Chapter 2
Citrus and Lilies
Cedar; Present Day
I’d stopped counting the days and nights, instead turning to sleep—something that also lacked the power to enhance my mood.
The Lord of the court had his lackeys lacing the daily blood with something, I just wasn’t sure what.
It smelled off, so I hadn’t touched it since they forced it down my throat.
I’d been curious when I’d first arrived.
A mystery to keep me company in the darkness, but the curiosity had passed.
Lately, my magic felt weaker and farther from my grasp, and with the shadow stone fashion accessories I’d been lent, healing wasn’t something my body was fully capable of. Their periodic torture sessions leaving a more lasting impression.
How long could I go without blood? That was the question that had begun rumbling around within my brain. The question that had replaced the one revolving around the poison-filled cups they brought by.
Briefly, I gave thought to how I appeared right now.
Had signs of starvation set in? Or was I still in the beginning stages with many moons of pain and agony ahead?
Would I even notice the pain and agony when mixed with everything else I felt inside this cell?
Or would I just wither away until I was a husk of my previous self?
Did I care?
A raven perched on the windowsill above caught my attention, his head tilted awkwardly towards me. He wasn’t real. I knew that; he knew that. Nothing here was real, not anymore. Nothing came near the castle and if it did, it died.
Everything here was set to die.
Nothing permanent.
“I have nothing more to offer you,” I muttered to the bird.
The illusion squawked before it disappeared into the cold night air, leaving the small, barred window empty.
My knees pulled tighter to my chest as I curled up on the straw cot in the corner of my luxurious room here in the Court of Ice.
The room was a small square box made of stone.
Always damp, snow constantly melting through the window that sat in the upper middle section of the wall.
It typically stayed dark, unless a guard came through with a torch, or the sun filled all of it except my little corner of straw.
Being awake during that part of the day was always my favorite.
Being given the choice.
Unsure of how much time passed since I’d arrived, I’d started counting the days with those moments. Seventy-three times thus far that the sun had filled this space and I’d truly contemplated.
Contemplated if this was finally the moment it all came to a smoke-filled halt.
Almost seventy-four when the door clicked open and a somewhat new smell filled my mind, one I knew but hadn’t had the displeasure of in quite some time. I wasn’t shocked. I should’ve been, but any energy to care about what happened to me had left roughly thirty-two sun-filled rooms ago.
A brief glimpse of desire to roll over and give a snarky remark entered my mind, but I couldn’t find it in me to be bothered with such things for a male like Keres.
So, I laid there, staring at the wall in front of me for a few brief moments while multiple pairs of footsteps filled the room and light created shadows along the wall. One I knew was him based on smell alone. The other two I didn’t recognize.
The light smell of citrus and lilies breezed through, but it was gone just as quickly. My brain's attempt at torturing me further than these males already had.
“Pick him up,” the arrogant voice demanded.
Two sets of hands grabbed my arms and pulled me to a stand.
Everything was fuzzy and unclear for a moment while I found my bearings, but when my eyes finally focused it was to find the male himself in front of me.
The torchlight cast harsh shadows over his face.
His dark hair expertly brushed back behind his ears, not moving an inch—an unnerving attribute.
Hair should move. But it was his blue eyes that set the tone.
The shade so dark they were almost black in this light.
Not black like Raiden’s, that spoke of power. That made him seem like someone you shouldn’t wish to cross. Keres’s eyes spoke of nothing, a depth of evil and lack of emotion that felt unnerving to peer into.
“Nice to finally formally meet you, Your Majesty,” I said with a smile, hoping that even in my weakened state the sarcasm came through sharp.
His lips thinned in a displeased frown as he stared at me, his eyes taking me in. The rags that draped along my body quite different from his polished shoes and shiny gold-and-deep-cerulean-blue court wear. “What use do I have for you?”
“None, I’m guessing?” I replied. I assumed he was here to kill me.
The forced isolation hadn’t done anything to loosen my lips, much to his dismay if I had to guess.
They must’ve expected me to bang down the door begging for freedom in exchange for information I had no desire to provide.
Then came the beatings, random and they just seemed to be for fun.
They never asked me anything, just came in ready to throw punches until they grew bored.
It never made me wish to divulge anything, it just left me angry and spiteful.
Occasionally when the isolation would hit heavier, I’d attempt to instigate their anger in a shit effort to find sleep. It was easier when they’d knock me unconscious and I’d just pray to the Fates that someone would forget and leave me near the door for when the sun rose.
“That would seem correct. Unfortunate for you—” he began, interrupting my thoughts, but an unwelcome voice came from the hall, stopping him in his tracks.
The door rushed open, and I stiffened against their hold as my heart rate picked up.
She meandered into the room, her dress… I didn’t even feel right calling it a dress.
It was barely any clothing at all. The fabric was a bright gold and it shimmered against the firelight as she breathed.
