Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 58321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
A dragon. A kraken. A being who looks almost human, except for their size, smoky skin, long tail, the coal-black claws on their hands, and their cloven hooves. So, really, not that human at all. And, finally, one who looks even more human. They’re big too. They’re all big. The shadows shift, and I pick out their massive wings and two pairs of horns peeking out of their white hair.
They’re looking right at me.
2
BRAM
There’s a flavor to desperation that I’ve become all too familiar with, and it soaks into every inch of this space. All us leaders are feeling it in our own way though each of us would die before we’d admit it. Sol, the dragon, feels backed into a corner, but there’s a cautious hope in his energy that sticks in my throat. Thane, the kraken, flat out doesn’t want to be here at all. And Rusalka . . . Well, there’s no desperation in her energy, just a deep anticipation that worries me.
I don’t want to be beholden to Azazel.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a fucking choice.
None of my people will have me. Not with the curse hanging over my head, courtesy of my father’s poor decisions. I’ve exhausted the suitable candidates in the other noble families. They don’t want to join their houses to mine, even if it means any children produced will rule the territory after me. Not when they are so sure the curse will take their lives long before they take leadership.
Which is why I’m here, sitting in the castle of my enemy, acting as if everything is fine. Oh, I know Azazel is significantly better than his predecessor, but that doesn’t mean I’ll ever forgive or forget what he’s responsible for. It wasn’t his predecessor who made the bargain with my father that ended with my family dead. Even without that element of blame, it wasn’t too long ago that the entire demon realm was at war and I was doing my damnedest to kill the very people who sit so casually in this room with me.
Azazel knew how to bait his trap well.
And it is a trap. He’s too canny to do anything out of the goodness of his heart, which means he has half a dozen plots in play, and they all center around the five human women standing on the dais. Are they plants? Spies? Even assassins? By the time we find out, it will be too late.
I should leave.
Except I don’t have a damned choice.
All the women are beautiful and all just as likely to be my downfall. They’ll have to get in line behind the nobles in my territory and Fate, which seems determined to kick me when I’m down. Repeatedly.
I have only one route forward. A bargain and a human companion.
I grit my teeth and examine the women a little more closely. Pale skin. Tan skin. Blonde, brunette, redhead. Beautifully fat and lean and in-between. Human, every one.
Despite myself, my attention snags on the tall dark-haired woman in purple. Unlike the others, she stares out at the room with a provocation that feels almost violent. With the lights positioned as they are, there’s no way she can see the details of us, but that doesn’t stop her from challenging us with her dark eyes. It feels like she reaches across the distance and hooks her nails right into my chest.
She’s a terrible choice. I need someone docile and submissive. Someone who won’t make waves, who won’t drive away the few allies I have left in my territory. Someone like the shivering redhead or the smiling voluptuous brunette in blue.
But when I open my mouth, the word I speak is . . . “They’re all the same to me.” Lies. I’m a godsdamned liar. “Purple.”
Azazel gives me a short look that I can’t define, but nods. I barely pay attention as the rest of the auction wraps up, one leader after the other claiming one of the humans as their own. Doors appear around the perimeter of the room, and each pair is guided into one of them. There will be a contract to negotiate the finer details. Again, Azazel proves his cleverness by not giving us time to linger near the other leaders. He says he wants peace, and his actions seem to indicate he’s telling the truth—at least on the surface. I know better than to trust that, though.
The room we’re left waiting in is just big enough for me to spread my wings. I resist the urge. The last thing I need is Azazel thinking he made me nervous, even if it’s true. Instead, I watch the woman.
She paces from one corner of the room to the other, her long legs eating up the distance in smooth strides. She’s more muscular than I realized, her lean strength on full display in her fitted purple dress. Like the others, she’s beautiful—but hers is the kind of beauty one finds in the hellcats that haunt the succubi and incubi’s territory. Gorgeous and deadly and all too willing to eat your face off.