Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100363 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 502(@200wpm)___ 401(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Shattered by the murder of her faery mother, Cenere knows that she, a lowly human, is powerless to avenge her, until her faery guardian, Luthian of Mithrax, offers her a deal… and a crown. As a queen, Cenere will have the power to bring her mother’s killer to justice, but the fae give nothing freely. The price Luthian asks is total surrender to his every passionate whim and devious machination.
Exiled from the Court of Pleasure and Torment, Luthian seeks to return to his life of hedonism and perversion. Cenere will become his way back into the graces of the sadistic King Arcus. She need only pledge her body and will to Luthian. Under his tutelage, she’ll be able to infatuate the court—and the King’s rakish second son, Prince Cassan. Her guardian will do the rest, and place Cassan on his father’s throne with Cenere beside him.
But when the doomed king sets his sights on the human woman who will be his undoing, her guardian can no longer keep her safe. Cenere finds herself protected by Prince Kathras, the heir to Arcus’s throne and a faery far more dangerous than his father. Torn between her guardian, a cruel prince, and a kind one, Cenere knows her fate is out of her hands. And Luthian has his own secrets. When his true motivation is revealed, it will change the course of Cenere’s life forever…
A Kingdom of Pleasure and Torment is a Dark Romantasy with strong themes and graphic imagery that may disturb some readers. Please consult the extensive content warnings inside.
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Chapter One
Mother is dead.
Dead and buried beneath the cenere tree where she first wished for me. The tree that inspired my name.
Mother’s murderer is seated beside me in the carriage. He believes I don’t suspect him. How could I not? Faeries are immortal, but my mother died. Someone had a hand in it. Why not the villain who stands to benefit most from her death?
Every bump and jostle makes my knees smash into those of Lord Cadwyn Thrace of Elegwyn Manor, very recently widowed. His mourning blacks are garish, his cravat too big, the tails of his coat slightly too long. He cut a dashing figure at his wife’s funeral.
No doubt, he’s already looking for someone new to warm his bed and line his pockets. It will be especially easy now that he’s stolen my title, my lands, and my mother through his treachery. He plays the part of the wealthy, distinguished faery well, and wins hearts with his rakish charm. Mother fell so hard that even learning that his fortune was non-existent wasn’t enough to shake her resolve to have him.
Now, only a year later, he has inherited what should be mine, and I return to the only home I’ve ever known as my stepfather’s guest.
“You’ll be all right.” When he tries to force his pale face into a kind expression, it looks more like a smirk. “I’ll give you a stipend, of course.”
“I am tired,” I say, and turn my attention to the raindrops pelting the window. “I don’t wish to discuss this now.”
“Unfortunately, we must. It may seem vulgar to speak of money so soon after your mother’s internment—”
“It is vulgar for you to speak of my mother’s money at all,” I snap.
“Cenere…” he begins, the antennae at his hairline glowing softly with an insincere silver-white light. “I’m not throwing you out. You’re in a unique predicament. It would be cruel of me to expect you to fend for yourself. You’re leagues from the nearest human settlement—”
“I know where the human settlements are.” I’ve often wondered if a faery lives there in my place. My mother never hid the fact that I was born of a wish, but she didn’t let her human daughter believe in a fantasy of wishes without consequences. I came from somewhere. Certainly not from my fae mother.
“You’ll need my guidance,” Thrace goes on. I hear him, but I don’t listen.
Outside, the forest grieves for its mistress. It robed itself in dense, ghostly fog the moment my mother’s light faded. Since then, the sky has been dirty white and hazy. I wonder how long it will last. How will the buds know to bloom in the spring without mother to sing them softly awake? I can’t do it. I will never be able to do it.
If I am a changeling, I was chosen well. My looks match my mother’s; generous flesh of milky rose, hair that gleams like the copper rays of a setting sun. I look like a Spring Fae. I have all the powers of a human.
I will never know what it is to have wings. I will never wield magic or see all the splendor of a faery court. But perhaps most unfairly, I will never have the power to bring Cadwyn Thrace to justice for my mother’s death.