Chapter 10
L ukas
Instantly, I dropped to my knees, tugging Cassia with me.
I knew better than to check, but I prayed her forehead touched the floor as my own did.
While I waited, Annalise’s energy circled me, pushing and prodding, attempting to infiltrate my secret places, the things I kept locked up in the fortress of my mind.
It’d taken years, and many hours of torture, for her to cease the endless attempts at possessing my very thoughts. However, she remained steadfast with occasional perusals. How would Cassia fare under the onslaught? It was everything I could do to keep my pulse modulated.
“You fear for Cassia,” Annalise purred.
Games. That was all it was. In my distraction, I almost fell for her trickery. I kept silent. Anything I did or said would be used against me.
I’d already broken one of our most ancient of laws by bringing her here. If I were to wed or couple with anyone, they’d be present in the audience.
Every last one of those women bored me. They held no interest other than a quick fuck or drink. Their substance was as weighty as mist; their lives molded for positioning and what they could acquire. I had no desire to be a ladder.
The Queen let out a long, dramatic sigh. “You may rise, my love.”
After I stood, I bowed my head. “My Queen, thank you.”
Cassia kept her head down, remembering my instructions. Then, Annalise said, “Child, you may face me.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” She bent a little, unsure what to do, before she clasped her hands at her waist.
“This is Cassia, my bride,” I stated.
Our audience remained in rapt silence, and I felt the pressure of thousands of eyes upon us. The atmosphere was taut, electric, full of anticipation for something, anything, to happen.
My job was to make sure nothing did.
“Is it?” Annalise circled her, examining her from head to toe. Cassia froze in place, her chest unmoving while she held her breath.
The Queen stepped away and scanned the crowd before returning to face me. I expected a verdict, an insult, perhaps even to be struck down where I stood. But nothing happened.
“My Queen,” I addressed her, turning to the side. I motioned for Kiam to step forward. “May I introduce Kiam.”
As expected, he bowed his head to the floor. He wasn’t unaffected, and I made note of the resulting tells. The quirk of his lips, shoulders raised just a fraction of a centimeter, the twitch of a finger. He was my friend, but I wouldn’t turn down an advantage when it was presented.
“My Queen,” he said; his voice weighted with longing and reverence. “It is an honor to be in your presence.”
She held her hand out and he pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “Yes, it is. Thank you,” she replied.
With the Queen distracted, the murmuring of the audience started.
It was faint, not enough to be obtrusive, but enough for me to hear the speculation.
Would Annalise strike Cassia down? Would I be stripped of my title as Lord?
Some of the voices were outraged, others bitter.
But most longed for a show, something to reassure them I hadn’t just turned the Realm upside down.
Kiam worked his considerable charm, and I wouldn’t be especially surprised if Annalise kicked out her latest pet and replaced him with my friend this very evening. The thought caused me a brief moment of concern, but it wasn’t as if he would heed any advice.
“She’s going to eat him, isn’t she?” Cassia whispered, her lip trembling.
She didn’t seem to expect an answer while she scanned our surroundings as if she were searching for a glowing red emergency exit sign. She meant the Queen would eat the two of them. “Kiam is an adult. A fool, but an adult.”
“What do we do now?” A million questions prickled her brain, insistent enough I could almost see them suspended in the air around her head.
My thumb brushed her knuckles. “We wait.”
Her posture began to slump. “Lukas,” she waited for me to meet her eyes, “I want to go back to the room.”
My attention snagged on the fact she hadn’t asked for home this time. “Later. There is more to be done.”
The noise of the crowd began to rise before I heard Annalise say, “You intrigue me, Kiam. Lukas had the same quality long ago, when he was very young.”
Then she returned her attention to Cassia and me. “Lukas, you mean to bring this human into our family?"
“Yes, Your Majesty. I have.” That wasn’t entirely true.
“Liar,” she hissed. “You haven’t claimed her. You haven’t marked her.”
The flames of the candles dimmed down to short beads of light as a gust of wind ripped through the hall. The air sucked out of the room, sweeping the atmosphere free of every sound, every breath, every trace of life itself, replacing it with a deep sense of mortal dread.
While I stood steadfast, Cassia was bent at the waist, her mouth hanging open. Streaks of water ripped from the corners of her eyes and dampened the hair by her temples.
