My stomach dropped when I realized why the king had called for me. I wanted to turn around and head out of the throne room, but then his ire would just fall on another courtesan or the consort, and I wouldn’t do that to them.
“Don’t want to pick?” The king’s eyes opened wide and he made an exaggerated shrugging motion. “It’s a hard choice. How about I choose for you? I’ll select my favorite courtesan… the one you three are always gawking at like you have a right to look at her…” The king’s cruel gaze fell on me. “Koribella Ignis, come here.”
CHAPTER TWO
KORI
King Razor wasn’t always cruel, sometimes he was sweet. When I attended him alone, he would shower me in jewels and whisper that he loved me as he climaxed inside me. The ruler of Portland had a tender side, but when a spark of malice lit in his eyes, someone usually died in this very throne room.
Heat boiled through my chest and into my face as I stepped onto the stage and stopped before the king, but I managed to push a smile onto my mouth. “Your Highness,” I said through stiff lips. “You called for me.”
His gaze met mine, and I could see that telltale malicious glint illuminating his eyes. He slapped the armrest of his throne. “Come here, my love. I want to ask you a question.”
I swallowed hard and tried to keep my breathing even as I crossed over to stand beside the large carved mahogany throne of Portland. Immediately, Razor’s beefy arm swung around my waist and he gripped my hip and yanked me closer.
“Koribella, my favorite courtesan, would you honor these three warriors with a night in your bed?” The king spat the words like the very idea made him physically ill. “I would like to treat my honored guests with the finest courtesan in all of Portland.”
I gazed between the vampire warriors who I had never spoken a single word aloud to but somehow felt a deep connection for. Their bodies were tense, and their eyes were fixed on where the king gripped my hip. The three men looked like they might rush the dais and try to save me. If I was really in danger, there was no way they’d make it in time.
“Your Highness,” I said as I covered Razor’s hand with mine. “According to the law, it would be treason for me even to touch these warriors let alone sleep with them. Personally, I like my head attached to my neck.”
King Razor’s fingers gripped me tighter and heat licked up my side from where he palmed my skin. Blue flame flickered out of the king’s hand, singeing my red silk dress. The cloying scent of burning fabric filled the air as flame licked up my side.
All three of the warriors lunged a step forward, but I called out. “I’m an Ignis fire mage, immune to fire. What a funny joke, Your Highness,” I directed the comment at the king, but I spoke loud enough for the warriors to hear me. If they attacked the king, it would be well within King Razor’s rights to kill them, and I had a feeling that was Razor’s plan. “You won’t hurt me, because you love me,” I added in a carrying volume, “But are you going to leave any of my dress? It was expensive.”
The king’s palm cooled against my skin, the flame extinguishing, but the silk continued to smolder across my stomach and back. King Razor’s hand rubbed up my exposed belly as he continued to glare forward with malevolence practically rolling off him in waves. “Koribella, why is it treason for a warrior to touch your supple flesh?”
I grabbed the king’s armrest and squeezed the wood until it bit into my fingers, steadying myself. “Because warriors don’t have any standing in vampire society, Your Highness. They need to be given rank by an existing monarch to do anything other than work and die for those of the royal bloodline.”
“Exactly. You three warriors have no rank… no status, you are nothing,” the king roared the words, bearing his fangs. “And, you three think you can come in here and threaten me?”
The warriors held expressions as stoic as masks. Their attention was fixed on the king, their jaws tight, and eyes watchful.
Ash shook his head slowly. “It’s not a threat, King Razor. Too many humans have died in Portland since Queen Hell’s last warning. The ruler of Seattle threatened you last time. This time, she’s ending all exports of luxury items and non-medicinal alcohol from Seattle until your human fatality rates decrease. The only shipments she will export to you is sustenance, living, and medical supplies for your human citizens.”
King Razor bared his fangs. “Get out of this palace. If you’re still in Portland when the dome turns red tomorrow morning, I’ll kill all three of you. The queen will send different emissaries next time, or I won’t allow her representatives into Portland.”
The three warriors bowed, but they took their time turning away. Ash and Death glanced over me, their gazes passing up and down my front like they were ensuring that I was unharmed before they turned away. Ruin was the last to leave. His bright blue gaze connected with mine, and he gave me the most infinitesimal nod. His hand opened at his side, and a folded slip of paper drifted to the floor.
Adrenaline surged through me as the scarred warrior turned away, leaving the note behind on the marble in the center of the throne room. The room was still dim, but someone else had to have seen him drop the message. The crowd surged in, and several royals blocked my view of the paper. I needed to get it before someone else picked it up, but the king still gripped my hip.
Blood pounded in my ears as I turned back to King Razor. “Let me go, Your Highness. I’ve already served your purposes tonight.
When he looked back to me, the hate in his eyes snuffed out, and his gaze warmed with a very different emotion. “I’m not so sure about that, Koribella. I have to admit that I like your dress better this way.”
Of course he liked it more. His Ignis fire trick had left me singed scraps of red silk which barely covered my nipples and mound.
