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“I don’t think so,” Prince Rainier—orKing, now that his father was dead—snapped. He would not let me finish. And why would he? I looked like this…like Zander.
His rage increased when he talked to me. His anger rushed toward me in hot and heavy pulses, laced with the sorrow of losing his father. It flowed through me like a cancerous ache, taking root. Ifeltthe sadness buried at my core, threatening to drown me.
What the hell was going on? I’d felt nothing before but my own emotions. My own fear or rage. This was…wrong.
I glanced around, and no humans were in sight. I was in the middle of the Fae court.
I wasn’t Fae, but I was being tried as one.
“You will fight the beast,” Rainier said with all the power and grace of a king.
The guards marched me away and tossed me into the arena. The crowds cried out, the excitement electric in the air. All eyes were on me.
I spun around, looking for the beast, but I was still alone. I started searching for a way out, but there was no way I would get out of here without the guards stopping me. I caught a glimpse of myself in the metal cladding that finished the sides of the arena. Tall, well-built, a shock of blond hair. A man.
I was in the body of a man.
Despite the blurry reflection, I knew I looked like the male in the flyers.
I remembered nothing before I’d woken up a few minutes ago, locked up in a dark cell, deep beneath the earth. Nothing made sense.
How had I gotten here? How had I been turned into a man? Maybe this was a dream?
The sound of the large metal doors clanging open had ripped me out of a dark place, and guards had dragged me up an endless amount of stairs until I’d ended up here.
Then my mind blanked. Was that it? Nothing else to give me a clue as to what was happening? I tasted my heart in my throat. My head ached as I tried to think. Heat radiated from the sand beneath my feet, and the sun above scorched the bare skin on my arms, my forehead, my neck.
Despite the heat, the chains were cool to the touch around my wrists. Thick magic chains cuffed them, so fighting back hadn’t been an option. Maybe, if I’d been prepared, I could have fought my way out. I’d fought my way out of a tight spot more times than I could count. But that was when I’d been in a body Iknew.This one was large, heavy, slow. I didn’t know how long my legs were, how far I could reach. I didn’t know how hard I could hit. This guy was powerful. Between fight or flight, I bet he would do the former. Speed wouldn’t be on my side here, and that was what I always relied on.
I glanced down at the chains again. My hands were bound in front of me. It would allow me to fight, at least. The Fae worked with all kinds of spells all the time. I’d seen them use them for everything, from adding flavor to food, to making their equipment indestructible, to using it against each other—and against humans.
I studied my large, calloused hands. When I balled them into fists, they were the size of a child’s head.
The groaning sound of a large, metal door lifting on the opposite side of the arena drew my attention, and the crowd hushed. The silence was deafening. A wild, bloodcurdling roar sliced through the quiet, followed by the incessant cheering of the crowds.
A vicious monster appeared. The large, scaled body had an oily sheen to it. Scales like armor slid over each other as the creature crawled out of the darkness, and long, white teeth dripped menace. Spikes protruded at inconsistent intervals along the neck, and the creature sported a thick tail. Red eyes promised death, and nothing blocked the way between me and the monster.
“I’m not a king slayer!” I shouted. “I didn’t do it! You’ve got the wrong person! I’m a woman! A human!”
Laughter rippled through the crowds.
No one would listen. I was being forced to fight this monster, punished for a crime I didn’t commit.
The monster stood on the other side of the arena, head low, a growl emanating from the back of its throat.
The chains around my wrists fell off, as if their time had expired, and I could finally use my arms. At least I could try to defend myself.
The monster spun around, those red eyes locking onto me, and it let out a scream that sounded more like the screams of a woman than a monster. It shook the large body, those oily scales shimmering in the light, and pawed the ground like a bull about to charge.
And I was painted in red, the only target that monster saw.
Oh, Goddess, this was where I died.
3
Ishould have focused on the monster. I should have been ready to fight for my life. Instead, I looked up at the Fae King, and our eyes locked. A chill ran down my spine.
He was incredibly powerful. I felt his magic pulsing from him like a wave, but he was mesmerizing, too. Incredibly handsome…and dangerous—like a predator that attracted its prey with beauty, only to rip its head off.
