Series: Lords of Rathe Series by Meagan Brandy
Total pages in book: 104
Estimated words: 98580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98580 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 493(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 329(@300wpm)
My lips curve to one side, and from the corner of my eye, I notice Legend lean closer.
“Your friend?”
“Something like that.” She fights a smile. “Perhaps I’ll have the opportunity to tell you more another time.”
Attention on the serpent, I run my finger over my lower lip. “Perhaps you will.”
Ophira nods once, rising to her feet and then the light around her fades until she’s nothing but a shadow.
The cube lifts into the air, moving to the far left of the room and then the second is called in.
This time, the glass glows a deep red, not unlike the color beneath my feet. It’s dark and daunting and I can’t help but lean forward.
The girl inside stands just as the first, her dark hair as straight as can be. It lays like a silk curtain over her shoulders, falling nearly to her waist. No jewelry lays across this one's skin, but teeth marks decorate her wrists like the most coveted of bracelets.
“There’s your vamp.” Sinner stretches his legs out, sitting back in his seat.
She’s my nothing.
The thought burns its way across my mind before I can stop it and I clench my teeth until the heat is nothing more than that of a candle wick. Acid fights its way up my throat, forcing me to swallow any sort of response I might have had, and then the vamp, which she must be because our mother didn’t correct Sin’s statement, is before me.
Her dress is short, skintight, and black. See-through black.
Rhinestone crossbones cover her nipples beneath the sheer material and a rhinestones strip so thin lies between her legs—her way of showing me her pussy is well waxed.
When she drops to her knees one leg at a time, every inch of her is on display, and while my brothers adjust themselves in their jeans, I have to work to keep the frown from my face.
“Evangaline Valur,” my mother begins, the girl’s head still bowed. “Her Ethos has been unlocked. Her mate was murdered two years ago.”
I sit forward at that.
Her mate was murdered.
She lost her mate and here she stands. Well, kneels.
“She would be my first choice, a good way to avoid having to execute your own wife should her fated pop up down the road.”
“You will have no choice, Mother.”
“Eyes,” she speaks as if I hadn’t.
The brunette lifts her gaze to mine. They’re a basic brown, but there’s definite thirst shining in them... and it’s not for my blood.
“It is an honor to kneel before you, my King.” Evangaline's tone is daring.
“Future King. My father is still your King.”
“Forgive me, my Lord. Allow me to kneel before you somewhere more private to make it up to you?”
The light in her box flicks off before she has a chance to stand, and she’s carried away until her cube is hovering a few feet from Ophira’s.
“But I thought you liked that one, Mother?” Sinner baits but gets no bite.
“Number three.” The third box is called.
The light shines a soft blue, and the girl it shines on is a tall, lanky thing. Rather than her best gown, she wears a flowy yellow dress that hits her feet. Her bare feet painted as pink as her short hair.
The box spins as my mother says, “Willow Falour. Fae.”
“What kind?”
“Spend some time with her, and you shall see.” My mother cocks her head, her disdain for the girl's appearance clear as fucking day.
Shame colors Willow’s fair skin and she drops her eyes before she’s instructed, desperate to be done with this, I’m sure.
She looks up when instructed, and a sheen of glitter reveals itself in her green eyes.
My gaze narrows a little, and she starts to panic, but I hold a finger to my lips. Leaning closer so she can see that same sheer in my own.
Looks like we both needed a little Fae dust to get through today.
“My Lord,” she whispers.
My mother scoffs at the girl’s nervous tone and with a flick of her hand, sends her away.
“Next we have someone who knows you all well.”
This box moves quicker than the others, the light within it a flat white, and none other than Alexandra Kova stands inside. Her blonde hair is as perfect as always, her smirk as sure as ever.
I’ve fucked the girl enough times to know what she’s thinking—she will be the new Queen of Dark Magic. There is no doubt in her mind.
“But she’s Ordinary,” Creed clips. “An Ordinary as a Queen?”
Mother doesn't even bring her to the front but sends her to the left with the others. “The assessments were as fair as they come, and somehow that Ordinary scored the highest.”
My head snaps her way. “Seriously?”
“Mmm,” Mother muses. “Yes, she—”
“She scored second.”
The intruding voice has all our attention snapping down the hall. The final girl stands there, but Odin, the man who sits on the council in representation of the Monsters, whispers to himself and the girl disappears.