“Quite the display, Ghoul,” General Taipan says, placing a joint in his mouth in an effort to look nonchalant.
“His Majesty and I thought I’d give the people a little boost in morale,” I reply smoothly. “I daresay I think it worked.”
Taipan snorts and wanders away to the bar where a lone woman wipes the wooden surface with low strokes, pretendingnot to listen to us. General Brown knocks back his rum and coke before tugging his mask back in place. His voice is quiet when he speaks to me. “Your girl had some interesting scars on her stomach,” he says, not meeting my eye. “How did she come by them?”
I shrug. “Sometimes our enemies get the better of us.”
“Leave.” The command rings through the club, deep and definite. Mace Naga strolls into the light from the dark corner, one hand in a pant pocket. “I wish to speak with my basilisk lord alone.” The other two generals bow to him before they leave, and I know they have dark looks under their masks. They’ve always been jealous of me.
Oh to have the full attention of a serpent king.
Oh to be a beast withmore powerthan the serpent king.
Mace draws a deep breath as he looks about the club, surveying the lights above us and the empty stage. Remnants of the night remain: splashes of cum and alcohol on the floor, a glass bottle rolling off to the side. All of that fades away in the presence of the beast before me. The darkness he wears like a garment draws me and my shadows in. It always has. His power is a lure to the darkest beasts. Even without the many blood covenants I have with him, he would hold my malevolent attention.
Mace rubs at his lower lip with his thumb before he unsheathes his verbal fangs. “You think I wouldn’t recognise my own progeny?”
The words hang in the air between us like a corpse swaying in the breeze. It sucks all the air from the room. It makes my darkness twitch excitedly.
“You’ve always played little games with me,” Mace says. “Always tested my boundaries.” Finally, he turns to me, his voice even and dangerous. “And you know I enjoy testing you right back.” I incline my head. “But of course, you knew I wouldnotice.” The corners of his thin lips lift in malicious cadence. “She draws beasts in, my Aurelia. It’s why I had to set her aside as a teenager. I started noticing the lingering looks beasts were giving her. The way they’d track her scent across the room even before she came into maturity.” He shakes his head. “Her mother was never quite the same. I take that to mean my own blood played a part in the power she wields.”
Now he calls her his. Now he tries to claim his actions were for protection. There is a power at the depths of me that tries to part the shadows. That claws his blunt fingers at my ribs. But he will not win today. I’ve made sure of that in a permanent way.
“I always knew one of her mates would be a serpent. How could it not? I’m just surprised that you’ve hidden it for so long.”
“I’m surprised you never guessed it was me,” I say.
The king of serpents doesn’t take his eyes off me. We both know he’s made the mistake of underestimating his daughter one too many times. One mythic shifter made sense in his mind. But two mythic mates was unfathomable to him. He thought I would be a rex of my own den. How little he knows about the powers that move the world.
“You are tied tome.” This is the first note of emotion in his voice for years. “You are tied tomyblood. She may have your soul”—he shrugs, toying with his detached serpent around his wrist—“but your blood belongs to me. Together, we will turn this world into ours. You’ve known that from the start.”
“So I have,” I say, drawing myself to full height. “This world will know the sovereignty of serpents, and we will be the ones to pave the way.”
Mace nods, his eyes assessing me. He sees the basilisk. He sees the lack of emotion, the psychopath behind the crimson glow. “Aurelia has served her purpose. I have the funds I need from her sale. The number of buyers for her dwindles as she makes her…wildness known. It’s finally time we ended her.”
“That’s been the front for a while,” I remark carefully. “Wanting to execute her.”
“No longer a front. It’s a certainty, because you are going to be the one to do it.” Mace brushes a finger over the mark on his forearm. “I call upon our blood bond. I command you, Lord Basilisk, to execute your regina, Aurelia Boneweaver.”
The mating mark on my neck screams.
The blood covenant over my navel pulls as tight as a noose.
My eyes burn, calling for ashes and death. I bow my head in submission. “My will is yours, Your Majesty.”
“Oh, I know,” he says smoothly. “Once you kill your regina, you’ll be free for the more important task ahead of you.”
PART THREE
Chapter 68
Aurelia
Iwake with a shout.
“He knows!” I cry. “My father knows Ghoul is my mate. He’s ordered him to kill me!”
There are multiple arms around me, and I throw them off as I leap out of bed. I reel from the movement, swaying a little as I reorient myself. We are back in our animus dorm room, and it’s still dark. Xander flew us back, and Lyle carried me to bed. But now my pulse is hammering a war beat inside my skull.
