by Katie May
The Incubus King, descended from Lust, sat directly beside him. On his
other side was the King of Vampires whose line originated from Gluttony.
With a confidence I didn’t feel, I turned my attention towards the King of
Genies. As a descendant of Greed, he fed off the selfishness of others. My
heart hammered at the similarities between him and his son, Devlin. The
same olive-toned skin and violet eyes, shining as if there was a candle lit
beneath the surface. The same curly brown hair. The same broad shoulders
leading down to tapered waists. The King, however, had streaks of gray in his
shoulder-length hair.
And his eyes…
They were what I imagined standing in freezing water would feel like.
Numbness would begin in your toes, slowing snaking upwards until it
clamped around your heart. Your breathing would turn shallow just as
unconsciousness claimed you.
While the Mermaid King’s eyes were malicious, the King of the Genie’s
were empty. Cold. Frigid. The eyes of a man who had his innocence chipped
away by time and environment.
Would that happen to Devlin?
The mere thought filled me with unease.
I tried to picture Devlin as cold, untouchable, evil...but the thought eluded
me. It just didn’t fit with the man I knew and once loved. Still loved. Maybe.
“So this is the winner,” the Mermaid King said, diverting my attention.
He was watching me with narrowed, piercing eyes. I was fully dressed, but it
felt as if I was naked. With one glance, I could tell he wanted to tear me
apart, rip me to shreds. Piece by piece.
I resisted the urge to bow sardonically. The last thing I wanted to do was
show any type of reverence to these monsters.
Planting my hands on my hips, I waited, a quirk to my brow.
It was the Vampire King that moved first, gliding across the distressed
wood until he was nose to nose with me. Out of my peripheral, I noted Lupe
stiffening imperceptibly. His nostrils flared at the other man’s proximity to
me. It wasn’t jealousy. No, it was fear. Fear for me. There was no mistaking
the predatory intent in the King’s beady black eyes, such a contrast to Jax’s
own striking shade of green. It was rumored that the more someone fed, the
darker their eyes became.
He resembled the demons I had read about as a child.
He leaned forward until his face was in the crook of my neck and inhaled
deeply. My jaw clenched.
“She doesn’t smell like much.” His voice lilted with an unfamiliar accent.
It wasn’t one I had heard before. Native to the Vampire region?
“She doesn’t have to smell like much to still be our Champion,” the
Incubus King drawled lazily.
“I still don’t understand how that can be!” This outburst was, of course,
from the Mermaid King. Envious bastards. I knew they would be upset that a
Mermaid hadn’t won the competition. Though, if I wasn’t mistaken, a
Mermaid hadn’t even made it to the top ten.
“What’s your name?” This next voice was not belligerent but not
necessarily kind. I swiveled my head towards the shadows, somewhat
surprised that the Shadow King was speaking to me directly.
From the gaping mouths of the other men present, they felt the same.
I quickly caught my bearings, standing straighter.
“Z,” I answered firmly.
“Z…” He said my name as if he was testing it, tasting it on his tongue.
“Not Zara?” The Genie’s King voice was tinged with amusement.
Zara was the name of the woman I was impersonating - a blond bimbo
that served as the maid and lover of Z. Basically, I was the perceived lover of
myself.
Diego had had a field day with that knowledge.
At the thought of my best friend, my mood instantly turned somber.
“My name is Z,” I said sharply. I had thought I had overstepped when the
Genie King’s eyes flared brightly, but the Shadow King merely threw back
his head in laughter. It wasn’t entirely unpleasant. It sounded almost...normal.
As if he was familiar with laughing.
“I like her. She has fire.”
“She’s a female.” I didn’t even have to look to know that it would be the
Shifter King who had spoken. “And she’s a human.”
“But she won the Damning,” the Shadow King pointed out. Was I
mistaken or did he sound...smug?
“That she did.”
Silence. Sudden and pronounced, suffocating me as if I was buried below
twenty feet of black, sticky tar. I resisted the urge to fidget.
I was in the room of my enemies, the monsters I had been tasked to kill,
and there was nothing I could do about it. The knife in my sleeve suddenly
felt ten-times heavier.
How easy it would be to slice through flesh and tendon and bone…
There was a certain way you had to hold a knife for maximum impact.
Lightly gripped between your fingers, the copper handle resting on your
palm, an extension of your hand. A fluid flick of your wrist…
“The situation is different,” the Incubus King agreed with a nod. My eyes,
unbidden, flickered towards him, and I sucked in a breath. He was gorgeous.
I hadn’t expected anything else from a descendant of lust, but it wasn’t even
his unnaturally good looks that caused my heart to hammer. It was the power
he exuded in waves. Even from where I stood, liquid heat settled in my core.
I had the need to rub my thighs together to alleviate the ache.
