Forged By Fate (The Alpha Territories #7)

Chapter 1

Mari

“Mari, do you think the new king even knows that he has a killer in his court?”

I grabbed Vinta’s upper arm and dragged her slowly back from her first step into the King’s Cavern, increasing the pressure in my fingers until she finally turned her face to me.

Her brown and amber-flecked eyes showed nothing but confusion at first, her lips open as if she would speak.

I tightened my hand more, until the pressure pulled a low gasp from her.

This was her first time at an event like this, and she’d been told to keep her mouth shut, but I shouldn’t have been surprised. Not with Vinta.

One of my other girls joined us, Jastani.

Dressed in a soft pink gown that dipped low to her navel, the gown showed her still slim frame, and that nearly flawless, tawny skin.

Her long perfectly straight golden hair and wide blue eyes made her a favorite of the Fallen.

Or at least, they thought so. In their minds, they’d had her every way known to demon.

But I’d used a trick I could only employ sparingly to ensure they never actually tested her wares.

.. Because Jastani was four months pregnant, a fact only Feather, myself and Tulli knew.

“Mari? May I help?” Jastani asked.

I released Vinta’s arm with a sigh. She would have bruises tomorrow, but that couldn’t be helped.

Murder accusations toward a noble demon, surrounded as we were by those who held our lives by rather thin threads, was a death sentence at best. And I knew very little about this new king. Could be he was of the more blood-thirsty ilk, and there were things far worse than death…

Vinta smiled, her lips trembling. “I should very much like to stay, Mari.”

Of course she would. Most first-time events for a Dove—one of my girls I’d trained in pleasuring the Fallen and bringing their secrets back to me—would take place on one of the upper levels, closer to the desert surface.

For her first to be a coronation meant she was seeing a place most Doves never saw.

To an outsider, the ballroom of the Fallen would have been a fantastic dream, a place so unreal that they would blink the next morning and believe that none of it had been real.

Built three miles below the surface of the desert, the ceiling was lit with tiny gemstones that had been imbued with light powered by magic.

The effect was one of a sky full of diamond stars, perfectly twinkling and reflecting through the lazy underground river that wove its way through the cavern.

The river was also lit from below, soft blues and greens, with fish and tiny lizards darting through the rippling currents.

A true secret, this was the true seat of power.

So different from the nearly black river that snaked through the outskirts of Seventhell where we lived.

This place called to me, the urge to dive into the crisp clean water so intense that I didn’t dare look into the depths for long.

To either side of the river were serpentine stone paths that followed the curves of the water. Trees were planted alongside those, lights hanging from the low branches of the silver willows, their leaves catching and reflecting light in a thousand directions with each pulse of the cavern’s breath.

The stone walls were carved into archways and columns, creating places for the leaders of the Fallen to mingle with one another and perhaps, if they could afford it, one of my Doves.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Vinta dipped her head, her understanding of what she’d done and said dawning so slowly that I knew she would not last. Not in this place.

Tulli’s often-repeated words ran through my head.

You can’t save them all.

“Back to the nest, Vinta. You seem tired. Jastani will go with you.”

Vinta’s lips tightened, eyes narrowing. But there were very few times a second chance was given in our world—and this was most certainly not one of them.

Jastani linked arms with Vinta. “Come, little Dove. I am quite tired myself. We can relax together.”

Together they left, only moments after entering. The walk was long, curling around and up—we didn’t have wings like the Fallen, despite the name they’d given us.

The rest of my girls—half a dozen more Doves—slipped past me, their fingers brushing against the ring made of silver rose petals, black thorns and crawling vines that sprawled over my left ring finger, across the back of my hand, and finally circling my wrist.

They saw it as a blessing, a superstition for sure, but it made them feel better.

I slid my right hand over the ring myself as I stepped into the light.

Of all the places for Vinta to decide to take part in the conversation, the new Fallen King’s coronation ball might have been the very worst.

The only bridge spanning the river was at the far end of the room, easily a twenty-minute brisk walk from where I stood. And yet my eyes were drawn to it, as they were meant to be.