Reaching up, I undid the clasp on the back of my diamond choker and held it out before him. “This is probably worth three hundred thousand ration tickets. Please put it against my debt.”
The king eyed the necklace and his nostrils flared. “That was a gift because I love you.”
“I think I’m allergic to your diamonds. They make my skin crawl.” I held it out further.
His fat fingers closed around the choker. “I was just proving a point, my love, and my consort Mira isn’t allergic to my affection.”
If only he knew that the consort was the true leader of the rebellion, and I had to keep her murderous impulses in check.
The king held the diamond choker up, and Mira took it in her palm.
“Thank you, Your Highness.” She held the band up, and her hazel eyes met mine. “It wasn’t a big deal, Kori. Get over it.”
“It felt like a big deal.” I leaned down toward King Razor. “You’re never going to touch me again, not even so much as a brush of your fingers. According to your laws, I still have the right to pick my own patrons.”
“And I have the right to raise your rent.” King Razor lifted his brows and rubbed the top of his head. “How about a million ration tickets a year? That sounds fair.” He chuckled. “Come back and ask me to lower your rent when you’re not so sensitive.”
Clenching my jaw, I broke away from the king’s hand, afraid that tears would spill from my eyes and prove his point that I was being emotional. My whole body shook as I walked off the dais and back into the crowd. My gaze combed over the black marble floor, but I didn’t see the slip of paper Ruin dropped anywhere.
A hand grasped my arm, and my heart tripped in my chest as I looked up into the face of an all-too-familiar courtesan.
“Passing notes?” Luca asked as he crossed his arms over his wide chest.
Luca Aquam was the consort’s younger brother, and aside from his sister, he was probably the best-looking person in this throne room. My brother Brendan had a collection of books from the world before the dome on history, art, and science, and we all agreed that Luca was a dead ringer for Michelangelo’s David, except for the fact that Luca’s head was proportional to his body. With his looks, high
ranking sister, and legendary water mage power, Luca should have been one of the most popular courtesans in court, but no one wanted to spend prolonged periods of time dealing with him, likely because he only talked about himself, and his eyes misted over if the conversation veered away.
I leaned in toward the courtesan who always seemed to be on a mission to punish me. “Luca, please, give me the note.”
His lips brushed my ear. “What will you do for it? Will you beg?”
I leaned back and glared into his azure eyes. “I’ll pay you.” The words hurt coming out. Now that my rent was higher, I didn’t have any gems to spare, but Luca was a snake, and it would be safer to pay him off than risk him going to the king. “An emerald.”
“Five.”
“Save your money, Kori,” my sister Genevieve said as she stepped up beside me and set a hand on both Luca and my shoulders. “Luca, go on now…” she paused to give him a meaningful look, “Your sister wants to talk to you, and you shouldn’t keep the consort waiting.”
Luca stayed glowering down at me for a few more heartbeats before he broke away and headed up to the dais.
“This isn’t good. Ruin, the dark-haired warrior, dropped a note for me, and Luca picked it up,” I whispered as I watched Luca from the corner of my eye.
“No, Luca is a liar, Kori. I got to the note first.” Genevieve’s arms wrapped around me and squeezed, enveloping me in her lavender scent. “I have it—no one saw what was inside of it but me.”
“Oh, thank god, Vivie.” I laid my forehead onto her shoulder and sighed. “I am going to snap and strangle that jerk one day.”
“No, you won’t, Kori. Everything will be okay.” She pulled away and looked up at my face with her iridescent amber eyes. “The note that warrior dropped for you has an address to a temporary living facility out in the dome.” She pressed the folded piece of paper into my palm. “Those warriors have to leave before dawn. You might never get another chance to be with them.”
What she wasn’t saying out loud was that the revolution would start any day now, and once we seized Portland Dome for the humans, vampires would never be allowed back inside. That would be the absolute end to my non-relationship with these warriors.
Portland and Seattle had once been a bustling human metropolis before seismic events led to super-volcanos erupting throughout North America, continuously spewing ash and lava, polluting the air and water. Many died, the rich and powerful humans fled, but those who remained created a solution for the two great cities in the Pacific Northwest.
They built two massive domes supported by both of the city’s downtown skyscrapers, and all of the ragtag survivors of Oregon and Washington took refuge inside. The twin colossal architectural marvels took thirty years to build. It was completed the year I was born. Fans all over the dome and hydroelectric conductors in cave waterfalls generated electricity. Large chimneys pumped in fresh oxygen from above the ash clouds and underwater aqueducts brought us clean snowmelt from the Cascades.
It would have been a great solution if the vampire royals hadn’t claimed our cities. Our predecessors created the vampires’ perfect environment, a city of perpetual night filled with tens of thousands of humans who had no hope of escape. They even created an infrastructure to connect the two domes with underground roads, trains, and whole kingdoms within caverns.
The vampire royals of Portland believed their reign indestructible, but we had a plan, one that I plotted myself. Complications continuously delayed the coup, but the vampire reign in Portland Dome was coming to an end soon.
I looked out toward the throne room door. “I haven’t left the palace since we were kids.”
