“I don’t even like him, Arienna.”
“Remember the utter catastrophe that happened the last time you tried to set me up on a date, Arienna?”
Well, there’s no way it’s going to be worse than that. For one, Nicholas doesn’t have an appetite for heads. And two, he doesn’t seem to have diarrhoea.
Feeling better about this, I turn to Jace. “Am I allowed –”
I falter, though, at the hard look in his eyes as he glares at someone down the table. I have never seen him angry before. The twist of his face is terrifying, a cold chill that could frighten even Death itself.
My voice runs to hide behind my pounding heart, and the rest of me is desperate to follow it. When he turns to face me, I nearly bolt, but a lifetime of monster handling keeps me rooted.
Never run in front of a monster. That is when they’ll eat you.
“What was your question, Your Majesty?” he asks, his voice light.His eyes are kind once more, and his signature smirk has returned.
My heart is pounding so loudly, I barely hear him. In all my years of monster rearing, I have never been afraid. But Jace is not someone I’d ever want to be on the wrong side of.
Shivering, I cup my pussy and remind myself that he’s Richard’s best friend. My king wouldn’t have left me with him if he didn’t trust him completely.
“Um, am I allowed to sit somewhere else?” I ask, my voice a bit of a squeak.
Jace leans in, and my legs tense, ready to fling myself away. But instead of attacking me, he murmurs in my ear, his voice so low, I have to strain to hear it. “You can sit wherever you wish, but the nobles closest to us are some of King Morningstar’s biggest supporters. That’s why they get the honour of sitting at this side of the table.”
“Oh…” I take a moment to calm my racing heart. Then, “Can you bring Nicholas here?”
“Yes, but –”
“Do it.”
“I wouldn’t advi–”
“That’s an order,” I say quickly as I flump down in my seat. My pulse is still skittish from the intensity of his stare, and it wasn’t even aimed at me. I don’t want to upset him, but I don’t want to lose Fabia more. I’ll face every monster and break every rule if it means keeping her safe.
His lips tighten, but then he straightens and nods. The ladies and lords all take their seats in a rustle of fabric. “Go get Nicholas, Fabia,” Jace says, his voice clipped.
When she steps away, I lunge to my feet to grab her. I don’t want her to leave my side. What if someone decides to attack us, and she dies trying to save Nicholas’ dumb face again?
“Relax,” Jace murmurs as he guides me back into my chair. The nobles, who all rose when I did, sit down again too. “There are over six dozen soldiers in here. She will be fine.”
My eyes sweep across all the guards stationed against the walls. They’re not wearing the soft leather armour I saw in Kholar; instead, they’re decked out in the hard exoskeletons of beetles. Purple-hilted swords hang at their sides, sheathed for now. But their hands, encased in black gauntlets, linger near them, and their eyes are hard and wary above the spiky, black masks covering the lower half of their faces. They look like the embodiment of nightmares.
Taking a deep breath, I rub my palm against my pussy. The tension in my chest eases as the chastity belt digs into my skin. Remembering I get to take it off when I eat, I jump to my feet again. The entire hall rises once more, and I sit back down just to see if they do.
They do.
I rise.
So do they.
I sit half-way down and hover.
They don’t move.
I sit down.
After a second, so do they.
I half-rise to my feet.
