The evil laughter still ringing out around her made her very much aware that everyone was still outside and watching the show, hoping for her to further humiliate herself.
Turning her neck, she caught a glimpse of her parents hanging tight to one another, staring at her with love and sadness. She was grateful that neither one of them tried to offer pointless platitudes.
Briley was also outside, standing beside the rose hedge and giving her a thumbs-up sign.
“Genesis…” She inhaled deeply. “Please forgive me for breaching your trust earlier. I did not understand the offense I caused by sitting without your consent. May I please ride you?”
This time the bike purred like a throaty kitten.
When she turned to Rumpel for translation, he shrugged.
“It would seem, Carrot, that she’s forgiven you.”
Glaring at him, she gingerly sat and breathed a sigh when she wasn’t bucked off. “Do not call me carrot,” she snapped.
“Straddle the seat, woman,” he said, ignoring her, “and hang on tight to my waist.”
Straddling the seat would mean exposing her legs. Normally she wore leggings beneath this smock, but today she’d been hot and hadn’t dressed as she otherwise would have. She shook her head. “I don’t want to show my legs.”
Now he didn’t look nearly so amused. “Do it. Or I’ll make you.”
She swallowed hard. “You don’t understand.”
“Oh believe me, I do. I’ve been around many vain women in my day. You think you’re a special little snowflake, but you are not.”
Growling, furious with him, but knowing she had no choice because she’d be damned if she let her father kill himself over some powermonger’s stupidity, she yanked her frock up, exposing all of her calves and a fair bit of thigh.
The laughter within the village ceased instantly, and even Rumpel’s eyes were drawn to her legs. She couldn’t read the expression in his gaze as his eyes traced slowly up the length of her pale, slender legs.
She arched a brow when he got to her face. “I’ve got my own charms, imp, never forget it.”
With a tight swallow, he growled but uttered not a word.
Feeling as though she’d finally gotten the upper hand in something, she kept her eyes straight ahead and with her gloves on, she grabbed his black leather jacket.
When he went to lean back on her, she jerked. “Don’t get too comfortable against me; touch no part of my skin without clothing on.”
Twisting around so that their noses very nearly touched, he stared at her as if waiting for her to flinch or back down. But she’d given him warning enough and refused to be cowed.
“Not a special snowflake.” He lifted his brow, but she had the sense that this time he said it to reaffirm his own belief in the matter.
“Whatever that means, I’m sure I don’t care.”
His rumbling laughter melded with the noise of his beast, and with one final parting glance at her family, Shayera turned her face into the wind. She might be riding with the devil himself, but as long as it meant getting away from this place, she was willing to take the risk.
Chapter Four
The way she’d been covered up, Rumpel had expected at the very least to see a disfigured body covered in scars or welts or something equally horrific. But her legs had been long and lean and almost seemed pearlescent, they were so fair. They’d been creamy and shapely and his mouth had watered.
It wasn’t that Rumpel didn’t enjoy the occasional tumble; a woman’s body was a thing of beauty. Expertly crafted and meant to entice, whether old or nubile, fat or thin, there was beauty to all and he could appreciate the aesthetics of the fairer sex. But that was a superficial appreciation. In all his years, he’d only ever met one who’d not cared to use her wit or beauty to possess that which she’d wanted.
Caratina had been special, but now she was gone.
Genesis purred beneath his touch when he shut her engine down. She was his truest companion, and none knew that his conveyance wasn’t merely a machine. In fact, she’d started her life out as a mortal woman. But due to a curse she was now his immortal mechanical steed and he was grateful for her company, especially considering the rest of his existence.
His great castle was a frightening, almost macabre structure built within the hills of Air Mountain. Lightning flashed and thunder rumbled, and the sky crackled with ozone, making the fine hairs along his neck and arms stand on edge. Gargoyles and gremlins decorated the balustrades, staring down at them with elongated teeth and fearsome eyes.