Aurora
Evening of the second day since Desire disappeared
Every hour that passes without a single word about him makes me angrier.
I haven’t slept for two nights. To keep from going crazy within four walls, I forced myself to go to class, but it’s pointless—my head is full of thick fog.
I feel my classmates’ eyes on me, fixed on the gold choker around my neck, but I don’t care.
Inside, there’s a scorched desert. I’m not even sure I miss him, but I know one thing for certain: if he showed up right now, I’d hit him.
With all my strength. And then he can do whatever he wants—choke me, fuck me … , I don’t care as long as he’s here.
I tried calling Laurent—I got his number from Steve—but he ignores my calls.
“I could come over,” Kelsey says, walking beside me after the last lecture, trying to catch my eye.
“I want to be alone,” I lie.
Actually, I want to call a locksmith, change every lock in the apartment, and saw those bars off the windows. I want to destroy everything he installed. Desire, wherever he is, should feel my resistance, get furious, and show up immediately to start a fight.
“Um, but tonight’s the Princess Initiation,” Kelsey reminds me.
Shit. She’s right. And tomorrow is our wedding.
“Do I really have to be there?”
Kelsey glances at my gold collar, and I understand without words. I’m his property, his representative in this circle. I guess. I have no desire to clarify my status with Steve or anyone else.
“I can help you choose an outfit,” Kelsey offers, trying to be helpful.
“I’ll manage.” I force out something resembling a smile and quicken my pace toward the parking lot.
Getting into my car, I dial his number for the thousandth time and hang up after the voicemail beeps.
“Where the fuck are you?!” I slap the steering wheel, honking the horn on accident.
At home, my only desire is to crash on the bed, turn on the TV, and turn into a mindless zombie, but I force myself to get up.
I go to the shower, wash up, dry my hair, and put on light makeup to hide the signs of sleeplessness.
For my dress, I pick the most provocative one I own—bright yellow, with a slit from the thigh and a daring neckline.
It’s more modest than the one Desire bought, but it carries more of my defiance.
I take a taxi to the campus. I don’t like driving, even though I love the color of the Audi my parents gave me, and right now, I just don’t have the energy.
At the Kingdom’s gilded gates, a line of girls in dresses and collars stands waiting.
At the entrance, guys in tuxedos and narrow masquerade masks are checking the collars.
All personal belongings and phones are confiscated—they’re locked in compartments of a portable wooden chest-safe set up right by the gates.
In return, the girls get numbered keys on black velvet ribbons, which they tie around their wrists.
I take my place at the end of the line; the girls ahead of me stare at my gold choker with surprise and awe, but I ignore them, looking right through them.
“Aurora.” Isaac appears in front of me in a tuxedo. A stars-and-stripes bracelet gleams on his wrist. “You don’t need to wait in the regular line. Come on, Kelsey is already inside.”
I shrug and follow Isaac. A guy in a mask approaches me with an open velvet box; I drop my phone and purse inside without even looking at him, take the offered ribbon with the key, and move on.
“Rory, you look amazing!” Kelsey rushes up to me and hands me a cocktail.
It seems like the only reason I came here. I don’t stop at one glass—I down them one after another, the alcohol burning my throat and finally filling the void inside. I let Kelsey drag me onto the dance floor.
I close my eyes, raise my arms, and slowly run my hands down my thighs.
I move to the beat, letting my hair whip across my face.
The bass pulses in my chest, pounding the excess thoughts out of my head.
The bright spotlights warm my skin. Guys keep craning their necks to watch me dance, but the moment they notice the gold collar around my neck, they back off.
Desire’s brand works flawlessly. Even when he’s not here, his shadow still has me by the throat.
The DJ changes the rhythm—a slow song starts, and it’s a total downer.
I quickly leave the dance floor, craving nothing but another cocktail.
I glance back and see Kelsey pressed against Steve, slowly swaying, dissolving into each other.
A wave of longing hits me. All around, dozens of couples shamelessly slip into the shadows of the trees, seeking privacy.
Isaac appears beside me. Looks like he’s been assigned as my personal bodyguard tonight.
“Do you like the evening?” he asks, maintaining a polite formality.
“Have you gotten through to Laurent?” I ignore the question, blowing a stray golden strand from my forehead.
“No, he’s still not answering.” Isaac shakes his head. “But I’m sure the Sterlings have everyone on alert. They might have found him by now.”
I press my lips together. The taste of hope is too bitter. After taking another glass from the bartender, I step off the lit path into the dark trails. I want some quiet, but the park has become a maze of sculpted bushes behind which another life is thriving.
At one of the clearings, I freeze. Noise, hoarse moans—one female and several male. Through the leaves, I see a naked girl in a gray collar being shared by two guys from the crew. Blood rushes to my face, and I hurry away, but they notice me.
“Hey, sweetheart, who are you? Come join us!” one of them calls out, breathing heavily.
“Are you out of your mind?!” the other cuts him off. “She’s Desire’s princess.”