“Kori, you’re the most capable person I know. You’ll find your way, and I’ll cover for you for the rest of the night.” Genevieve squeezed my hand. “Do something that makes you happy, just this once.”
CHAPTER THREE
RUIN
Well, now I'd fucking killed us for nothing. I could almost still feel the ridges of the stiff slip of paper in my hand as I walked through the entrance hall of Portland Palace. If I could just have reined in my impulses one time…
One. Fucking. Time.
But, no.
The idea had popped in my head as I looked into Courtesan Koribella's eyes for, perhaps, the last time ever. That asshole, waste of blood, King Razor had burned my goddess. Yeah, maybe she hadn't been hurt, but she hadn't liked what the king was doing to her. It was like ripping her clothes off in front of that entire crowd of assholes just to piss off Death, Ash, and me.
A blistering rage had surged through my bond with Death. His expression hadn't changed, but he had taken that first step, a step that would have meant King Razor's death. I honestly didn't know if Ash and I had surged forward to stop our friend or to help him. The only reason that King Razor still had a head was because Koribella had spoken up--clearly trying to deescalate the trap that the king had set for us.
Koribella had handled the king and us three like the goddess she was. It had been over with all of us keeping our lives, and then I had to go do something completely stupid. The idea had popped in my head that I should drop that note in the middle of that fucking throne room for my goddess, and all other fucking thoughts flew out of my mind, and I just went for what I wanted. Her. I wanted her safe and away from that damn king.
I just jeopardized everything, and there wasn’t a chance in hell that my goddess would throw off the king’s grip and swoop down on that note before someone else snatched it up. Even on the tiny chance that she did get there in time, what happened then? Why would she sneak out of Portland Palace to come meet some warrior she didn’t know in the dead of night?
Every damn time that woman’s eyes landed on mine, I lost my fucking mind.
As I pushed open the thick metal doors of the palace, I nodded to the warriors standing guard outside. It wasn’t their fault that they’d be sent out to kill us within an hour.
A hand landed on my arm, and I spun. “Just seeing myself out and not looking for any trouble...” I trailed off when I met the brown gaze of a familiar warrior. “Tarnish.” I lifted a brow. “Are you here to kill me?”
The warrior Tarnish was a good three inches taller than my six-nine and sported a purple mohawk that gave her another foot. I’d bandied words with her more than once since she took up her post as the captain of the guard here in Portland. Even if she guarded a piece of shit king, it would be a damn shame to kill her.
“Not here to kill you quite yet.” Tarnish lifted her chin in a sign of respect before crossing her muscular arms over her wide chest. “And I definitely don’t have an order to send my warriors after Death--I only follow orders like that if they come directly from the lips of my sire, King Razor. He called for me, and I’ll have to head in there after I talk to you. The thing is, I don't know where to send my warriors to search for you three, we might be looking around the dome for a while. Anywhere you suggest we start?"
Even in the shit situation we were in, I couldn’t help but give this captain a smile. “You Portland warriors have a lot of heart. We’d hate to have to fight our way out.”
“I have a feeling we’d hate that more than you…” She lifted her dark brows, “Up until the point Death chopped half of us up into an undead pulp.”
I shook my head, but if King Razor forced a large group of these warriors to attack Death, that wouldn’t be all that far off from what would happen. "You might want to start in the living facilities in the old University."
She clapped me on the shoulder and nodded. "That labyrinth of shanties could take us all night. I’d avoid the main exits—but I’m sure you already know that."
"Hey, Tarnish. If you make it out to Seattle one day, I make a grog that’ll age you two hundred years in one night--and I'll be owing you one for this."
“Warrior grog.” She stuck out her tongue before giving me a wink. "Just get out quick, and don’t try anything stupid."
I held up my hands and jogged ba
ckward a few steps. “It’s always just a little too late for that last one, Tarnish.”
“Well, then do your best to survive.”
“That… that one I have a talent for.” I nodded and fell into a run down the spotless sidewalks of the city center. Portland Dome was only about three miles across in diameter, from the agricultural fields that stretched along what once was the Willamette River to the oxygen farms of Washington Park. The dome was half the size of Seattle, but the human population was equal to ours. And, it was evident three blocks from the shining streets around Portland Palace. Makeshift hovels cluttered up what was once roads and freeways, making the city a fucking maze. The hydroelectric and wind conductors had no hope of keeping up with the population’s needs, and the blue glow illuminating the streets was so dim that every time I glanced around to get my bearings, I almost expected to see the moon shining down on me.
It had been twenty-three years since I spotted the limitless sky through clouds of ash, but it wasn’t a sight even a lowly warrior like me could easily forget.
I hastened my speed, turning down alley after alley, each one tighter than the last.
Just as I was about to hit our rendezvous point, a pulse of annoyance came through my bond with Ash. I slowed to a stop, just as the crash of two sets of boots slammed into the pavement on either side of me.
Ash glared up from where he crouched with one hand on the ground. “You think you could be strolling through Portland any slower?”
Ruin: A Reverse Harem Dark Fantasy Vampire Romance (Fire & Blood Book 1) Page 2
