I want to give in—I would if I thought it would get this growing need out of my system—but I worry instead of dousing the fire, it would just serve to kindle something that could ultimately consume me. The idea of working out my stress and frustrations on and against a rock-hard, sweaty body while they moan and plead for more is beyond appealing, but I find myself needing more than just that. I’m craving a connection I’ve never wanted before, something to tether myself to, and that terrifies me more than anything ever has. I’ve never needed or wanted anyone else. It’s always been too perilous to even consider, but I’m not in the ludere anymore, and everything I thought I knew about myself and the world is changing faster than I can track.
“Have a seat,” Tarek orders softly, his hand suddenly skimming the small of my back.
Goose bumps immediately erupt down my arms, but no one says anything about it as I move to the armchair opposite Riall and sit down. I tug at my towel as it climbs up my thighs, trying to force it to behave and cover more of me. I look up to find Riall studying the newly exposed flesh of my legs, and heat washes over me. I start to question whether staying here with the three of them is a wise choice. I’m one sharp pull of fabric away from being naked, and I can’t seem to keep my thoughts from wandering down titillating but treacherous paths. I should leave, and yet I can’t bring myself to push out of my seat and walk away.
“Our first hunt together didn’t go exactly as planned,” Tarek starts before he moves from in front of the fireplace, striding confidently toward the door nestled at the back of the room.
Riall snorts, the sound one part amusement and one part annoyance. The sound draws my attention to him. “We trained harder than we ever had in preparation for it,” he recalls, his gaze far away as though he’s been transported back to that time in his mind.
I turn back around in time to see Tarek disappear through the tall back door. The room on the other side is draped in darkness so thick that I can’t make out a single detail of what exists within its confines.
“So imagine our shock and frustration when we snuck into our mark’s quarters only to find the fucker dead already,” Riall states, and I turn back, all my attention instantly focused on him and the story that just took a turn I didn’t see coming.
“We hadn’t made a name for ourselves at all yet, but the only conclusion we could come to was that the Orders were sending us a message,” Curio recounts with a humorless chortle. “We were plotting revenge within minutes of finding the body. They didn’t know who they just fucked with…”
“But then we met the Empress,” Tarek interjects from somewhere behind me.
I pivot around, wondering if I’ll find some frail female clutched to Tarek’s side, or maybe he’ll have a scroll held ready in his hands to explain what they’re talking about. What I don’t expect to find is Tarek holding a scorpion the size of my foot. I’m not usually squeamish around things that creep and crawl. I’ve lived in the Corozean desert since I can remember, and every living creature that survives in those sands creeps and crawls—me included—but nerves skitter through my stomach all the same as I take in the huge creature clutched in Tarek’s palms. He draws closer from the back room, and firelight begins to dance across the hard onyx shell of what must be the Empress herself. Tarek holds her with care and esteem, and I take her in, both impressed and unnerved. I can’t decide if I want to marvel or back hastily away.
“Out of nowhere, this surprising little menace crawled out from under our mark, and that’s how theScorpionstruly began,” Tarek confides as he crouches down in front of me.
“What…what is she?” I ask as I fight the urge to press back in my chair.
I’ve seen many scorpions in my life, but never anything like this. The Empress is more than worthy of such a regal name based on size alone. I don’t even want to think about how potent the venom in her tail might be. Cautiously, I watch the creature for signs that it’s perturbed and looking for a fight, but oddly she seems at peace in Tarek’s hands. I keep what distance I can though.
Tarek chuckles at my obvious unease, but thankfully he doesn’t push her closer.
“She’s afettikscorpion,” he answers simply. “They’re incredibly rare, if not almost extinct. We probably house the largest bed of fettiks in all the lands, and that’s saying something, as they’re near impossible to breed,” Tarek explains warmly.
I can’t discern if that softness is for my benefit or for the Empress’s.
“Why is that?” I query, hoping that if Tarek keeps talking, then he won’t remember he wanted to properlyintroduceme to the Empress. I have a sinking feeling that introducing me to their namesake involves more than simply showing her off while offering a lesson on what she is and why they have her.
“Because fettik venom is the most potent toxin there is. It’s even deadly to their own kind. That’s why they’re dying out and so hard to breed. Females can only procreate with males who are immune to their sting. Most males die in the process of trying to find a mate. Only one in several thousand is capable of creating and releasing an antitoxin through their system that can withstand the sting of a female, and there’s no way to tell that a male fettik has the ability to become walking antivenom until after it’s been stung.”
“They’re an incredibly brutal species,” Riall provides, scooting to the edge of his chair and leaning closer with interest. “The female stings the male when he approaches her to mate, and then he stings himself until he either counteracts her venom or dies. Seems fitting,” he adds, his hazel eyes once again fixed intensely on me.
I work not to fidget under the thick fervor that saturates Riall’s stare or to see any link in his description of fettik scorpions versus what me and my Scorpions are doing. What we do and what we areisbrutal, but I’m not some creature that could end them because they want to claim me…am I?
Tarek is saying something about breeding lines and males, but I struggle to focus on the details of his explanation with my mind now whirring the way that it is. I take in the three of them, recalling their offer to me when I first woke up in this castle and learned who they were and why I was here. I think back to the interactions we had at the ludere, and even skim over the memories of the first time I saw them while chained in Dorsin’s office. The journey to where we are now has been a winding, precarious thing, and yet here we are. Here I am, sitting amidst the realm’s fiercest and finest hunters. Hunters who have shown me nothing but the same care and veneration as they’re currently showing this rare and toxic creature cupped in Tarek’s hands.
They’ve taken something that most others would consider a threat, a hazard that should be immediately destroyed, and not only saved it, but respected and revered it. I’ve convinced myself that I could be nothing more than a passing fancy to them. I’ve done what I could to keep a firm distance, to take what they say and do at face value. I’m always looking for ulterior motives and trying to stay several steps ahead of how they could turn things against me. But as I look at the Empress in all her alarming glory, held so gently in hands capable of ruthless violence and callous annihilation, I question the way I’ve been seeing things.
How many times will I watch the Scorpions sting themselves in an effort to prove the sincerity of their actions and words?
I’ve been quick to deny that I have anything to gain by trusting them, but the truth is that they have more to lose by trusting me. Their home. Their stories. Who they really are and where they come from. The veil has been pushed aside for all of it, yet I haven’t been able to see it for what it is. Even now, doubt creeps in, whispering that I should slink back into my safe and jaded ways.
“Auset, did you hear me?” Tarek presses, and I’m jerked from my turbulent contemplation.
“What?” I ask, flustered, my gaze dropping to his lips. It’s more of a struggle than I want to admit to focus on his words and not the lush mouth that’s speaking them.
“I’m going to let the Empress sting you,” he states, emphasizing each word to ensure I don’t miss anything this time.
“No,” I immediately argue, but I already know it’s pointless.
There’d be no reason to show off their little treasure—or freakishly hulking treasure, I should say—on the pretense that it will be something that prepares and protects me, unless the goal is to create an immunity to the venom.
“Yes,” Tarek contends evenly, a determined glint gleaming in his gaze.
