Page 133 of Lore of the Wicked Wood
“Days away?” Kralv Oldrich interjected. “Yes, I know.”
He tilted his head, his gold crown embellished with black diamonds and etched with a wolf head glinting like a beacon in the dim light. Then he did the unthinkable, he offered her his hand.
“While we wait for Atlas to return from his pleasure parlor, you can come assist me in the dungeon.”
She balked then, shrinking into herself as his words took root inside her, worming their way like a disease into her heart. “I’m sorry, what? Did you just say pleasure parlor?”
The kralv chortled, his massive frame trembling like a mountain on the brink of collapse as his hand fell to his side. “Don’t tell me you thought it was just a rumor?”
At her shocked silence, he arched a wiry brow. “I take it you’ve never seen it, then? Consider yourself lucky. It’s one of the more discreet parlors where patrons lounge on silk and satin pillows, drink copious amounts of whiskey and wine, and fall under the prince’s sexual spell.”
Kralv Oldrich scoffed, his upper lip curling into a sneer. “Vile place. Nothing but a frenzied orgy most of the time.”
Everinne’s stomach soured, and she bit back the urge to heave. She didn’t want to think about the possibility of Atlas between the thighs of another female, even though she’d foolishly told him to do exactly that. She clutched the hem of her sweater, twisting it with her damp palms. The kralv had rendered her speechless in the worst way. She wanted to deny his accusations, to claim that Atlas would never partake in such activities, at least not since he was going to be marrying her. Except she couldn’t find him. The bond was foggy, a distant pullshe could scarcely hold on to, and there was no sign of him anywhere.
“Come along. You can ask Atlas to show you his parlor when he returns.” The kralv snared her elbow and she staggered forward, letting him lead her without question. Guards materialized on both sides of her, and gradually, Everinne’s heart tumbled as her chest hollowed out. “And if he refuses, then I will take you there myself, so you can see exactly who it is you’rereallygoing to marry.”
The dungeon was just as awful as before. It reeked of urine, sweat, and the pungent, metallic tang of blood. Something dripped in the permeating darkness, the steady plopping noise enunciated by the pervasive quiet that seemed to linger between the hushed groans of despair.
Everinne’s only consolation was that Aisling was no longer behind the metal bars. Hopefully, Veros had safely taken her to the Astralplane, and with any luck, she would be free from Prava and the Mystic Obscura. If Kralv Oldrich had even noticed she was missing, he made no show of it. He simply strode through the dank corridor, his chest puffed, his hands curled into meaty fists capable of pulverizing flesh. Maybe he was too consumed with other things, like being an asshole ruler intent on ruining the lives of his people, to realize Aisling was gone.
The cell Everinne stood before was smaller than all the rest, yet it housed two occupants—one male and one female.
The male looked absolutely terrified. He was tucked into the far corner, his knees pulled up to his chest, where he rocked in time to the haphazard beating of his own heart. The clothing he wore was nothing but scraps—the brown pants were shreddedaround the ankles and his threadbare sweater had been torn at the upper arm, where a festering wound bloomed against his discolored skin. His eyes were wide and bulging, his face gaunt as though he hadn’t eaten in days, and his lips were moving. No words were spoken, at least none that Everinne could hear, but she imagined he was likely repeating some kind of prayer over and over in an effort to save him from whatever fate awaited him.
However, the female…she looked ready to rip off the face of anyone who took a step near them. Her eyes were wild, an unnatural shade of yellow, and they flashed with raw loathing. She bared her teeth like a feral animal, pacing the short length of the cell, waiting to pounce. Her navy pants were tucked into a pair of scuffed boots, there was a small gash on her thigh where her blood soaked the cotton fabric, and her ivory blouse was covered in filth. She gripped the bars with such strength, Everinne thought for sure she would bend the metal until it bowed like a tree branch. But the cell held firm, containing the female and her seething rage.
“Everinne.” The kralv spoke her name like a curse. “I’d like you to meet Alevka and Wilhelm.”
She cringed, hating the way he introduced them like they should be familiar with one another. It was some sick, twisted way of making the use of her magic more personal. More vengeful. Even though she held nothing against them.
Kralv Oldrich gestured to the cell, and the female hissed like a rabid beast. “These two are withholding information from the crown.”
“What sort of information?” Everinne didn’t dare look at him. Instead, she kept her gaze focused on the male…the human male, she realized belatedly. She stole a glance at the female who was, surprisingly, also human.
There was a huff of annoyance and the kralv sighed. Heavily. “That’s what you need to find out.”
Everinne shifted, uneasy on her feet. The woman, Alevka, was glaring at her now, her dark brows drawn in suspicion.
“But Your Imperial Majesty,” Everinne began, the beating of her heart suddenly too loud for her own ears. She knew where this was going, she knew what he wanted from her, but it was agony, a kind of self-inflicted pain knowing what she was capable of doing. Unknowing if she’d be able to control herself, or if the darkness inside of her would take over. “I don’t have that kind of power. Reading minds, hearing thoughts…those are not types of magic I possess.”
“I know that, Everinne.” He stalked toward her, gripped the hollow of her cheeks with his thumb and forefinger, and fear licked at the corner of her mind. Tightening his hold, he jerked her face up, as the acrid stench of sulfur and smoke caused her eyes to well with unshed tears. “That is why I need you to force them to talk. Compel them. Do whatever it takes to get me the answers I seek, do you understand?”
Kralv Oldrich shoved her backward, his lack of patience with her etched into the severe lines of his face.
“He wants you to torture us,milazk.”Alevka scraped her fingernails against the stone wall of her cell, the sound enough to make the guards standing watch shudder. “You can try, of course, but your tainted magic will never clear your name. You will always be the prince of pleasure’s whore.”
Everinne faltered. Her lungs squeezed, compressing the air until she could no longer draw breath. She hadn’t been called that in…years. The foul nickname had stuck to her like grime she could never clean from beneath her nails. The orgasm gifted to her courtesy of Atlas’s magic had been the only thing everyone talked about for months. She couldn’t go anywhere without overhearing intentionally loud whispers full of snark orcallous remarks. Some were even bold enough to chastise her to her face, though they were usually female, and almost always jealous. Then for a while, it seemed as though most of Starysa’s elite had all but forgotten about the incident.
Apparently not.
Wilhelm, the male who was still huddled in the corner, suddenly stopped rocking. His round, dull eyes shot to Everinne. His face was a mask of emptiness when he said, “That’s the one?”
“Yeah, I’d remember those eyes anywhere, all glazed and lusty.” Alevka pointed a crooked finger in Everinne’s direction and snickered. “The prince didn’t have to lift a finger, I don’t think he evenlookedat her. But she came apart all the same, moaning and crying out like a common harlot.”
Alevka’s words were like a swift punch in the gut.
Everinne balled her hands into tight fists, clenching her jaw until it ached. She remembered too clearly how Atlas’s magic made her feel, how his quick dismissal of her left her burning with shame. Time had been a burden, moving so slowly, and she’d bottled up that mortification for so long that it fermented into loathing. Except now it no longer mattered, because Atlas was her mate. Still, the sting of the memory did not ease.
