Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 138(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
“Perhaps,” he says, guiding the way.
I feel eyes on me from above and that’s when I see them standing on the platform up high.
The Blood Alphas.
The Kings of Varkhar.
I shiver when I feel their strong gaze bearing down on me. My feet stop moving. My entire body goes still as I stare up at them in awe.
I have spent the whole journey imagining the Blood Alphas.
I pictured elderly tyrants with rotting teeth and greasy beards.
Then I pictured cruel warriors covered in scars, bones, and the blood of their enemies.
Once, when I briefly allowed myself to be optimistic, I imagined that perhaps they might be reasonably pleasant to look at.
I was not prepared for this.
The king on the left is tall and broad, although not nearly as enormous as the man beside him. His thick black hair is pushed back from a handsome face sharpened by high cheekbones and a strong jaw covered with a neatly trimmed beard. He wears a fitted black tunic embroidered with dark silver thread, leather pants, and a golden crown tilted on his beautiful head.
His dark heated eyes are locked on me. Goosebumps rise on my skin when I feel the sizzling intensity of that gaze.
That must be King Cassius.
I’ve heard he’s the smartest man in the kingdom. A true strategic genius.
He has the kind of confident ease of a man who knows he owns everything his eyes touch.
Including me.
I swallow hard as I look at the larger man on the right.
King Tovik.
He is the largest man I have ever seen.
Perhaps the largest man who has ever lived.
His shoulders look wide enough to block the castle gates. He looks scary enough to send the Hollowborn fleeing with only a stern glare. He is a force.
Blood and mud streak his thick, muscled torso. His black hair is hanging loose around his hard, unshaven face.
He looks terrifyingly powerful, and for some reason, I can’t take my eyes off him. A pale scar cuts through one thick eyebrow.
While Cassius looks at me with heated lust, Tovik is watching me with pure awe in those dark eyes.
The Kings of Varkhar.
The Blood Alphas.
My new captors.
They are beautiful beyond belief in their own savage way. My heart jumps. A deep sensual throbbing spreads between my legs as I watch them watching me.
“Princess,” Oren says in that sarcastic tone. “I have jewels to count. If you please, or perhaps you are waiting for a carpet of rose petals to be laid below your feet?”
I grit my teeth, giving him a sharp glare as I march forward, my hands squeezed into fists.
Garrick is already guiding my carriage and the empty wagons out of the castle. Perhaps, I’ll see him next season when he returns with another payment.
Or, maybe these savages will have me for dinner and I’ll never see anyone again.
Either way, I have no choice.
I have to make the best of it.
With a heavy breath, I follow Oren into the castle, ready to see my new home.
But as I walk through the dark halls, I’m not dreading the straw mattress or bathing in the river. I’m not missing my parents or all of my friends back home.
I’m thinking of those two alluring men and the captivating way they were watching me.
Watching me like I’m not just their hostage.
They were watching me like I was theirs.
Like they owned me.
Those possessive gazes make me shiver again.
My pulse races.
Why were they looking at me like that?
And why did I like it?
But most importantly, why do I want more?
Chapter Five
King Tovik
Ihave faced a ruthless pack of Hollowborn on my own, in the dead of winter, with my flesh sliced open and venom burning through my veins.
I have crossed the Blood River in the frigid cold and didn’t so much as flinch while the icy waves rolled over my head.
I once killed a man using nothing but the iron buckle from his own belt.
None of these things made me as nervous as I am right now, waiting for the princess to walk through the door.
I have been waiting my entire life for her. Now, I’m about to step into this moment and my hands are shaking.
“Stop pulling at your collar,” Cassius says, as calm as ever.
“It’s choking me,” I say, tugging at it again.
“It’s a tunic, not a Greyholm mercenary,” he says with a laugh.
“I’m not used to it.”
He laughs again. “That I know. I can count on my right hand the number of times I’ve seen you in a shirt. I hardly recognize you with your nipples covered.”
I don’t know how he can make jokes at a time like this.
Our mate, our queen, is in the castle. We will be dining with her in moments.
My wolf is on full alert, pacing inside me, more eager than the time we faced three converging packs of Hollowborn. He wants to get out and mark her. He wants to make her ours.