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“If a wife cannot speak ill of her husband, then what joys are there left for her in marriage?”
He didn’t care for her full blush lips unless he bit them bloody. Didn’t care for her shapely body unless it carried his marks. Cared even less about those unblinking eyes, not unless he filled them with tears.
Once her maidenhead is deemed intact, send a scroll to Tidestone with the conditions of the exchange. If Brisden gives us Marla, he can have his daughter back. If he refuses… well, I shall see to it, then.” His knowing gaze settled on me before he offered a smug grin. “Until such time, she is to remain untainted, Sebian.” So no bouncing her on my cock, then.
Now get that damn knife away from me before you accidentally hurt yourself. Only I get to hurt you.”
I’d seen it before, but— No, this couldn’t be the boy from the dungeons. That boy was dead. I’d killed him!
Because this Raven boy Father had kept at the Tidestone dungeons…? The prince? He’d apparently survived his head wound and had grown into a vengeful, vile monster. What would he do to me if he ever found out that it was me who had ruined his escape attempt?
“Cry for me, little dove, and I shall do my best to make it pretty.”
“You’ve got a mouth on you. Lots of ways to put that to good use, so I like it. Malyr does not. Better mind your tongue around him.”
“Asker’s unkindness is still in full plume,” he said. “If she was dead, his ravens would rip their feathers out in grief.”
For your information, I was betrothed twice before. And I would long be married, wasn’t for the fact that your awful kind has the tendency to behead my future husbands before I ever meet them.” “Mmm, a tendency I’ll gladly continue.”
“You have amplified senses?” “To a point I hear the rush of blood in your veins. How your heart beats stronger when I’m close to you. How your breath quickens when I touch you…” another tug on my lip. “…right here.”
“We call them gifts. And no, a pathfinder’s gift holds a little more than heightened senses.” No small amount of curiosity tingled through me. “Like what?” “Isn’t it obvious?” A final stroke of his finger over my bottom lip as he winked at me. “We’re incredibly charming.” Lightness came to my core as I stared at him, flabbergasted. “Charming?” “Handsome, too.”
Freed at last, they cloaked my parents in blackness, swallowing them whole until their shouts faded into silence—a silence that soon spread across all of Valtaris, turning kingdom to crypt. “Malyr…” Asker’s voice broke through the quiet behind me. “What have you done?”
“Do you truly not know that the city of Valtaris, almost the entirety of the kingdom of Vhaerya, really, is sitting beneath a veil of shadows? Has for many years, ever since the city fell. I’ve never seen it, of course, but my brother has. Lost his horse when that stupid beast reared and stepped into the offshoot tendrils that creep across the meadows there. Good thing it threw him off. Those shadows kill everything—beasts, humans, Ravens. Everything.”
“He carved the Khysal sigil into you.” Shame had me sink my head. “He did.” “Prince Malyr has no fondness for humans—everyone at court knows that—but scarring you up like this? A human, yes, but a lady of the kingdom just the same? It is… barbaric.”
“How beautiful you look, Galantia.” Sebian stumbled up beside our table wearing a white shirt with no adornments, halfheartedly shoved into his brown breeches as if he’d only just fallen out of bed. “In that dress, I nearly didn’t recognize you. Halfway expected to see a long-lost lady from some noble Raven house.” “Must be the feathers.” “Indeed! I’m tempted to start a courting dance right here.” Grinning, he wiggled his shoulders and bobbed his head much like doves did when they walked. “How am I doing?”
“Lady Galantia of House Brisden!” Malyr’s sudden shout silenced everything. Everything but my heart, which stumbled into a quicker pace. “Will you not sit beside me, where you belong?”
said where you belong, little white dove. On your knees. By my feet. So you may kiss my boots and pledge allegiance to your future king.”
“Mmm, how I would enjoy having you squirm on my length tonight. Is that what you want? To rub your ass on my cock until I spill?” My lips quivered. “No.” “Then which will it be, Lady Galantia?” A stub of his nose against my temple. “My seed soaking your behind, or your knees digging into the ground? Choose.”
