[Millicent] I am dark and cold. There is no light to see, so I feel around with my fingers. Where am I? There is something warm, slick, and hard beneath my hands. Beyond that something stirs. Impossibly large, it wraps itself around me. I know I am safe when I hear her humming. Her voice is beautiful, the melody low and deep calming me as I settle against her warmth… …There is heat. I am being carried, although the world is still dark around me. I miss the heat of that warm body as I am placed somewhere cold and dry. Cries of pain and roars of outrage boom in the darkness. I am afraid… …In the distance, I hear a man. He is crying, roaring in pain. I move toward the sound, but he is locked behind a wall of solid stone. Placing my hands and face against the stone I cry with him, even though I do not know why he weeps. “Let me in,” I beg, pounding on the wall. “Why won’t you let me in?” He replies not with words, but with the mournful cry of heartbreak… “...As she was about to
[Millicent] I am bubbling over with anger, even as his kiss sends tingles into every part of me, my body aching to respond to his touch. As he leans into me, I smell the fresh clean scent of soap, feel his clean hair tickling my cheeks, taste the fresh sweet taste of berries and cream on his mouth and I want so much for this to be real. I would have given anything to have Leon touch me in this way--like he wants me and cannot live without me. I've had a small crush on him since that first night he found me in the main hall, scared and alone. He was the one who picked me up and cared for me and dried my tears when Primus was done with me. A man who seemed to care for me when nobody else had ever shown me kindness. I could spend the rest of my life with Leon if he wanted me. This person sitting next to my bed is not Leon. Leon would never reach for me in this way. Leon would never be this bold. The imposter presses me closer to him, trying to deepen the kiss. I open my mouth
[Primus]Her beautiful golden eyes grow dark, hard, and cold as tears roll down her cheeks. “Get. Out.” she points at the door. “Carnelia I…” She shakes her head. She has no interest in hearing anything I have to say. “I never want to see you again,” her arm is unsteady and her whole body begins to shake. “I don’t care what face you are wearing,” her voice is still weak, strained from her illness. “I don’t want anything to do with you.” Each of those words feels like I am
[Millicent] “Hullo” an unfamiliar feminine voice calls from the other side of my stone wall. I choose to ignore it. I refuse to open my eyes right now. The person begins to bang on the door. Not knock, bang, like a sailor back from leave ordering beer at a tavern. someone raps at my door. “I know you are awake, I can hear it in breathing,” she explains as she continues to knock. “Can I please come in?” “No,” I moan. “I promise I’m not Primus.”
[Primus] My sister is a sadist. She would make an amazing dictator, the way she bends people to her will, forcing them to do whatever she says is “in their own good.” She's also a much better liar. Maybe I should just hand her the throne right now and save myself the trouble of ascension. That way nobody would need to plan a coup to depose me when they discover my mate is a human. Just one small action would solve so many of my problems. Especially the problems waiting for me on the other side of this door, the ones I really do not want to face. I'm not sure why Ona insisted I wait here when she doesn't even know if I will be allowed to enter. Staring at the wall which is also the door to her room, my left hand reaches up to trace the letters of her name with my fingers. I remember how angry she was to find it there. Carnelia. Her new name was one of the first gifts I ever gave her. Like all the other things I had given her, she had hated that gift too. It seems like I am not so go
[Millicent] I want to curse this beastly man from my room, to yell at him until he feels exactly how much pain I am in, how much pain he has caused. But as he just demonstrated, it wouldn’t do me any good. I might as well give him a few moments to explain himself. “Alright,” I announce as I adjust myself enough to aim the full intensity of my disapproval at his face. “I’m listening.” “I’m glad you’re feeling generous,” he mocks. “I am sure you have a lot of questions about,” he waves his hands in the air, “Everything. What do you want to
[Primus] I pull her to me, kissing her fully. She doesn’t resist, she lets me kiss her. Moaning, I deepen our kiss, pressing her gently against the pillows. I want to devour her, to drink her tears and kiss her every hollow. I need to join with her, I need to feel complete. “Carnelia,” I growl, my fangs elongating, preparing to mark her. “Primus, what are you doing!” She shouts, trying to push me away. “I’m going to mark you and make you mine,” I begin nibbling along her neck. “Everyone will see that you are mine, only mine.” “Primus you need to stop,” she begins to cry. “I did not say…” I quiet her with my tongue. Foolish woman. She bites me again. I pull back excitedly. “Yes! Bite me! Mark me again!” “ONA!!!” She screams at the top of her voice. “I NEED YOU!” There is a scraping at the door but I use my will to keep it shut. My sister is a meddlesome crone. “I know you want me, Carnelia, I can smell it.” “Not like this,” she shouts, crying. “This is too soon, I don’t eve
[Ona] I am stuck between two stubborn fools. Primus refuses to even think about Carnelia. If I even say her name around him he ignores me, sometimes leaving the room to get away from having a conversation about the topic of his mate. He has decided to lock himself in his den as far away from her as possible. He thinks I haven’t noticed that his mud people take her used clothing and place it in the bottom of his nest, but I know he doesn’t wear silk dresses so the only person he is fooling is himself. He’s acting like a big baby, and I refuse to indulge him any longer. He hasn’t left his room in two weeks. And Carnelia…that girl has a temper and holds a grudge like a concubine denied her chance in bed. If I hadn’t promised Primus I’d take care of her until she is fully recovered, I’d have shipped out days ago just to relieve some of the stress she has put me under. I ache to feel my wings beneath a starry sky, the burn of salt on my scales…instead I’m stuck babysitting. Still, she i