Though the hour was late and the weather had turned, the Lair of Lust was aglow. The grimy street-facing window gave view to patrons dancing and drinking at the bar. Briefly, I wondered what that might be like—to lose all inhibitions in such a way.
Then I pondered if I’d already experienced it beneath the touch and taste of a devious king.
More than a little distracted while entering the alleyway that led to the back of the pleasure house, I nearly jumped when a rat skittered out from behind a pile of waste and ran from the darkness toward the street.
Heart pounding, I choked on a laugh as I watched it go. My smile fell when boots appeared and stopped.
A male in a hooded cloak blocked the end of the alley.
I could see nothing of his shadowed features from where I stood, but I remembered those eyes. Eyes of bright and pure gold.
Fear fell into every sluggish heartbeat, a dragging gong in my ears.
About to ask him what he was doing here when he’d been with the Wild Hunt, I struggled to form words. He didn’t blink. His gaze held mine, and he didn’t move.
Move. The word was a punch to the gut. The stairs to the rear entrance were just a few short feet away, yet both of us stood so very still, seemingly trapped.
Laughter spilled onto the street from a group leaving the Lair of Lust via the main entrance. It broke my terror-frozen trance. I jerked backward.
The golden-eyed faerie took a step forward.
An owl flying overhead gave an ear-piercing screech, and I finally ran for the stairs.
I flew up them, not breathing and half expecting to be yanked back down by the cloaked male.
A male of whom I swore was the same one who’d been traveling with the hunt. The same male who’d sent me away after I’d watched that strange mist dissolve Rolina into nothing but the soil and grass she’d died upon.
I opened the door to the third floor and threw myself inside, then closed it and peered through the sliver of streaked glass in the wood to the stairs.
No one was there. At least, not that I could see.
The Wild Hunt did not return between their yearly visits.
Unease curdled within my stomach, weighing my steps down to the second floor. I didn’t linger on the third. Not only because I was in a hurry to escape the feeling of being hunted but also because I had no reason to use the dressing rooms.
I stopped beneath the stairs and leaned back against the wall, attempting to organize my scrambled thoughts.
Perhaps it hadn’t been the same male, and he was merely waiting for one of the employees of the Lair to leave.
Whoever he was, it didn’t matter. I had bigger things to tend to.
I smoothed my clammy hands over the bodice of my gown and continued down the hall to the room harboring a king.
With so many questions vying for answers, there was no controlling what left my mouth first. “Did you do all of that to me so I would be dazed and therefore more likely to agree to your needs?”
“Hello to you too, butterfly.” Florian gave me an amused glance over his shoulder. His eyes narrowed on my gown, and his lip lifted in disapproval. He turned back to the liquor cabinet. “You’ll be glad to know a dressing chamber filled with proper clothing awaits you.”
Stunned, I almost asked how he knew what sizes I would need, and why he seemed so certain I would agree to this asinine bargain. But I refused to let him deter me. “I would appreciate an answer to my question.” I swallowed. “Majesty.”
“Florian.” He continued reading a document I couldn’t see.
My teeth gnashed.
“I am curious.” The scratch of a quill sounded, and then he finally deigned to give me his full attention. “What exactly did I do to you?”
My ire dripped away as he leaned against the cabinet with his elbows upon the wood and crossed his booted ankles. The fabric of his silken black shirt tightened over his muscular arms.
No one had any right to look like him. As though the night sky and all of its stars lived within his eyes and the dark hair that fell in soft waves over his shoulders. As though Mythayla, goddess of the skies that watched over all, had crafted his bone structure from the marble statues created to replicate and honor her.
My tongue felt thick as I said, “You know what you did.”
He waited, a maddening curl to his plush lips.
I nearly growled, so flustered and nervous and terrified and…
And unbearably excited.
“Say it, sweet creature.” Florian straightened and strode toward me. “I’m starving to hear all about how I devoured your beautiful cunt to make you more amenable to my wicked plans.”
I wouldn’t, and he knew that.
As he reached me and collected a curl nestled over the curve of my cheek, my heart faltered. It dropped into my stomach when his amusement vanished.
Frosted anger hardened his features.
His eyes darkened to a blue so deep, they were nearly black. He sniffed, releasing my hair to circle me slowly. “Where have you been?”
“What do you mean?”
“I couldn’t have asked the question any clearer,” he said through teeth I knew were gritted before he stopped in front of me once again.
“I haven’t been anywhere today,” I said, confused. “Only here.”
“You were followed, then,” Florian surmised. “By a male.”
Gold eyes. Dark hooded cloak.
My chin was taken, the king’s grip firm but not enough to hurt. “You were aware?”
I saw no reason to keep the bizarre encounter with the golden-eyed faerie to myself. “The alley downstairs. Someone was standing at the end, watching me from the street. I ran to the rear entrance before he could approach me.”
He searched my eyes, as if ensuring I spoke the truth. Still startled by his reaction yet having nothing to hide, I let him. “He scared you.”
I nodded once.
“And he should,” Florian said coldly. His touch fell, and he stalked back to the liquor cabinet. “There are some who seek to stop me.”
“Those you are waging war against?” I pressed boldly.
He tensed.
Then, to my surprise, he answered me. “Yes. Should something like that happen again, you are to tell me right away.”
I tried to keep the spark of fear those words gave from entering my voice. “You expect it to happen again?” The idea of seeing that male again frightened me more than marrying this frosty king.
“No, but it’s wise to be cautious regardless.” Florian looked me over, something moving behind that deep-sea gaze. “Did you happen to see what he looks like?”
“Gold eyes,” I said instantly. “Nothing more.”
Florian stared at me for a minute that seared each breath, his jaw ticking. He was agitated, and though I knew it was not my fault, an impulse to soothe gripped me. But then he looked at the cabinet, and I followed his gaze to what he’d been busy with when I arrived.
A contract.
He placed his finger between his teeth—between his canines.
Blood crawled from the tip of his forefinger when he lewdly removed it from his mouth. I watched it bead, then race down to his hand.
“Introducing you to the life force of our people will be a joy indeed.”
Horror trickled down my spine. All the while, something stirred awake within me. Something unfamiliar yet hungry that slumbered deep within my bones.