I noticed Lupe sniff, eyes heating with lust. No doubt, he could smell my
arousal. If he could smell it…
The Vampire King laughed giddily, slapping his thigh for emphasis.
“Better tone it down a bit,” he said, turning to smile at the Incubus. “We
don't want her to jump you.”
The Incubus King’s grin was satisfactory, eyes brewing with wanton
desire. His hair was a shade of garnet, darker than his son’s, and his chiseled
cheekbones made his face even more striking. What I wouldn’t give to lick…
I shook my head, clearing my lust-muddled haze. Anger replaced it, and I
glared at the King.
How dare he use his powers on me?
The man who had hurt my mate! I recalled Killian’s story, how this
despicable man had tried to force him to have sex with a woman he
considered a mother. When Killian refused, he raped her in front of him. And
then killed her.
Anger burned me from the inside out, molten lava brewing just below the
surface. I had the sudden urge to leap the few feet separating us and jab my
knife into his head. No, that would be too quick of a death. He deserved to
suffer. Bleed.
Lupe’s expression was positively murderous. His hands clenched and
unclenched at his sides.
“She has to prove herself,” the Mermaid King cut in. It was apparent he
was jealous that the attention was no longer on him. Resisting the urge to roll
my eyes, I reluctantly turned in his direction.
My brow furrowed when I caught his son’s eye over his shoulder. Dair’s
brother. The man was handsome with lightly tanned skin and golden blond
hair, but he didn’t hold a candle to my mate. My mate…
I still hate
d those damn words.
The man - Tavvy, if I remembered my facts correctly - was watching me
with rapt attention. His head tilted to the side as if he was contemplating a
difficult math equation. I pulled my eyes from his, focusing on his father, the
Mermaid King.
“A task. One chosen by each king.” There were a few mutters of approval
before they were silenced by a wave of his hand. The Shifter King growled
harshly at what he perceived as a slight from the Mermaid. I had a feeling he
would attack the envious ruler if not for Lupe’s hand on his shoulder,
restraining him. My mouth flattened at their touch, hating to see Lupe with
such a monster.
“A task?” the Shadow King parroted, amusement evident in his voice.
The Mermaid’s smile was positively gleeful.
I couldn’t help but compare it to the smile of a sociopath seconds after a
kill. It was a smile not intended for comfort.
“A task. To prove your worth and loyalty to the seven ruling families.”
He nodded towards the Mage King, descended from Sloth, who lazily lifted
his head. Had the asshole been asleep?
When he turned half-lidded eyes towards me, smiling indolently, I
realized that yes, yes, he had.
Procuring a small flask from his pocket, he tossed it to me. I scrambled to
catch the bottle, eyes scanning the inscripted label with unease. The last thing
I wanted to do was put an unknown substance into my body, as the Kings
seemed to be implying, especially something gifted from the King of Mages
himself.
“Drink it, whore,” the Shifter King demanded. I glared at the crude
acknowledgement, and I could’ve sworn I heard Lupe growl from behind his
father. If the King heard it, he didn’t acknowledge it.
“What will it do?” I asked. I tried not to let them see how frightened I
actually was. Surely, they weren’t going to kill me with poison. Right?
Right?
I would be ashamed and embarrassed for them if they lacked the
creativity to kill me with some pizzazz.
It was Lupe that caught my attention. Fur had grown on his face and
forearms, teeth elongated.
The last thing I wanted to do was out Lupe’s and my relationship to the
Kings...or lack thereof. I didn’t know how the Kings would feel if they
discovered we were soulmates.
Actually, I imagined they would be pretty pissed off. The type of pissed
off that usually ended with dead bodies and heads on spikes.
Deciding quickly, I chugged the contents of the drink before Lupe could
shift fully.
And then the pain began.
TWO
Z
The pain lasted for only a second. Enough time for me to scream in
agony as my bones ripped apart and then sewed themselves back
together again. Enough time for Lupe to partially transform into his
bear - body turning larger, hair growing once more on his forearms, lips
curling backwards into a snarl.
In all honesty, the Kings should’ve been grateful that I was able to snap
out of it. I wasn’t sure if even they were immune to a grizzly attack.
Gasping, I glanced through my fringe of lashes. Somehow, I found
myself on the floor, keeled over as vomit churned in the back of my throat.
My stomach threatened to expel the contents of my dinner, but I held it in.
The last thing I wanted to do was give the assholes the satisfaction of
watching me squirm.
Granted, I was on the floor, a shivering, sobbing mess, but throwing up
was the final straw.
“Impressive,” the Shadow King said brightly. “The last one passed out for
hours.”
“The last one was a wimp who didn’t last five minutes,” drawled the
Incubus King.
“Semantics.”
