Read Online Unexpected Eden by Rhenna Morgan - Free Book Online

the weight of everything she’d seen, the denied passion—it all coalesced at once. “Wait.”
    Eryx looked up, his hand on the doorknob, and jaw locked tight.
    “Would you mind…”? Christ, she was screwing this up. And, gauging from the expression on his face, torturing him in the process.
    The silk robe lay at the foot of the bed. To hell with that. “I’ll sleep in what I’ve got on and keep my distance, but I’d like it if you stayed.”

Chapter 6
    Maxis pushed his unfinished breakfast away and sipped his coffee.
    Skittish, Brenna kept her back to him at the sideboard whenever possible, her gait more delicate than normal.
    Understandable. His early morning visit to her chamber had been harsher than he’d intended. A little stress relief for his lapse in judgment with Eryx in the way of Brenna’s not so willing body.
    His coffee cup clinked against its saucer. “Did you feed my guest?”
    Brenna flinched. Hands gripped tight in front of her, she turned and bobbed her head, eyes averted.
    “Good,” he said.
    A deep purple bruise stretched from her temple to her tightly clenched mouth. One strong wind and the tears would come again.
    “Never underestimate a human,” his grandmother had said. “They’re primitive beings and require a steady hand to keep them in line.”
    Good advice he’d do well to remember. Humans couldn’t be trusted, especially the ones with soulful brown eyes. “Clean this up then head to your rooms. You’ve got one day’s rest then you’re back to your chores. Understood?”
    Brenna nodded and set about gathering the used dishes, plates clattering beneath her jerky movements. With an impressive stack cradled against her chest, she turned for the door.
    “You wouldn’t try to escape me would you, Brenna?” He lowered his voice, barely above a whisper, but thick with warning.
    She stopped and shook her head. A fork teetered, nearly tumbling from the pile.
    “And what would happen if you tried?”
    “I’d be lucky if I made it to another estate.” Empty gaze locked on the wall behind him, she gave her deadpan recitation. “If I did, another Myren would kill me because humans are forbidden here.”
    Not an entirely true statement. Forbidden true, but unlikely another Myren would kill her. More like shuttle her off to one of the malran’s do-good warriors. Definitely not a detail he planned to share with Brenna. “And if they don’t?”
    She paled and the dishes wobbled and clattered. “You’ll find me and kill me yourself.”
    “Well done.” He dipped his chin and lifted his coffee cup. “You’re dismissed.”
    He sipped the dark brew and stared at the empty doorway. Too much wistfulness in her tone. Best to watch her for a few days and make sure she didn’t do something stupid. Breaking in a new house slave was the last thing he needed. He’d do well to remember that the next time his temper got out of hand.
    With a quick swipe, he wiped a trail of moisture from the corner of one eye. Blasted fucking sun. His sensitivity to light grew more pronounced as the color of his irises faded. They’d once been as green as his grandmother’s. Evanora’s emerald gaze was purported as the first thing to capture the malran’s attention two generations ago.
    For all the good it had done her. Instead of ending up malress of the Myren race, she’d wound up pregnant, only to have Eryx’s grandfather abandon her in favor of a commoner.
    He stood and marched toward the guest wing. The thick crimson rugs muffled his heavy strides and the dark stained walls lent a welcome refuge for his vengeful thoughts. Evanora would have her revenge. It was only a matter of time before a Steysis sat on the throne and humans served the Myren race as they were meant. If he played his cards right, the grieving baineann stowed in his guest room might be the trump card he needed in his overall strategy.
    Hysterical females were the last thing he’d willingly saddle himself with, but the one