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“We know there’s nothing left of the Nine Realms outside of this one. We haven’t hidden in these mountains for the scenery, woman. I was in the Kingdom of Fire when it fell to your grandmother. I felt Norvalla falling as well and saw the flames Hecate left in her wake as she laid waste to my home. Lie to me again, and you won’t like what happens.”
“You’re wrong, Basilius. I’ve stood in the palace of Dorcha myself. I’ve even been to the castle in Norvalla. Knox, Brander, Killian, and Lore can all tell you the same thing I am. Hell, even Greer’s cankerous ass could tell you while he insulted you.”
“Greer would never insult a blood-born prince of the Karnavious line,” Basilius rasped. He rattled, which caused mine to roll out in a sultry, silky vibration of noise. “Why don’t you answer a straightforward question for me, love? Why the fuck don’tyousmell like the other women of your breed? They reek of embers and cinnamon. You on the other hand, smell like desire and feminine sexuality that is strangely intoxicating and one hell of an aphrodisiac. I’ve smelled nothing like you before. Your rattle? It isn’t like theirs either. In fact, it’s sultry and addictive against my ears.” Basilius strode closer before he knelt in front of me, staring up into my wide eyes. His palm landed against my cheek as he murmured seductively, which forced my own to whisper through the room. A wolfish smile played on his full, kissable lips as he continued.
“So, what are you? Because I’m not an idiot. Zyion Vicious wouldn’t bother himself over some spoiled little princess. A sadistic prick like him? He’d eat you up and spit you out in one night without feeling bad about doing so. After all, he did murder your grandmother for King Karnavious. He also kept me and my brethren a secret from your father, Aria. But you? He didn’t keepyoua secret fromus. In fact, he told us right where you were on that field and made sure we had a clear path to you. So, what the fuck makes you so special?”
“No, I wouldn’t,” Zyion’s voice sounded as if it was coming from the hallway.
I fought to hear over the thunderous beat of my pulse pounding violently inside my head. When I attempted to draw magic to me and nothing came, my stomach bottomed-out. I’d been stupid to trust that Zyion was helping me. He’d wanted me to think he was on my side.
I scooted back from Basilius, who continued studying my face as panic clawed its way up my chest and wrapped its sharp nails around my throat. Footsteps sounded down the hallway, and the men turned toward the empty doorway, smiling. The blood drained from my face as the male I’d expected to save me from them, entered. Zyion smiled when he found me awake, but his eyes sparkled with calculation.
“I hope the princess wasn’t too much trouble, gentlemen. She’s a handful, but nothing we can’t deal with. Aria, I apologize for misleading you into thinking I was something I wasn’t, but I can’t have you running to daddy once you’ve learned what’s truly unfolding in this wretched, miserable realm he constructed, now can we, gentlemen?”
The men chuckled in response before Basilius responded.
“We were just having some fun with her. Plus, we were making sure you’d told us the truth, Dragon Slayer.” Basilius’s eyes roved over me, then flicked back to my face. “I can tell you one thing. The little princess isn’t a bird, as you said she was.”
Chapter Eighteen
Aria
TheduplicityofZyion’sfaçade left me grasping for how to escape my current predicament. It just proved that I couldn’t trust anyone, ever again. My instincts apparently sucked. So much for him being a man of his word, or being the Queen’s Guard, not that I was the queen yet, but semantics. They had somehow nullified my powers, leaving me with only my wits and hands to defend myself against them. Basilius was staring at my thighs while Zyion whispered something in his ear. I strained to make out what he was saying, but my heightened senses were gone as well.
“Fine,” Basilius uttered without moving his attention. “Let’s discuss this over ale. She isn’t going anywhere tonight. There’s nowhere for her to run, anyway.”
Without a word to me, they gradually filed out of the chamber, closing and locking the door behind them.
As if that would stop me.
I couldn’t bear to linger here while they conspired and Esme’s safety remained uncertain. I’d assumed she was because Zyion had informed me that she hadn’t been their target, but his word obviously meant nothing.
Knox would never let me live it down that I should’ve listened to him and remained within the Nine Realms instead of adventuring off to the unknown.
The moment I stood, the room spun and saliva flooded my mouth in warning. I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with the scent of too much masculinity with earthy undertones. Slowly, I moved to the window, which looked as if they might open, and calculated how far the drop was. My lips pulled into a thin line as I took in the drop I’d need to make to the ground level.
I tilted my head, listening to the footsteps and men’s laughter fading as they moved farther away from the chamber. Once the sound of a door closing met my ears, I immediately rushed for the windows, only to discover I was higher than I expected in the air. The sun hadn’t set, which meant we hadn’t flown too far from the city.
It gave me hope of escaping, which had me trying one window, then another. Each one refusing to budge. Hadn’t they ever oiled the fuckers? At the last one, I frowned, then frantically searched the room eyeing a wooden chair beside the bed. Cautiously moving to the wooden chair, I paused to tilt my ear, hating that my senses weren’t there.
“Ember?”I waited, then frowned. She was just there.“Ember, it’s sort of important.”Nothing.“Thanks for being there when I needed you, not best lesbian!”I’d thought the last one would get her moving.
The window was thicker than I was used to, but that should be a problem. As I lifted the chair, my body swayed, which forced me to set it back down for a moment. What the fuck had they really done to me? How had they even known what to use to nullify the land's power? Somehow, they’d neutered me and that was terrifying considering I was in a strange land, with no one coming to save me.
Squaring my shoulders as I battled for strength, I hoisted the chair up and slammed it against the window. It bounced off the pane and sent me sprawling on the floor, which made Ember snort. She had felt my inner turmoil, which should’ve worried her since I didn’t panic often. Instead, the bitch was snickering at my sad attempt to escape the bevy of men who’d been looking at me like I was a snack and they were ravenous.
Rising to my feet once more, I gripped the chair and slammed it against the window with all the strength I had left.
It didn’t so much as crack the thick glass. I was fighting to keep myself from freaking the fuck out or allowing the inner turmoil, betrayal from Zyion, and worry for Esme to flood it to prevent him from deciphering what I was currently doing.
The third attempt sent glass shards and larger pieces scattering to the floor. Ignoring my lack of equilibrium, I tossed the chair aside and rushed through the window as footsteps thundered toward the chamber. The shards of glass still stuck in the sill cut into my thighs, but I didn’t give myself permission to stop. If I did, I wouldn’t have enough strength to move again, and I needed everything I had to pull myself through and balance on the thin edge of the wood outside the chamber.
The door slammed open, I glanced back to watch as Zyion, Basilius, and the other men burst into the room. Then I leaped toward the ground.
I landed with a bone-jarring crash, and forcing myself to get up was easier said than done. Still, I managed to get to my feet just as Zyion’s head appeared above me. The sound of cheerful voices was closer than I cared for, but it didn’t stop me from running as fast as my wobbly legs would go, directly into the fray of them. The building was built of stones, and if I was right, they’d covered the roofs with branches from the pine trees to camouflage them. It was actually genius, but not productive in my rescue.
The men and women who had stopped to stare at the strange female who just jumped from a window gave me pause. But then shouting started from inside the house, and propelled me into a mad dash toward the edge of the forest. I was halfway there when I started mentally berating myself for not finding some shoes to wear.
