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There's an edge to his words. I don't miss the tension, and make a mental note of it.
Doryn didn't introduce Rath—or Vornel, as he just called him—as part of his circle earlier. If they're not friendly, he could be useful to me, particularly if we're passing through his land. I could disappear.
Hope dies just as fast as it kindled when I remember that doesn't solve my problem. Sorsha, Vern, and Kriss would be at his mercy. I can't abandon them.
But if I could warn them somehow…then all bets are off.
25
RHEA
I can be objective enough toward the land of darkness to admit that their celebration of the equinox is a stunning affair.
The food was delectable, the music, enchanting, and when the king leads the way outside, I’m the first to gasp at the night sky. Its deep darkness is illuminated by a shower of stars falling beyond the mountains and lakes surrounding his natural fortress, deep into the sea.
This world is nothing like I’ve experienced before. This court is beauty and opulence, side by side with brutality and lust. They wear their sins on their sleeves, unashamed. I could have appreciated it if I were here as a guest and knew nothing of their crimes to the south. As things stand, I’m unsteady, angry at everything I see, frustrated with the splendor of Nyxar. How dare they have all this, when the south doesn’t? And yet they make the south suffer from their cruelty! I don’t know how or why they used such dark power against my village yet, but I refuse to doubt what I saw, what Iknow.
I’m almost shaking with fury, and other things I don’t care to acknowledge: the rumbling deep in my core, the tingling all over my skin at the slightest brush. I have been used tonight, by almost everyone at the celebration—at least, it felt like it. But for all that, I am unsatisfied. A part of me I’ve never known, a part I now hate with fiery passion, craves more. Craveshim again.
The hundreds of courtiers spread out in the gardens, watching the star show, strive to stay a respectful distance away from the king, and by extension, from me. Doryn keeps me close, his arm wrapped around my waist. I don’t miss all the eyes on me, openly leering, after what they’ve seen. I’ve truly been reduced to nothing more than a royal harlot.
“Caldoryn,” a woman says.
She wears a proper dress, covering everything that ought to be covered, unlike mine.
“Enja,” he greets, with an easy smile, not unlike the one he used on me the day before, when he was pretending to be just Doryn. “I didn’t expect you here tonight.”
“I barely made it. I have news.” She takes him aside, and Doryn’s happy to let go of me to follow, ignoring the spectacle.
I wouldn’t care one bit if his abandoning me didn’t leave me at the mercy of his court. They immediately converge on me, now that I’m no longer protected.
“You have such smooth skin!” Hands unceremoniously palm my arms, my cheeks, the curve of my ass.
My head snaps back, watching the short, purple-haired woman who happily touched me back there. When I swat her hand away, I’m met with laughter. “And those tits,” she coos admiringly. “What I wouldn’t give for a bite.”
Her smile highlights pointed teeth and I tremble.
I can see a glimpse of what I would have lived through if Doryn meant to leave me behind during his travels.
I look at the king and his Enja, conversing in low voices away from the crowd. Both Vessorian and Silver are at his side, of course. I consider calling out for help, but the word is stuck in my throat.
“Is this all you want to be for the next hundred years, girl?” a voice whispers as more hands caress my body. “An object passed from hand to hand?”
I’m surprised to recognize the woman leaning toward my face. Doryn called her Lucyan, his mother, according to him. They don’t look much alike, save for the curve of their ears and those sapphire eyes.
“Come to me before morning if you’re tired of being a cum dumpster,” she hisses, before disappearing into the crowd.
A man unceremoniously snatches the front of my dress, pulling it under my breasts. He’s wearing a red coat with silver trimmings, and not a stitch of black, suggesting he could be Allean, though he seems happy to palm me like any of them.
“That’s enough,” I snap.
I barely recognize my voice. It’s loud and firm and powerful. I almost feel the ground vibrate under my feet, furious as I am.
The hands fall away from my limbs, and I’m the first to be surprised.
They listened. I told them to stop and theylistened to me. I don’t know who’s more shocked: me, or them.
I lift my chin, projecting strength, as though I wasn’t a slave in all but name.
