Page 2 of Queen of the Crimson Throne

The male’s brow wrinkled. “Do I know you?” I pushed off the wall, stepping into the light, and removing the hood so he could see my face.

“No, but you could,” I purred. His green eyes glimmered as they roamed over my face to the exposed skin of my chest where my breasts were on full display as they strained against my corset.

I turned and walked down the alley, not needing to look back to know he was following me.

They always did.

Only once I reached the end of the alley did I turn around, finding the male prowling towards me. “Who knew my luck at cards would continue into the night?” He drawled. One of hishands grabbed my hip and he braced the other on the wall beside my head, causing the thin material of his shirt to slip up the pale skin of his arm.

“What a pretty little thing you are.” I resisted a shudder as he ran his nose over my cheek, breathing me in as my eyes darted to the dark ink painting the inside of his forearm. I smiled coyly as I looked at him, taking my bottom lip between my teeth as I let my eyes roam over his body.

I ran my hand up his thigh and under his shirt.

“Are you going to fuck me in this alley?” The hand on my hip gripped me tighter as he ground against me.

“Fuck.” He moaned. “That’s exactly what I’m going to do.” He ducked his head, his lips lingering over my exposed collarbone.

A smile ghosted my lips as I wrapped my hands around the male’s cock, giving it a long stroke with one hand through his pants as I reached for my dagger with the other.

2

LENNOX

The male didn’t notice my dagger had pierced into his side until it was too late. He didn’t even have time to scream before I removed it and shoved it through his heart. Blood splattered my clothes, I could feel it against my bare chest as I removed my dagger, stepping back to allow the male to slump to the ground with a thud.

His eyes searched mine in confusion as he lay on the ground, looking for some sign of remorse as blood leached from his wounds, forming a puddle beneath him.

“Does that always work?” A soft feminine voice called from behind me. A voice tinged with judgment, which I had grown all too accustomed to over the past weeks.

“Does what always work?” I didn’t look over my shoulder as I knelt next to the male’s body, cleaning the blood from my dagger on his shirt.

“Seducing them so they’re too distracted to know you’re going to kill them?” I rolled my eyes. Grasping the male’s arm in my hand, I drew a small ball of flame in the other as I assessed the tattoo on his arm.

The three interlocking circles with an intersecting triangle glared back at me under the soft light. “It makes it easier,that’s for sure.” The male continued to gasp for breath as I rifled through his pockets for anything of value. “People are a lot less suspicious of me when I’m giving them the impression I’ll give them pleasure. It’s a surefire way to get anyone stupid enough to work for the Vanir to follow me down a darkened alley.”

Finding nothing in the male’s pockets, I stood and faced my sister. Kara stood with her arms crossed glaring at me. Her dark cloak concealed her subtle body, revealing only her narrow nose and full lips under the shadows of her hood. Her emerald eyes sparkled in the dim light of the moon.

“You’re killing for sport now?” Kara’s gaze flitted toward the dying male on the ground. “You didn’t even try to get any information out of him before you killed him.”

“There was nothing useful he could have given me.”

“And how do you know that?”

“I have my ways.” She didn’t need to know I had killed his friends earlier. That I had taken my time to get the information I needed out of them before I killed them. They had nothing to share I didn’t already know. The only piece of information worthwhile was about their friend who traveled with them to Alethens on the Vanir’s dime only to abandon them once they arrived. This male might not be working with the Vanir, but he had been associated with them at one point. I couldn’t leave any loose ends.

“One of these days this is going to come back and bite you in the ass,” Kara countered.

I shrugged. “How so?”

“Someone is going to catch you one of these times, Len,” she whispered angrily. I laughed, the sound cold and bitter as it ricocheted through the alley.

“And what if they do? Are they going to report me to the queen? Do you forget who you’re talking to?”

Kara let out a harsh breath. “Goddess, I knew it was a fool’s errand to try to tell you to be less reckless, but Lennox, I’mworried for you.” She approached me, taking my hands in hers. “You need to be more careful.”

I pulled my hands out of her hold and crossed my arms instead. “I need to take down the Vanir and stop them from killing any more innocent people.”

“And killing them on the streets every night is going to do that?” She took another step towards me. “Tell me, Lennox, in all the nights you’ve spent out here, stalking and killing Vanir, have you found any information of use?” Her words stung like a blow, my jaw clenching as I rolled over her words in my mind.

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