I don’t roll my eyes, but I really, really want to. Fortunately, having been a servant to my sister Leah these past three years has helped train me to always present an outward poise, even when inwardly, I am disgusted and annoyed.“Tell me again how you wish to please me,” Caleb says, self-satisfie
“I-I didn’t do anything…?” I say, gasping. I reach my hands up, clawing at his where he’s grabbing my throat.“You slipped me a sleeping pill,” he growls, voice spitting fire. “Those are banned.”“I didn’t!”His hand tightens, cutting off my air supply even further.“Please!”“Someone drugged me wit
Nina – the woman my pack previously sacrificed to the Lycan King?“You’re alive…” I am seeing her with my own two eyes and still can’t believe it.No one was ever truly sure what happens the tributes once they were sent off as devotion to the King. Some women, we knew, were selected to be members of
I shiver at the thought, but press my words forward. “He wouldn’t pull anything from me, even under torture. Nina, there’s never been any child. I’ve never been pregnant. If he does have a child, it’s not with me.”Nina flicks her gaze over my face. I keep my expression open, hoping she can see my s
Nina walks out of Harper’s rooms and rejoins her companion Molly who waited for her in the hallway. When their eyes lock, Molly lifts her brow in silent question. Nina smirks in reply.Nina continues past her, making her way to the stairwell. Molly follows in step behind her. They travel in silence
“Enter,” Caleb commands.I open the door and slink inside, careful to catch and close the door again behind me.Caleb’s office sizeable, with a wide desk and floor to ceiling bookshelves lining every wall but the back one, which is made up of windows instead. Aside from the desk, a chaise lounge sit
The guards drag me down the spiral staircase as low as it can go, down, down into the dungeon. They drag me through the narrow hallway between the rod-iron cages. Instead of going to the cell at the end of the hall, where I was once tortured with the truth serum, one of the guards unlocks a cell alo
“Sir. Are you certain?” Tristan asks.Caleb glares at his Beta, who should know better to doubt him, especially in front of a guard and a slave.Tristan, realizing his mistake, immediately lowers his head. “Apologies, My King. I spoke out of turn.”“Do it again, and I’ll have you whipped like the re
“I imagine the request will come sooner rather than later,” the third advisor said. “Gladys has been outspoken against you, my King. There’s even some talk that she wishes to publically face you, to confront you over your treatment of Hector and Kira.”Caleb laughs, thinking it a joke. When he sees
As Caleb sits on his throne, he only vaguely listens to the discussions his advisors are holding before him. No one seems entirely sure what to do with Kira’s remains.As a former Luna, by right, she should be interred in the royal crypt within the capital. But, because of the situation of her attem
That night, in the room I share with Caleb, he holds me with incredibly tenderness. We’ve not made love yet, though there is a hint of promise lingering in the air. There’s something else too, though. Under the passion and the desire, a warm core of affection glistens.In the dark, it’s easier for u
“Come on,” Caleb says. As he stands, he gently takes my hands and helps me up from the chair. “You’ve been in here too long already.”I pause for a moment, still processing all his words and what’s happening here. “You aren’t angry.”“I am angry,” he says. “But not at you. No one told me where you w
For hours, I sit in an interrogation room. The fluorescent light overhead buzzes gently. The one in the corner is flickering. The room is otherwise quiet.Sterile, the concrete walls are painted white, with the tiles on the floor are dark blue. Unnervingly, there is a drain in the floor at the cente
Jason continues to watch me and Kira as I follow Kira down the hallway. Only after we round a corner, physically breaking line of sight with him, am I confident he is no longer looking at us.Kira doesn’t say one word to me all the way back to her room. She opens the door for me, ushers me inside, a
I would not fall into the same trap, not to satisfy Kira or anyone else.“I can only be who I am, and nothing more,” I say.“That’s all I need you to be,” Caleb says, stepping more fully beside me. From our body language alone, it’s clear who he supports in this argument. He takes my arm in his and,
Without even turning, I can feel Caleb’s presence coming toward us. As I did, the people standing nearby all turn to look behind me. Kira herself starts to pale, though she keeps her head high and defiant.“Mother, you have overstepped for the last time,” Caleb begins to say.I glance back at Caleb,
Turning, I find Caleb staring straight at me. I worried he might be annoyed by my presence, but looking at him now, I can see the flicker of amusement in his eyes, and the way the very edge of his lip curls ever-so-slightly with mischief.“Well? Would you deny your king, servant?” he asks.I curtsey