“Are you going to cry for me, Galantia? Are you going to cry so prettily in front of my court?”
“You have no kingdom, no crown. If you call this farce a court, then I can only assume that you’re its fool.”
“And how nicely you are displaying my mark tonight, showing everyone just whom you belong to. Mine to hurt. Mine to torment.”
“Should I tell him how wet you are for this, sweetheart? How needy your little cunt is for his shadows?”
“Do you like this, little dove?” Malyr asked. “Does Brisden’s whore daughter enjoy how my shadows are playing with her tight, pink cunt?” “No,” I ground out. Malyr’s lips scathed across the shell of my ear. “Liar…”
“Fuck, sweetheart, that was a lovely moan. Why hide it from us, hmm?” “You should’ve heard her when I cut her peachy lip.” Malyr ripped my gaze back to his two-colored stare with such force, my balance shifted onto one aching knee until I hissed. “The strangest things lure the strangest sounds from my little dove.”
“Are you happy I returned sooner? Did you miss me while I was gone?” “You know full well that no moment passes where you’re not on my mind.” Malyr’s eyes found mine, and a smile that promised nothing good curved his thin lips. “Mmm, where are my manners? Granted, those many months I have spent at the Tidestone dungeons did nothing to nurture my social graces, but even I remember that introductions ought to be made. Although… come to think of it… Little dove, I believe you have already met Lorn?”
What would it feel like to be loved with such intensity? Such unequivocal fortitude that not even death could impose conditions? I wanted to experience such a love so badly…
“Delos’ta lay.” Delos’ta… what? What did that mean? Malyr grew still. “Lorn, I—” Lorn’s other hand shot up, slapping Malyr’s cheek with such force, it turned his head.
“Does this arouse you, sweetheart? Watching Malyr fuck?” I shook my head. It didn’t. It couldn’t! “Yes, it does.” The torment of his fingers slipped lower as he stroked over my cunt, circling their tips around my drenched entrance. “Goddess help me, you have no idea the kind of scent you’re giving off right now, Galantia. It’s driving me insane, that wetness between your thighs.” He wiggled the tip of his boot between my feet, forcing them apart. “Spread your legs, sweet thing.”
“You enjoy watching him about as much as you enjoyed his shadows playing with your cunt and his knife cutting into your tongue,” Sebian whispered. “Which is pretty fucking deranged, but I’m not one to judge… We’re all a bit broken here.”
“Malyr,” Lorn’s voice came through the hole as her fingers slipped away from beneath mine. “Go. There’s nothing left of me worth saving. Just promise me you will, should you ever come back and find my body, burn me so my ashes can drift forever on the wind.” Tears once more collected behind my eyes, running salty down my throat. “I give you that promise.”
“Your brother won’t get far. Don’t worry, we’ll bring him back to you.” A kick into my stomach sent me rolling over the stone. “Back into your cell where you belong.”
Four limbs, a body, and a head with long black hair that wobbled listlessly with the motion. Until he placed it on the ground before me, making me stare at Harlen’s black ink mark beneath his ear. A river of blood welled from his head, seeping into his abandoned eyes, turning them crimson. “Here’s a meal for’ye, courtesy of the Lord Brisden.” With a chuckle, he turned and walked away. “A feast fit for ye ravens, ye filthy carrion feeder. Kraa. Kraa.”
I’d imagined a town to smell like sweet bread, foreign spices, and roasted meat. This place quickly cured me of that romantic illusion. It smelled like shit, urine, and unwashed bodies. And I loved it!
“Delos’ta lay.” “Yes.” That had been the title of the book in the library Malyr had wanted to read. “What does it mean?” “It means The Endless Ache. Right in here, remember?” A tap against his chest. “It’s where our anoa longs for our fated mate, to a point it can be physically painful.”
