“Then it’s true?” she whispered. “They say that you eat humans.”
His mouth curved with a wicked grin, flashing the edges of his sharp fangs. “Only the ones I like.”
Alora’s heart pounded, her face heating, sensing another insinuation. His gaze was ravenous. Starved.
But Rune stepped back, shaking his head as if to clear it. “How did you get out of your room?”
She tried to answer, but the words caught in her throat.
His sharp eyes cut to the ceiling. “You released her in this state? If she dares wander my halls, it will not be half-dressed.”
With a snap of Rune’s fingers, cool shadows swirled around her like a spinning veil. When it settled, he was dressed and so was she.
A gown of black lace clung to her like threads of midnight. The sheer front panel gave the illusion of bare skin beneath embroidered fabric that barely covered her breasts. Intricate filigree wove over her bare stomach and back, tempting, forbidden, divine. The sheer skirt framed her like art in motion, leaving her hips and thighs kissed by transparency, veiled by delicate tulle that shifted when she moved.
One shoulder was left bare, exposed to the cool air like an invitation. The other was designed into an intricate flourish shaped like the outstretched raven wing in mid-flight. On her feet now gleamed heels, sharp and regal. Her hair was now woven up into an elaborate knot, completed with a tiara on her head made of obsidian.
Before she could ask why, the shadows sluiced over him next.
Rune looked unmistakably dangerous in matching black armor, the plates sharp and glinting like ink. His mouth curved with a pleased smile as he admired his work.
With a wave of his hand, a tendril of shadow curled around her wrist. It coiled tighter, turning into dark metal as it took the shape of a black dragon. It was cool against her skin yet thrummed with magic that bound her more securely than the ring.
Alora stared at the bracelet. “What is this?”
“A gift,” Rune said as he stepped closer. “To mask your scent. Never remove it.”
“So, I don’t tempt your demons?” she asked, voice barely above a breath.
He cupped her throat, thumb stroking her pulse. “No,” he murmured, his gaze falling to her lips.“It’s so you don’t tempt me.”
The words sent a scatter over her skin. Even he was susceptible to her scent. What about it made her so delicious to them?
Rune inhaled a careful breath, as if tasting the air. The bracelet must have worked because the tension in his shoulders relaxed.
He took a torch from the wall and strode onward, his crimson cloak floating behind him like spilled blood. “Come.”
Alora hurried after him, keeping close. “Where are you taking me?”
“It is time I introduce you to the Court of Sin and Ruin.”
CHAPTER 22
Alora
The name alone settled in Alora’s chest like a promise and a warning intertwined.
She watched as the God of Shadows slashed his hand through the air and a portal opened. Dark and humming, rimmed with shadow flame. Rune stepped through the portal first, shadows curling behind his heels like smoke from a dying fire.
Before Alora could ask more questions, a rush of shadows and cinders swallowed her whole. The ground vanished beneath her feet, replaced by weightlessness and the rush of cool mist. Rune’s magic bled like smoke through her senses, wrapping around her spine, coiling tight. When her feet touched down again, it was not gentle. She stumbled, an iron grip catching her waist.
Then Alora looked around them, and she stopped breathing.
The throne room stretched before them like a cathedral of nightmares.
Jagged rock walls formed a cavernous chamber. They stood on a tall, jagged dais carved from obsidian and bone, elevated high above the hall. The air reeked of sulfur and smoke. The only light came from a molten stream of lava that cut through the chamber like a bleeding wound, casting a flickering glow against black stone floor veined with red.
The Court of Sin and Ruin had gathered.