Our new king had not yet arrived, which gave me time to work.

My dearest friend in the world slipped behind me, her voice light, full of mischievousness. “Our new king wishes to leave us guessing. I have heard that he is quite handsome.”

My lips quirked and I rolled my eyes. “You say that about all the Fallen, Tulli.”

“Well, there is the odd exception, but yes, I do find them alluring.”

I didn’t try to cover the snort that escaped me. We were alone here at the far end of the cavern. Most of the Fallen who wished to seek the new king’s favor had gathered close to the bridge. That was not the place for a Dove, not even for me.

“Briar Queen.”

A deep voice turned me to the left. This Fallen was one well known to myself and my Doves.

He was taller than both me and Tulli, but it was the span of his wings that gave him the truly imposing presence that so many demons possessed.

His hair was long, well past his mid back and very close to my own hair color of deepest black.

Though his did not have the shimmering colors that mine often carried.

His eyes were as dark as his hair, and his wings were a perfect match.

“Luc.” I dipped my head, the oversized hood keeping my face fully in the shadows. “I am sorry to tell you that Jastani has retired for the evening. She is feeling a bit run down.”

“Pity, I had hoped to dance with her.”

Tulli stepped forward. Her thick mane of red curls was fashioned into a braid that spilled behind her like a bloody waterfall.

She wore her trademark deep green that offset the lighter green of her eyes.

She dipped a saucy curtsy, flipping her skirt so the slit opened, showing a flash of pale thigh.

“If you truly only wish to dance, Lord Luc, I am happy to teach you how to move your feet in a way that might impress even our Jastani.”

His eyes swept over her. “You are the one with the smart mouth.”

“Luc, do not act as if you are unaware of Tulli.” I lifted my left hand and Luc took it, barely touching my fingers.

“Briar Queen, are you certain you would not…dance with me?”

Luc was one of few Fallen that I truly trusted not to harm my girls, no matter his own desires.

I drew myself up, which did not bring me even fully as tall as his shoulder. “Luc, dance with Tulli, or one of the other girls. I will not be dancing this night.”

“I see. Well, good hunting then, my queen.” He winked, and made as if to swat my ass, the saucy bastard, then slipped away before I could do anything, taking Tulli by the hand.

Little did he know how close his words were to the truth this night.

I was hunting. But not for information. Luckily, while he knew I was involved in something more than just running the brothel, Luc never asked questions or truly challenged me.

Maybe because the thought of a human female holding some bit of power in this place fascinated him.

Or maybe he assumed a madame but had always suspected that there was more to my role than that of a madame, as the humans on the mainland would have called me, could only cause so much trouble.

Madame. Prostitute. Whore.

Harsh words. Yet they were one of the few places human women had in this world of the Fallen.

At least they called us Doves here, a far kinder title though the meaning behind it was less so.

They knew we were fragile, breakable, something to be careful with as our bodies were not designed to accommodate the strength of a Fallen male in the throes of passion.

Yet they wanted us despite that frailty.

And some because of it.

But we were the price paid to keep the rest of the world safe.

I stopped next to a map of the world that had been painstakingly etched into the wall, the colors brilliant, the waves of the oceans seemingly moving even as I watched. I lifted my left hand to touch the island that had once been my home what felt like so very long ago, when I’d been but a child.

England.

The stone was cool under my fingers as I continued to trace the world that seemed so very far away.

A world of humans so fucking oblivious to the cost some of us paid to keep the rest of them safe.

A world of humans who drove cars, used technology, loved, and lived without ever having to see the darkness that I knew all too well.

My throat tightened not out of anger, but a bone deep sadness that so often clung to me when I thought of how I, and my two chosen sisters, had arrived here. None of us had bled yet, and so we were thrust into a Nest to be trained. At least we’d had each other, me, Tulli, and Feather.

Slowly I traced the path the boat had coursed from England, all the way to the Alpha Territories, a world that had exploded back into existence as far as the human realm was concerned.

The human leaders had quickly buckled under the might of a supernatural world that had more power in one kingdom than the entire human realm, never mind the full might of the territories.