Gild (The Plated Prisoner, #1)

by Raven Kennedy

I’m an oddity, a commodity, a rumor. I’m the king’s favored. His prized saddle. The one he gold-touched and keeps in a cage at the top of his castle, my body bearing the mark of his ownership and favoritism. The gilded pet. I’m the darling of King Midas, ruler of Highbell and the Sixth Kingdom of Orea. People flock to see me just as much as they come to look upon his gleaming castle worth more than all the riches in the entire realm. I’m the gold-plated prisoner. But what a pretty prison it is.

Poverty is a vicious motivator. I know that all too well.

He gives an easy shrug. “Nothing. I’m surprised you didn’t ask for a book, is all.” I frown. “A book?” “Yeah, to chuck at her head.” Sail barks a laugh at his words, and my mouth pops open before a grudging, embarrassed laugh escapes me. “I was trying to help her!” Sail laughs so hard that he loses his breath. “Remind me not to ever ask for your help, Miss Auren.” My lips pull up into a smile from his teasing. “Ass.” “It’s my favorite story of yours.”

THIS WAS SO FUNNY

“I’ll enjoy having Midas’s gold-plated prisoner kept in my cabin.”

No, the man standing there, whose body basks in menace, is one thing and one thing only. Fae.

Until one day, a woman walked back across.

She was a stowaway. An orphan girl whose father had gone over the bridge and never returned.

Keep going. All I can do is keep going.

Men making deals on the behalf of women never seems to go very well for the women.

Because I just turned the motherfucker solid gold.

ahhhhh

I wouldn’t call him handsome, he’s far too wicked looking for that, but the savage grace of him is as magnificent as it is utterly alarming.

“Funny, I was about to say the same thing to you.”

I’ve been to every single kingdom in Orea.