1
MAURA
HALLOW LAND—THE PAST
“Perhaps my womb is broken.”A savage smirk overtook Maura’s face. “Or, perhaps it’s your small prickthat’s the issue.”
Darkness lashed out, striking.
Maura’s head whipped to the side, not one muscle flinching. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
“You dare to disrespect your King?” The Skell King’s grip tightened on her windpipe.
The skeletal tattoos that covered his entire body were now replaced with swirling blackness. A demon unleashed.
“You’re . . . disgusting . . .” Maura spat, ignoring the throb in her cheek.
“Careful,my Queen.With a wicked tongue like that, I might find more pleasurable uses for it. Like cutting it out.” His skeletal face pulled up. “Maybe I’ll send it as a gift to that farm boy you were so fond of back in your village.”
The image of her lover tied up in the village square being tortured, intruded her mind. Shirt torn open, skin flayed—theSkell King’s infamous touch. That was the day he arrived, claiming she washis.
The Skell King clicked his tongue, dragging it up her bloodied face.
“But I do admire pretty, vicious things.” Putrid cold breath hit her forehead. “Your sharp talons and outbursts won’t keep me from getting my heir.”
Bone-white teeth flashed in a sinister grin.
“You see, I’ve found a Soothseer.”
A thousand invisible bugs crawled over her skin.
The Soothseers were thought to have been long gone.
“They’ve foretold the most intriguing prophecy. One where my heir has immeasurable power. And you, my dutiful Queen, will bear me that child.”
Maura’s eyes sealed shut, fighting the burn behind them.
Slowly, the shadows receded, disappearing. Along with the Skell King.
Maura quietly creptthrough the hallway of the dark castle. It was eerily silent, like it usually was most days.
Orbs hovered above, casting flickering light onto the deep red carpet beneath her feet. It was faint but not faint enough to shadow the cobwebs building on the dark stones above. Spiders seemed to be the only happy residents of this ghastly place. Maura studied them, distracted, before smacking right into something hard.
“My Queen,” a horrid voice rumbled, stunning her.
One of the Skell King’s men glared at her suspiciously. He was a menacing figure, Skell tattoos lining his arms and neck on full display, the marks of his allegiance to the King. Long dark hair was tied back, and a meaty hand casually gripped an onyx blade at his side.
No, not casually,intentionally.
“The King made it very clear you are to remain in your chambers.” He stepped closer with a cruel smile, his eyes trailed down her body as he flashed fangs, thirsting. “Or do you need a reminder?”
She was done being the King’s prized bitch, caged for breeding. She was done with his rats spying and gawking at her any chance they got. Normally, she’d use a spell to remove their memories of seeing her, but tonight, she wasdone.
Maura matched his smile and tilted her head, “I wonder how those pretty little fangs would hold up against stone.”
He only had a second to give her a confused look before an invisible hand wrapped around his throat, crushing. Wide eyes turned bulging as he desperately clawed at his neck.
Maura’s eyes grew black and her tattoos began to dance up her arms. Weaving her hands, she whispered the incantation and held out her arm as if it was doing the strangling. Suddenly, she swung it toward the stone wall with force and the man’s body followed. Face nearing purple and mouth agape, he smashed into the wall with an audible crack. Crimson painted his body as it slumped to the floor, dead weight.