Her nipples were visible through the material and all I could think of was removing the entire thing with my teeth.
Maybe I’d wait, instead teasing her through the material before I pulled it off her curvy body and burned it.
Then I could strangle her with my bare hands.
Could you even strangle a vampire to death? I wasn’t sure, but I couldn’t wait to find out.
My thoughts running rampant in a multitude of different directions had me almost missing that he spoke to her, his tone commanding and clear.
“What are you doing down here, Cora?”
“My Lord, I had an idea I had hoped to run by you before we… you, dispose of him.” I found myself gritting my teeth at the sheer boredom radiating from her tone. She sounded as if this were any political conversation, and not my life in the balance.
Not that I’d done much lately to protect and ensure the safety of my life, but that didn’t mean I wanted her protecting it.
However, it was the sound of her name on his lips that brought me back to the present, away from visions of her naked and writhing beneath my palms. I was forever attracted and drawn to the things that would end up killing me, and when I smelled her that first time, I knew this was no different.
Her normal citrus and lily scent was downtrodden within the intermingling of him.
I could feel the growl reverberate in my chest and the two guards on either side of me clutched my arms tighter.
Two sets of eyes now fully upon me, the first wide-eyed while the second openly glared, as if my gut reaction was an inconvenience to her at best.
My gaze dropped toward the ground as I tried not to draw any more attention to myself.
Attention that I didn’t need or want. Attention over a female that wasn’t mine and was the entire reason I was stuck in this shithole.
I shouldn’t care how she was or why she was here.
But the anger only rose in my veins the more I smelled his scent all over her skin.
It was taking every ounce of control to focus on what she was saying in front of me, instead of the new visions swirling throughout my mind.
What the fuck was wrong with me?
I wanted to kill them both—after I fucked her and made him watch as she screamed my name over and over again in ways she never had dared for him.
“Don’t kill him yet, My Lord. We can use him,” she said once more, her voice gentle and soft.
So unlike the voice she used when she spoke to me all those weeks ago on the edge of her windowsill.
Her whispered warnings echoed in my head still when the sun peaked and I felt myself slipping into a moment of despair.
Stop acting so impulsive.
I scoffed underneath my breath and I could feel their eyes scorching across my skull, only in much different ways.
I didn’t even have to see her face to know what her eyes said.
But I could’ve been reading it all wrong.
A small sliver of me wanted to believe she cared, that she was anything like her sister.
The majority of me knew better than to hope for such a thing though.
She was in bed with him, the scent couldn’t make it any clearer, and I was nothing more than a prisoner; a means to an end.
I needed to remember who she was, what she’d done.
She’d left her sister in the snow, bruised and bleeding, for dead with no memories of who or what she was.
She’d turned me into Keres and his guards.
She was fucking the very same male that had tortured and raped her sister for years.
She wasn’t my friend and she wasn’t here to save me.
I’d leave her here to rot the first moment I had.
“Use him for what, exactly, my little dove?” Keres asked, his inflection calming as if she’d said the perfect thing. The nickname made me want to wretch all over the floor at their feet, but I choked it back as the acid burned my throat and my fangs ached.
“We know he was part of the shadow rulers circle, right? And I know how much you want the Court of Shadows. It being right on The Black Sea is important to you—us, our court. He may know things that could help us.” I glanced up just as she slid her hands up to his shoulders and gently squeezed them, the move making my blood boil.
“Don’t kill him yet. Let’s get the information first, torture it out of him if necessary, and then you can slit his throat yourself.
Or I’ll do it. I don’t mind if it’ll please you. You know that.”
I felt myself lunge for her, fangs bared, before I could think better of it. A surge of strength I didn’t know I possessed. The guards stumbled for the briefest of moments before they resumed their crushing grasp, pulling me away from their precious ice princess.
Keres stared at me for a long moment, unbothered by my outburst, his eyes carefully guarded. He nodded though, and reached up to squeeze her hand affectionately.
“You’re right, little dove. Maybe we can even convince your sister to finally come back to us.
” He grinned and Cora’s composure slipped for the smallest moment.
“Though the previous methods haven’t worked, so I guess we must step up our interrogation techniques.
As you said, torture can be quite the motivator when performed by the proper interrogator. ”
Keres pulled her hand into his and turned towards the doors, dragging her alongside him. He stopped in the doorframe, motioning for the guards to release me. As they did, I fell back onto my straw cot with a thud.
“I’ll be back. Be ready to talk,” he said with a smirk.
“Fuck off,” I muttered as I laid back on my makeshift bed.
Before I could think to tame my ridiculously loose lips, one of the guards kicked me in the face. The last thing I saw were Cora’s eyes going wide as blood ran down from my mouth, and then everything was black.
I dreamt of her soft lips being choked by my cock as I told her to never use that pliant voice again in her life.