I held onto her, stopping her from falling to a carpet that had been transformed into a river of blood, the colors of which matched the fibers of the floor covering.
It stopped as suddenly as it started, the storm of Annalise’s theatrics washing away.
Cassia was held up only by my forearm, her stomach bent over the muscle. “My word suffices.”
The Queen’s laughter rang through the rafters like the sound of a thousand bells. “If only Wyvon could see you now.”
“But our King isn’t present, is he? He trusted my wisdom.”
Annalise stepped closer to me, her hips swaying hypnotically. “As he slumbers, would you take advantage? What will you do when he wakes? This woman is cattle, no better than a slave. At best, she is food. Perhaps dessert since you seem so fond of this weak, breakable thing.”
The Queen’s husband hadn’t crossed my mind.
I had only recently awoken from my own slumber, and he went to sleep before me.
It’d been so long that I couldn’t recall the precise reasons why either of us had chosen rest. I was uncertain whether he would approve of my decision.
Perhaps on a personal basis, but very likely not on a professional one.
“My decision is final,” I stated. The crowd’s voices rose and fell, fascinated by my defiance.
“I’ve made it this far, haven’t I?” Cassia’s voice rose; despite the fact she hung from my arm like a dead weight.
Annalise moved quicker than the eye could detect, whirling around to face my bride to be. “Perhaps we should fatten you up? There isn’t much to carve. Your persistence will surely spice up your flesh.”
Unbelievably, Cassia pushed herself up, using my side for leverage until she grasped my arm and straightened.
“He stabbed someone,” her voice caught, “in their eyeball and I’m still here.
You don’t need to be such a bitch.” She trembled, her hand lifting slightly as if she were about to cover her mouth. She gripped me again, instead.
Quiet fell over the room, the absence of sound complete in its finality. No one had ever spoken to our Queen in this manner. Not and managed to live to tell the tale.
Annalise’s eyes widened and her lips separated, her sharp inhale the only audible sound.
Cassia’s fate hung like the sharpest of blades.
There wasn’t anything I could do if she decided to strike out, she was just as quick as I.
It would be a miracle if Cassia survived, a last minute interference of the fates.
“Excuse me?” Annalise took a step closer.
Cassia’s nails dug into my flesh. “You heard me. I said you’re being a bitch and you have no reason to. You don’t even know me. It's not like I asked to come here.”
It was either bravery or a death wish. Maybe a little of both.
“Strike her down!” I heard a man call out from the distance. Once I found him, I raised a palm in his direction and waited for him to collapse. The crowd would have to be satisfied with merely the one sacrifice, for now.
Kiam gave me side-eye and then a small, closed lipped smile before glancing at Cassia. We all awaited Annalise’s verdict.
The Queen ran a hand through her long, cornsilk hair, her gaze perusing the woman I refused to let go of.
I stilled when she stretched a long, slim finger tipped with a razor-sharp tapered nail towards Cassia’s face.
I felt her stifle a flinch, the muscles in her back contracting although outwardly, she didn’t move.
“Kiss her, Lord Lukas. Mark her. Right now.”
My ears rang, her words swimming around in my head, taking their sweet time to form a comprehensible sentence.
“Now!” She roared, her feminine voice taking on a lethal edge.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to kiss her. I’d fantasized about this very moment many a night. My hope had been circumstances less dire than this. My hope had been that her affection for me would arise naturally after we’d been able to spend some time together.
Her rebellion had prohibited any meaningful interludes.
It was odd that she held next to no desire for me, and I had no idea how to overcome that fact.
I’d felt her physical attraction toward me on occasion, but that was to be expected.
I’d never met a woman who didn’t hope to join my bed. Not until Cassia.
I had to hope her fleeting attraction allowed her to submit to the display.
Beads of perspiration dotted Cassia’s hairline and her gown clung to her curves.
Her aura was murky, and I couldn’t quite read her.
It was unusual for me not to be able to read a human like a large-print book, but it did happen.
It was strange in the same way my magical wards didn’t operate in full strength around her. She refused to be trapped or overcome.
Briefly, I considered spelling her to seduce her into the kiss, but I might as well sign her execution by doing so. Every being in this room would notice and call me out on my subterfuge.
The woman raised on her tiptoes, surprising me, and pecked me on the lips before turning to Annalise. “There,” she said.
As if that were enough.
