Gone was the dream, but even more, gone was the sky.
Gone was the wind.
Gone was the dizzying height of flight and the shimmering stars.
Gone was the ocean.
We’re not flying anymore.
She blinked.
We landed, but where are we now?
Underneath her she felt. . .warmth.
Softness.
Fur.
She looked down and realized that she lay curled atop a small hill of thick, luxurious animal pelts from black bears, tigers, white foxes, and others she didn’t have names for. The textures were impossibly soft beneath her body. Each movement of her limbs sent small shivers of sensation across her skin.
What?
Bare skin.
She froze.
I am naked. Why?
She took herself in. Not a single stitch covered her body. Her breasts pressed against the furs. Her thighs were exposed to thecool air around her. She wasn’t even wearing her old panties and bra—worn thin and full of holes from being so overused.
When did he take my clothes off and why?
Heart pounding, she pushed herself up on shaky hands.
Where am I?
And then she saw it.
Oh. . .my. . .
Gold, silver, and bronze coins were everywhere—mounded in impossible heaps, stacked into jagged hills that reached the height of trees.
Rubies the size of apples glinted between heaps of diamonds. Emeralds glittered in the cracks between stuffed treasure chests. Pearls were scattered and placed into their own piles near sapphires and discarded jeweled goblets slung to the side.
Huge crowns rested atop detached skeletal heads. Their jeweled bands still clinging to power long after their wearers had rotted away.
Korin must have snatched their heads off their bodies.
Sol turned to the right.
Statues of solid gold stood guard. Their faces were carved into divine expressions of lust, wrath, and ecstasy.
Thrones—actual thrones—were half-buried in the glittering dunes. And on some, long-dead kings still sat with their robes blackened by fire and their bony fingers curled around scepters of diamonds, rubies, and even onyx. Most of the kings’ bones were yellowed and cracked.
The air was thick with the scent of ancient wealth. Iron from old blood, the faint perfume of rare woods, and the unmistakable metallic tang of treasure hoarded by a creature not bound by human lifespans.
Korin brought me to his lair. Why?
