Nectar of the Wicked (Deadly Divine, #1) (70)
“Wish I’d seen it myself, of course.” Fellan tutted and stepped far too close. “If it weren’t for his wildling of a sister and his heartbroken father dying, then I’d wager they’d still be at it.”
I said nothing—wasn’t given the opportunity.
Fellan feigned a forlorn sigh, his hand tightening around the hilt of the blade at his side. “Changed him well and truly, that did. But don’t worry.” He elbowed me hard, and I ignored the impulse to place a hand over my ribs as the sneaky brutality and his words knocked the wind from me. “Looks like they might be on the cusp of a sweet second chance.”
His hoarse laughter stalked me when I finally drew away.
I was so enraged, so distracted by the knots that had replaced my innards, I all but threw myself back into the ever-growing crowds. Bodies crushed and shoved, and I ducked to avoid another blow from an elbow, this time to the head.
My hand was stolen.
Before I could react, a strange male with indigo eyes hauled me close. He grinned, fiendish, then twirled and spun me deeper into the suffocating swarm.
It took me a moment to realize he was dancing with me. That for the first time outside of my room inside of an apartment in the middle lands, I was actually dancing.
And not on my own.
But my awed smile slipped when another male grabbed my hand, and apprehension slowed my feet. His eyes flared a burning sky blue as he pulled me toward his chest and inhaled my hair. “The heat has her,” he said, the words almost groaned.
The male who’d stolen me first pressed his chest to my back. “Are you looking for help with that, Princess?”
“No,” I said, smiling tightly and attempting to push away from them. But they were too much muscle, too tall to see past, and too insistent on persuading me.
“We’ve done it before.”
“Yet to have found a mate from it, either,” the new one said over my hair at my ear. “So we’re not breaking any rules.”
“Who knows...” The other male’s hands clasped my hips. “Perhaps our beloved Mythayla will decide you’ll be our mate.”
Before I could tell them I wasn’t interested in them nor what the goddess might have in store, another male joined us. “Bold,” he said, his dark eyes glinting as he tossed back a goblet of wine. “To be touching the king’s plaything.”
“He’s occupied.” The indigo-eyed male squeezed my waist possessively. “We checked.”
The new arrival who’d been overtly ogling me looked over my head, and his grin spread. “History always repeats itself with those two.”
Jealousy, that insidious poison, stole my breath and burned through my veins.
The males laughed at the expression on my face. The new one took the opportunity to steal my hand and spin me around. “You’re better off with us anyway, Princess.”
Hands seemed to be everywhere all at once, traveling over my hips, arms, palms, and even brushing my thighs and ass. Hard groins were pressed upon me as they held and then spun me between them.
My lungs tightened, dizziness paralyzing.
Firelight and fiddles and drums melded into a storm of song that jumbled my thoughts and unsteadied my feet. But the males didn’t let me fall. They wouldn’t, which was the only reason I refrained from screaming for help. Instead, I played along until a gap opened between them.
I darted through it, the world tilting so much that I almost fell.
A hand caught my upper arm right before my outstretched palms met the grass, then pulled until the disgruntled barking of the males I’d escaped faded.
My back was pushed to a rough surface, my hands reaching behind me and feeling the bark of a tree. Panic receded, even though I could barely see the ice garlands blurring with the darkness. I’d made it to the tree line, away from the crush of groping hands and warm bodies.
Then a cloaked male’s scent infiltrated. A hurried whisper entered my ear.
The hands holding me up released me.
I stumbled, quickly leaning back against the tree to catch my breath—absorbing the words that had been pressed to my ear by the stranger I hadn’t seen.
If you wish to go home, find a way to the city florist on Ashen Street.
I shook my head, my vision still blurry as I held the tree and rounded it. I searched for the group of cruel faeries I’d left, attempting to guess which one had whispered to me while knowing whoever it was hadn’t been with them.
My eyes found Florian’s furious gaze instead.
Even with the distance between us, I could see the anger tightening his features—that stiffened his entire frame.
He stood below the podium. Alone.
Guards approached me, Fellan thankfully not among them.
I swallowed and looked back to the dancing bodies, but the males who’d been toying with me were nowhere to be seen.
I didn’t wait to be caught like a nuisance pet who’d wandered too far. I met the guards halfway. Seeming shocked as I passed them, they then trailed me back to Florian.
As soon as I neared, the king captured my hands, and we materialized to my rooms in the manor.
I wasn’t given time to recover from the journey.
Florian released me and strode to the door.
Disorientated again from materializing, I gripped the bedpost to stay steady on my feet. “You’re angry,” I foolishly croaked, feeling as though I had to say something before he left.