Someone in the crowd snickered and as much as I wanted to make their head roll, I kept my attention on the two women before me.
“Lukas,” Annalise’s voice warned me.
My hands reached for Cassia, gripping her hips and pulling her close. I lifted a hand to smooth her hair back over her shoulder before I cupped her cheek. “It was inevitable,” I said to her.
She gazed up at me with a look of trepidation but didn’t touch me. “Cassia,” I whispered, hoping she would get the message.
She did and loosely circled my waist with an arm. Tilting her face up, she waited.
My hand slid down to collar her neck, and I sealed my lips over hers. Her mouth was firm, unyielding at first, but then she granted me entry. The softness was all I needed.
My jacket tightened as her grip increased; her chest mashed against me. Her lips parted slightly, and I gently slid my tongue between, my senses quickly being overcome. She tasted as good as she smelled, the sweetness of her mouth intoxicating me.
I couldn’t get close enough to her, clasping her so tightly her slim body was melded to mine while I nipped and sucked at her lips.
She wasn’t unaffected by my attention. The scent of her desire circled the two of us, and it was the realization that everyone around us would imbibe upon her heightened pheromones that made me pull away.
I let out a breath and scanned her face. Her eyes were glassy and her lips plump, swollen and red. She had enjoyed our kiss.
My gums ached as my canines longed to push through, claiming more than just her succulent mouth.
Cassia gasped, peering up at me, but I let her see. Allowed her to witness the effect she was having on me. My pupils were dilated, and the rings of my irises a liquified bright green that would be alien to her. There was no reason I should hide what I was.
Again, the room was silent. The crowd’s focus was centered on the three of us, waiting for their Queen’s decision. Would she allow us to walk free or force a price? That was the question.
The heavy atmosphere pressed down on my shoulders while I kept myself coiled for action. I knew it’d be useless, but that didn’t mean Cassia’s head would be the only one to roll. Annalise would be Queen no more if she made any move against her.
I felt rather than saw Kiam come closer and was grateful for his stoic support. I’d never fought beside him, but I knew he would be highly effective. He kept himself fit and was a master of dark art. His interference would be highly welcome.
Cassia met Annalise’s gaze head-on, defying protocol. “Did that answer any questions?” She asked.
“Hmmm...,” was the drawn-out answer. “You place me in a precarious position. You are aware that a coupling between a human and a vastly superior being such as Lukas is strictly forbidden. Are you aware you’ll never be able to bear a child?
Should you become pregnant, the fetus will eat you from the inside out. Neither of you would survive.”
She blanched. “I... I’ve never thought about having kids.”
Annalise lightly rolled her eyes. “It is not common among us, for obvious reasons, but to ensure the survival of our species, children must be born. Lukas’s children, should he find an appropriate mate, would be worshipped. You can’t provide that.”
Cassia’s chest sank, the message sinking in.
Aware of the risks, I never intended to impregnate her.
I’ve never had any desire to have children.
Many do, but not me. I had enough responsibility without trying to keep my own babies and children alive in an environment that practically guaranteed a premature demise.
Most were stolen for their fresh, pure blood.
I had enough people to kill as it was and if someone stole my child, I’d burn the Realm to the ground.
Cassia retorted, “I have no intention of giving birth to a blood drinking monster. Plus, I get the shot so I can’t even get pregnant.”
Cassia’s words didn’t match her physical condition or her appearance. She was barely hanging on, her voice wavered, and yet her inner strength was demonstrated through her voice. A deep admiration spread throughout my chest.
Not even I dared to speak to Annalise in this manner.
“You won’t ever give birth to one, however you are surrounded by them.” Annalise tilted her chin up, and her tongue slid out, swiping at her bottom lip. Then she grinned, displaying long, pointed teeth.
Cassia held her breath, swaying very slightly on her knees. “Yeah, I’ve noticed that.”
Suddenly, the Queen clapped her hands together. “Well then, shall we do lunch sometime? We do serve a delightful spread of delicacies here that you may enjoy.”
It was my turn to waver, and then my body ran cold, my blood rushing to my feet before roaring back to my head. “Lunch?” I asked.
“Yes, Lukas. Lunch. Or do you have a problem with that?”
“No,” I replied and cleared my throat. “As long as my wife isn’t on the menu.”
“I’m not your wife.”