Page 72 of Their Blood Rite

‘Follow me,’ she sings, leading me down a long hall. ‘I’ll show you.’

The halls are cold and endless. Each one leads to another and another. We pass countless doors made of thick, solid wood. She tells me what lies where. I hear mention of libraries and studies. Of empty bedrooms and storage spaces. We descend stairs and travel along corridors, and on the ground floor, we pass others. They keep their heads down and wear the same brown dresses. The females that I saw the first night wore the same thing. They called them their masters, too, and obeyed the commands they gave them with a courteous bow. None of them lifts their heads, but they glance at me with brief, stolen looks.

The banshee eventually stops, turns to face me and offers me what would be a brilliant smile if not for the lines of razor-sharp teeth.

She’s placed herself slap bang in front of the door, her hand on her hip and her eyes taking another slow analysis of my clothing.

‘Am I supposed to go in there?’ I ask, nodding to the door she’s blocking.

‘Yes.’

‘Are you going to move aside?’

I hear Shaw talking to someone on the other side of the door. He mentions my name, and the banshee’s eyes actually narrow as if I’ve insulted her.

‘They want me. Do you mind?’ I nod for her to move.

‘You are a strange little pet for them to play with. Plain. Much more simple and boring than the rest of us.’ Her hip pops out, accentuating her curves. ‘They usually like to play with much more experienced and alluring creatures. Not little mud witches who ran away from home because she was too scared of a few little pricks on Rite Night.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘The whole castle is talking about it.’

‘About what?’

‘About you running away from the coven’s Rite, of course,’ she giggles. ‘Andthrowingyourself at my masters' mercy. Begging them to take you in.’

‘Beggingthem?’ I scoff.

‘You would have been better off where you were,’ she says, lowering her voice as if sharing a secret. But that smirk says she’s revelling in every second. She steps closer. ‘You might last a week or two here with them,’ she declares. ‘Master Dorian is likely to snap your neck if you irritate him. AndmyMaster Ronan is insatiable.’ She bites her lip and looks dreamily into nothing, recalling a delicious memory. ‘He will not put up with your inexperience and frigidness. I know what he likes. And it is not you. It is not a simple little mud witch who was so scared of sex she ran away from being the wife of a coven leader.’

‘You have no fucking idea who I am, Banshee.’

She looks at me and lets out a small laugh. ‘But… I’m going to say that Master Archie will be the one to go too far and end your fragile little life. He’s a strange male with unusual tastes. Even for me.’ The bitch taps the end of my nose. ‘And I should know.’

‘Is that right,’ I reply, taking a step towards her, sure to hold a polite smile. ‘Maybe it will be Shaw that breaks me in half with his massive cock.’ Her eye twitches as, inside the room, Archie bursts out with laughter. Her smugness fades, and jealousy brims in her eyes. ‘Or perhaps they all will the next time they surround me on the bed. When they take off my clothes and take it in turns to fuck me with their tongues and fingers. When they all make me scream in pleasure.’ I relish how her entire face fills with a jealous rage. I tap the end of her nose in just the same condescending way she did to me. ‘They ever do that to you, Banshee?’

‘You won’t last,’ she says. ‘Iwill.’

‘Perhaps they are bored of monstrous whores,’ I reply. ‘Excuse me, Banshee.Yourmasters are waiting for me.’ I move her aside, clearing my path to the door.

‘Fuck off, Banshee!’ Archie calls, still laughing. ‘Pixie. Get in here.’

She fades to orange smoke, her warning glare lingering.

Well. That was fun.

And for a moment, I actually thought knowing a banshee would be fun. Exciting, even.

Turns out they’re the same as any other female who is jealous of not getting the attention they feel entitled to.

Same as Thalia.

I hear a massive crash, and Shaw swears loudly. Archie bursts into even more hysterics, and Dorian groans loudly.

‘Not sure they’re meant to be on the floor, Shaw, ’ Dorian says.

‘I’m aware of that, Dorian,’ he drawls back. ‘Thanks for stating the obvious.’

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