“I said… ask me… how… Zaima… died.” A foreboding chill trickled down my spine. “H-how did she die?” “A hit to the head, because she wouldn’t stop fighting off the man who grunted over her like a beast. Even after her heart had stopped, he fucked into her, ripping her little body apart from the inside.”
She was eleven, Galantia. A child who hadn’t even bled yet. Do you want to know who did it?” Against the way I shook my head, he leaned in closer, bringing his lips to my ear. “Your honorable Prince Domren.”
“So that damn bird in my chamber was yours?” “Did the idiot stumble over its own two legs and fly straight into a wall? Because that’s him.” “No, but it acted… strangely. Spread its wings, crooned and bobbed its head.” He squinted, the reaction amplified by a strike of lightning that flickered across the slits that remained. “That… doesn’t sound like my anoa at all.” “Who, then?” “Malyr? Some drunk? What does it matter? The bird’s gone, sweetheart.”
“There we go. That’s my good girl, moaning my name so nicely.” He kept the weight of his strong chest off me with one arm as he rocked back and forth with an intensity that shook my breath. “Does that feel good, sweetheart? The way my cock is rubbing along your clit?”
“You’re so beautiful, Galantia,” he murmured. “Fuck, I want you so badly.” My heart sang in my chest. He wanted me. Badly. Nobody had ever wanted me at all.
“Where is your fated mate?” Time passed in strikes of lightning and rumbles of thunder before he finally said, “Sparkling among the stars.”
“You’re plain awful to her every chance you get, hurting and humiliating her. It’s driving her straight into my arms… and my bed.” His jaws hardened, but only until a smug, lopsided grin replaced it. “In your opinion, which one of the two has her moaning and dripping slick down her thighs before she flees into said arms? Cutting her? Degrading her? Politics have kept me busy these days, so I haven’t managed to come to a conclusion yet.”
She’s so starved for attention that even the tiniest shreds of kindness get you a long way with her.”
Lorn is unpredictable and a fucking liability. I don’t understand why you still keep her around.” A beat of silence, then, “You know why.” Because Lorn knew that Malyr was responsible for the fall of Valtaris—a secret she loved to hold, and preferably over his head. It would cost him support among our kind should that ever come out. Then there was the fact that, for a time, Malyr had been convinced that she had to be his fated mate, given what they’d been through together. Years ago, he’d desperately tried to bond with her to no avail.
“She’s a strange bird, Malyr. It’s as if they kept her in a cave all these years. She’s shockingly innocent.” A moment’s consideration. “When she isn’t licking knives, that is.” “And how well she does it.”
they want her dead, I presume.” He slumped back into the chair, frustration written all over his face. “I hate her, and they know it. Hate how innocent she was allowed to remain while her father corrupted me nearby. Hate even more how I clearly cannot taint her in the same way without risking her death at the hand of my… capricious shadows.”
“Because after all these years, you still refuse to forgive yourself.” He opened the door, glancing back at me once more before he said, “You love saving her where you couldn’t save them.”
Galantia shifted in my arms, pressing herself tighter against me as if I was her shelter, if only for a night. As if I was a man capable of caring, saving, protecting. Yeah, that felt good. Better than I deserved.
“Ah, does fear arouse you, then?” he asked. “Presume it explains why humans dread my shadows with an intensity they piss themselves, whereas they make my little dove drip something entirely different down her thighs.”
you’re mine. Mine to hurt. Mine to agonize. Mine to break.” His cool, minty breath broke against my skin, sending a shudder across my heated body. “I will come for you, Galantia. May it take a year or a lifetime, I will come for you.” “And then?” “Then I will shatter you into a million pretty pieces.” His lips brushed over my temple, shifting my thin wisps of hair. “But instead of leaving you wrecked and ruined, I’ve decided that I will put you back together in my grotesque image. Will take your pain and pleasure, your tears and blood, your moans and screams, so I may put you back together…
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