“What...what was that?” I asked, struggling to take in that precious air. I
clutched my chest, afraid my heart would be ripped from it. Unbidden, my
eyes flickered to Lupe’s. Claw marks marred the pillar he was leaning
against, and sweat beaded on his forehead. I gave him a subtle nod to let him
know I was okay, that I was alive, that I was still breathing and ready to kick
ass. He looked as if he was seconds away from lunging towards me and
carrying me out of the room, caveman style, but he managed to nod.
Trusting my judgement.
The Shifter King laughed, the unpleasant sound grating on my nerves. I
wondered if he saw the exchange between me and his son. If he did, he didn’t
comment. I worried, briefly, that he would take out his anger on Lupe later
before quickly dismissing that thought in a tidal wave of anger. From what
intel I had gathered, the Shifter King had never laid a hand on his son -
surprising, given his wrathful nature and bigoted ideologies. He just took his
frustration out on everyone else instead.
“That, my dear child, was a binding spell.” This came from the Mage
King.
Had he…?
Had he brought a pillow?
One glance confirmed that, yup, he was lying sideways in his throne, a
pillow under his head. His half-lidded eyes met mine.
He wasn’t as handsome as his son, Bash, but I could definitely see the
similarities. The same pale skin and ash blond hair. The same dimples that
appeared when they smiled.
Not that Bash smiled much, mind you. The asshole was more stubborn
than I was.
He hated the mate bond with a passion. In his mind, the mate bond
equaled a loss of free-will, a loss of freedom. I didn’t entirely blame him. To
know that there were seven people made perfectly for me, made to soothe the
jagged edges of my soul, made me uneasy. I wasn’t good at relationships or
love or any of that shit. I was more of a stab first, ask questions later kind of
girl.
I knew I didn’t love them. Not even Devlin, the man I had once loved
with my entire heart.
At least, I wasn’t certain if I loved him.
They were strangers to me, and I still struggled to differentiate them from
my enemies. I had been programmed my entire life to be wary of the
Nightmare Princes. The prophecy itself had stated that these princes, these
seven men who had slammed into my life like a wrecking ball, were designed
specifically to either end the world or save it.
No pressure.
Realizing my thoughts had drifted from the matter at hand, I lifted my
chin imperceptibly and met the Mage King’s light, playful eyes. It was just
another distinction from the brooding, serious Sebastian.
“The binding spell assures your loyalty to the seven crowns,” the
Mermaid King said. A cruel, taunting smirk pulled up his thin lips.
“With it, no harm may befall us either by your hand or your mind,” added
the Incubus King. He pointed to his head for emphasis - as if I really needed
him to spell out where the “mind” was.
Well...shit. That put a damper on the whole “kill them all” plan.
“What would happen if I break it?” I asked. If it was possible, and I didn’t
think it was, the Kings appeared even more amused. The Shadow King went
as far as to throw back his head in laughter.
“My dear child
…” Gliding towards me, the Shifter King rested a heavy
hand on my shoulder. His nails broke through clothes and into skin - I knew
it was going to leave a nasty bruise. “If you break the oath, the spell, then you
die. Simple. You are dismissed until we call upon you for your first task.”
His words echoed in my ears. Reverberated through my body.
Simple.
Then why did it feel as if I was walking to my execution?
DEVLIN WAS STILL ASLEEP when I snuck back into the room. I hadn’t
made him aware of my meeting with the Kings, knowing for certain that he
would demand to go with me. Whatever secrecy our relationship had would
no doubt shatter the second he entered that throne room.
He looked peaceful as he slept. Serene. His abnormally long lashes
fluttered against his olive-toned skin, and his disheveled curls fanned out on
the pillow. Tiptoeing so I wouldn’t disturb him, I perched on the edge of the
bed.
How did I feel about Devlin Genie?
There was no easy way for me to answer that question.
One part of me remembered our time together, the love we had shared,
the way he had held me with reverence and tenderness as if I was the only
girl in the world. The other half of me balked at the idea of re-entering a
relationship with the man who had broken my heart. Trust had to be earned,
and once you broke it, it was impossible to fix completely. It was like trying
to capture raindrops in the palm of your hand: impossible.
Add on the fact that he was my fated mate, one of the seven men
designed specifically for me, only made me more cautious. We had spent
years together, and he had never bothered to tell me.
I had even fallen in love with another man, and he had still remained
silent.
At the same time, I had lied to him too. My name, when we had first met,
had been Susan, and I had posed as a helpless damsel in distress. I had never
nor will I ever be that woman. Time may have cracked away at my
innocence, but I had always been hard. Glacial. Not even cannons could tear
down these walls I had impeccably crafted, brick by brick.
He stirred, muttering something beneath his breath. Glutton for
punishment, I leaned closer, pressing my ear against his parted lips.
“Z…” he whispered sleepily. Dreamily.
My heart thudded in my chest before dropping through the floorboards. A
fire built in my stomach, setting me ablaze.