Without looking back, I walk away. My face is burning.
The emptiness in my chest stirs something hot.
This is the underbelly of Desire’s Kingdom, hidden behind the gilded gates and expensive champagne.
Though, that girl in the gray collar didn’t seem to mind …
, realizing my status as “Desire’s personal property” is the only thing separating me from the same fate on that clearing, makes me nauseous.
I wander along the dark paths, and from somewhere in the bushes, another moan drifts out—rhythmic, animalistic. I keep walking, trying not to look, then find myself beneath the walls of the Citadel, the main house of the Kingdom. Almost every open window is filled with moans.
I swallow. If Desire were here, if he hadn’t disappeared, we’d be up there too.
Behind one of those windows. He’d be pinning me against the wall, making me forget everything but his hands and his cock.
Instead, I’m standing here, down below, alone, and the silence inside me is far louder than all this lustful chorus.
I turn back into the maze and run into a group of guys.
A girl is standing in the shadows with her back to me.
I’m about to walk past, but I sense something wrong.
First of all, the girl isn’t wearing a gray collar, which means she’s someone’s personal property, and this doesn’t look like another group orgy.
“Well, well, what a gift from fate! The bitch found us herself.” The girl turns around, and I immediately recognize the voice. Chloe. “She’s all yours, boys. Don’t be shy.”
The guys circle me. I force myself to breathe evenly and study them. My gaze snags on a detail that sends a chill down my spine: one of them has his bracelet on his left wrist, not his right like the rest of the entourage.
Another guy notices my stare and bursts out, “Hank, you idiot, you put the band on the wrong arm!”
“Who the fuck cares.” He waves it off. “We’re inside the Kingdom already. No one’s going to miss us.”
With a sinking heart, I realize they’re not Desire’s subjects. They’re strangers.
Hank lets his gaze slide over my figure. “Nice tits. Drag her into the bushes?”
Chloe steps out of the shadows, hands on her hips. She’s wearing a vulgar dress cut down to her navel, and heavy war paint—she looks like a cheap hooker looking for her john.
“You can fuck her right here on the path. No one will suspect a thing.” She grins. “People are getting fucked in every clearing anyway. One more scream, one less …”
Goosebumps race down my spine. I look at her neck.
“You know, Chloe, shit suits you way better than gold.” My voice comes out surprisingly steady.
The men burst out laughing. “She’s got a point!”
On Chloe’s neck sits Zack’s brown collar.
“How dare you?!” the brunette hisses, stepping toward me. Her face is twisted with rage. “I only put on your piece of shit to get into the Kingdom! That gold doesn’t belong to you!”
She reaches for my throat, but I boil over, knock her hand away, and slap her across the mouth. Chloe shrieks and jumps back, clutching her face.
“You busted my gums, you bitch!” she shrieks, blood on her fingers.
“Red suits you too,” I hiss. Adrenaline burns through my veins, pushing out the sticky fear. I grip the choker around my neck. She’ll only get it along with my head.
“Are you just going to stand there?!” Chloe screams at the guys, but instead of helping, one of them grabs her by the jaw, squeezing her cheeks with his fingers.
“Shut up, whore. Don’t make noise.” He shoves her away. Chloe hits a tree with her back and slides to the ground on buckling legs.
I revel in her humiliation, but the triumph doesn’t last long. The four men close the circle. There’s a nasty, hungry gleam in their eyes. One steps up close and grabs me by the shoulder with a jerk, digging his fingers into my skin.
“Get off me!” I scream, trying to break free.
“I heard your fucker didn’t show up today.” He smirks. “And you, princess, must be dying to feel a real cock inside you?”
“What a shame you don’t have one,” I spit the words in his face.
He goes wild, grabbing my hair, and throws me to the ground hard. The impact knocks the air out of my lungs. I try to fight back, shoving my hands forward, but he catches my wrists, pinning them to the grass. His fingers slide over my left hand and find the large stone.
The bastard looks down at the black diamond, and his face twists into a predatory grin.
“Wow! You’re a fiancée, not just a whore!
” he jeers, squeezing my hand. “Even sweeter. We’ll fuck you long and hard, bitch.
Your Desire beat up our brother, and Asgard always pays its debts. Tonight, we get what’s owed to us.”
He looms over me, unbuckling his belt, and sobs of helplessness rise in my throat. But then …
“You’ll get it. Right now.”
A growl from the darkness makes my blood run cold.
The next second, a swift figure bursts out of the deep shadows.
A heavy branch clenched in a fist slams into the Asgardian’s jaw with a dull crack.
The bastard is knocked off his feet, and the attacker grips the branch with both hands and delivers two more short, crushing blows from above.
The sound of breaking bones echoes in the sudden silence. The others freeze, as if paralyzed.
I lie frozen on the ground, unable to move. My gaze travels up his powerful figure in black clothes, and my stomach clenches with a wild mix of fear and relief. The man with the stick is far more terrifying than these four put together.
Desire Sterling has returned.