is half sitting on the edge while he has one ankle crossed over the other. The pose practically drips with casual authority, especially since his half-naked state leaves his lethally powerful body on full display. And as if that wasn’t enough, he also has one hand slightly raised and is spinning a pair of handcuffs around his finger.

Heat sears through my body, and a throbbing starts between my legs.

Draven watches me with an absolutely devilish smile on his lips.

And I’m suddenly reminded that I’m just standing there, frozen on the floor. Giving my head a quick shake, I try to gathermy wits. It works poorly. But I clear my throat and arch an eyebrow at him anyway.

“For someone who said he was going to punish me, you don’t look very angry,” I observe.

“I’m not.” That burning desire from before flares up in his eyes again as he holds my gaze, and that devilish smile on his lips widens. “Do you have any idea how hot you are when you’re cocky and confrontational?”

My heart skips a beat.

“Challenging me in front of my entire clan like that?” He flicks a possessive glance up and down my body. “So fucking hot. All I wanted to do was to bend you over a table and take you right then and there to show them all that you are fuckingmine.”

Heat washes through me, and my clit throbs harder. “Told you you’re a territorial asshole.”

“Yes, I’m a really fucking territorial asshole. Which is why I can tell you that it’s the last time you ever pull a stunt like that.”

“You mean this?” I unwrap my towel.

Soft gray fabric flutters through the air before the towel lands on the floor behind me, leaving me completely naked. My nipples harden again, but not from the cold this time.

Draven’s eyes darken with desire.

I flash him a villainous grin.


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