Page 118 of Uncrowned

“I want to go,” Lord Summerlyn piped in. “You can’t all go without me. I haven’t been to a morning sacrifice before. I didn’t even know we had one.”

“Wait.” Lord Oxley glanced over to Theodore. “Did I miss the branding ceremony?”

“Branding?” Theodore’s tone deepened as his gaze nervously came to me.

“You haven’t,” I said, waving the men to follow. “Theodore hasn’t said his vows yet. I’m not even sure he’s cut out for The Order.”

“Oh.”

The two Lords looked between each other confused. It was Lord Summerlyn who stepped in.

“Theodore, your loyalties are with us, aren’t they? I mean, you’re here. You’re in The Order. That’s… that’s death if you leave without joining.”

Green eyes widened only to turn hard.

“Maybe he wants to die.” I shrugged. “Or maybe he’s ready to take his place at my side. What’s a little blood and fire, Theo?”

“Are you all fucking with me right now?”

Both men laughed, unbuttoning and pulling open their shirts to expose the upside-down crowns burned over their hearts.

“You’re not fucking with me. Those aren’t just stories. I thought…Shit. I have to sacrifice something?”

“A slave.”

“Oh.” He nodded at me. “Just a slave. No big deal,” he said, sarcastically. “And then I⁠—

“Take your vows,” Lord Oxley chimed in.

“Of course,” Theo continued. “And after that, I let you burn away my skin.”

“Precisely.” I threw him a smile. “Nothing too extreme. Just a typical Tuesday.”

“Right.” Theodore nodded, and the seconds drew out as we headed through a pair of large white and gold doors that led to the Ritual Room.

“So?” Lord Summerlyn’s hands came up. “Are you going to do it?”

Theodore popped the last cake in his mouth, chewing and throwing me a wink. When he swallowed, he dusted off his hands on his pants, nodding.

“Honor. Duty. Potestas nostra iterum erit.”

The two Lords cheered, shaking and slapping Theodore on the back in their excitement.

“The power will be ours again. I like it,” Oxley exclaimed. “I didn’t know you spoke Latin.”

“I’m supposed to be a duke. Of course I speak it.”

The men got quiet and Lord Summerlyn turned to me, lowering his voice and becoming serious. “Unavowed, afterward, do you think we could possibly talk? It’s a private matter. I’m horribly embarrassed about it, to be honest, but I’m… it has to do with a Mistress from America who recently came here and…” His face flushed. “I don’t know who else to talk to.”

Lord Oxley leaned in. “You’re not talking about Melissa LaRoe, are you? I was going to talk to the Unavowed about her as well.”

I paused, stopping them.

“Both of you? What about Melissa LaRoe?” Just saying Marian’s mother’s name had my head getting fuzzy. She’d called last night again, hadn’t she?”

“Privately, Sire?”

I blinked the fogginess away, not liking how uncomfortable they were. “Of course. After this we’ll go to my study and talk. I want to hear every concern you have about her.”