A Kiss From a Kraken by Charlotte Swan

Author:Charlotte Swan [Swan, Charlotte]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Emma Carter

5

MELODY

Despite the feast before me, I find I’m not that hungry.

Well, that is for food at least. Lust has stolen my appetite, but I know I will need my energy for what is to come. Taking bite after bite, I tuck into my meal. It really is no hard feat when there are perfectly cooked chunks of beef swimming in rich wine sauces. Fluffy mashed potatoes and roasted vegetables. Stealing is wrong and uncalled for but I cannot deny that it warmed my heart that Zalenyk went through all of this trouble for me.

I take a sip of my wine, my belly full, and look at my dinner companion who tears into another raw piece of fish.

Did I think him hideously ugly before? Surely not. There’s more to Zalenyk than meets the eye. Mainly how caring and protective he is of me. I can still hear the growl he leveled at the human captain who came up to retrieve some food for him and his men. The way his eyes lingered on me for too long.

Zalenyk stopped it, something not even my father could’ve claimed to do.

Maybe that’s the cause of these feelings inside of me, the ones only he is able to stir. The protectiveness, the care, the understanding. All of the things I’ve been missing out on for so long. Zalenyk fulfills those needs and these new ones I am experiencing.

As if he can feel my eyes on him he looks up from his plate and tilts his head.

“Is the food pleasing to you, my sweet one?”

“Yes, it’s delicious. That was the only good thing about my father’s new wealth.” I laugh without humor. “My health improved greatly after being on the brink of starvation for so long.”

“Never again,” Zalenyk vows, “will you want for anything. I promise.”

My thighs grow damp.

“I know.”

“I wish to learn,” he pauses, “more about your life after your father’s bargain.”

I take another sip of wine. This conversation is uncomfortable but Zalenyk looks at me so honestly, it is clear he just wants to know as much as possible about me. That thought allows me to clear my suddenly dry throat.

“Initially, I was happy. My father was still my father in those early days, only now we had the means to actually enjoy the comforts of life. We were happy, before it all, but living hand to mouth can take a lot out of even the happiest of people.”

Zalenyk nods and I continue.

“I believed his wealth would afford me some sort of freedom, girls in our old village were being married off at the age I was. This new rise in station meant I would be educated, and we had the means to travel something my mother had always wanted to do, but it became apparent that my future was not mine after all. Especially after the first lord remarked on how lovely of a young woman I was. That was when my father began to change. The wealth had changed him into someone greedy and now he saw me as a new way to gain more wealth.

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