It’s like being struck by lightning. But in a good way. My body convulses from that single drop. My lungs heave for breath, my empty cunt clutches down on a phantom intrusion that I welcome, and I scream, racing toward a climax that will burst me apart at the seams.A climax that never comes.I never come.“What did you do?” I gasp, sweat rolling down my face as every nerve strains with the agony of need.“I told you. It’s more potent.” He moves up my writhing body to cup one of my breasts. The touch, even through the silk nightgown, should be enough to bring me over the edge, but I’m stuck. He lifts my breast free and sucks my exposed nipple into his mouth, closing his tongue over it.“Please,” I whimper, overcome by the aching want that grows stronger by the second.“The only thing they can’t quite get right,” he says, referring to the thralls that formulated the substance, “is how long it lasts.”“W-wha—”“And there’s such a long period of time before orgasm is even possible—”“Wha
“Ready?”I glance up from the mirror. Staring at myself isn’t going to fix any of the myriad flaws I suddenly find with my appearance, which has been impeccably styled by a gaggle of strangers who brushed and blushed and zipped and tucked me into the regal woman in my reflection.Clare stands at the door, looking more like a queen than I ever will. She wears a gown with a similar cut to mine, a faux-Tudor look with heavy brocade trumpet sleeves and a tight bodice with a low, square neck. My skirt is a little fuller than hers, and mine is white and gold where hers is pale yellow; when we walk out of my sitting room—currently a staging area for all the preparation that went into my look—we make a swishing sound.“I’m nervous,” I whisper, as if it’s not a foregone conclusion.Clare, always the more practical of my two sisters, advises, “Don’t let them see it.”The lack of comfort is oddly comforting.In the entry hall of the residence, we’re joined by a retinue of thrall guards, and Tara
Blood.It’s blood on my hands, across the front of my gown. I cast my gaze to my sisters, first; Clare and Tara are both wide-eyed, but I see no obvious wounds on them.The acolyte is on the ground, a throwing knife lodged in her spurting throat.“Protect the queen!” someone shouts.It’s Nathan.I throw my hand out to grab him. I need an anchor in the chaos. He would never let them hurt me, never let—He grunts in pain and staggers back. More blood splashes across my gown and I scream.Someone grabs me, and I’m torn from Nathan’s side. The last thing I hear him say is, “Get the queen to safety!”“What’s going on?” Tara cries as the thrall guard drags us into the empty ball room.I look back at the crowd as the doors close and fear claws up my throat.“Take them to the residence,” the head guard orders. “I want shutters, spike strips, nobody leaves through the front gate.”I blink at him, thinking he’s talking to me, but he’s speaking into his wire. Someone grabs me by the arm and phys
It takes two hours to round up all of the traitors on the property. There’s still no word from Hannah or Ryan, though that could be because I get shitty mobile signal in the safe room.Tara’s condition is improved greatly, though the medics continue to monitor her. Nathan, however…Once he’s stabilized, I sit by his bedside, just watching his labored breathing. They’ve got him on oxygen, too, and they’ve put a sterile barrier over his wound. They stitched up some gory slashes on his face. Now, all anyone can do is sit tight until the surgeon from Greater London can arrive.“Your Majesty,” the medic in charge of his care says softly, breaking my attention away from the rise and fall of Nathan’s chest.“Your Majesty,” the thrall says again, “I would be remiss if I didn’t ask again for you to permit a closer surgeon—”“No. I told you, no one from the Toronto pack.” I’m too tired to be regal and furious but I’m tired of being asked the question. “Honestly, you’re all only here because I c
My phone rings at six in the morning. I answer it, my pulse lodged in the hollow of my throat, choking me. The surgeons from Greater London arrived around midnight, and they were working on Nathan when I went to bed. I’m sure this is the call I’ve been sleeplessly waiting for.“Bailey? Is this Bailey?”“Hannah?” I have never been gladder to hear my best friend’s voice. “You’re okay? You’re all okay?”“We’re fine, we got out!” There are tears in her voice and muffled sniffing as she says, “You’re alive.”“Of course, I’m alive.” I fumble to turn on the bedside lamp. “Do people not know that?”“No one knows anything,” Hannah tells me. “There hasn’t been a peep out of Aconitum Hall. Nobody knows if the coup was successful.”“It wasn’t,” I state firmly. “I made a video addressing the pack last night. It’s going to be distributed through the private network.”“You made it?” Hannah asks. “Does that mean that the king…”“Honestly? I have no idea.” I rub my forehead. “He wasn’t dead when I wen
Hannah arrives just in time for my video address to hit the inboxes of every member of the pack. She pulls it up on her laptop, and she, Tara, Clare, and I sit on my big bed, all squished together around the screen.I’m not sure I even want to see it. I felt like a mess when I recorded it, and I didn’t have a speech writer. But when the royal seal fades from the screen and I see myself, with my head held high and my hair messed up, my eye makeup smudged but my face a stone mask of anger, blood spattered across my gown but my spine stiff and straight, I don’t recognize myself. The person on the screen doesn’t look like a terrified and unqualified twenty-two-year-old who just barely survived a political uprising.“This afternoon, I stood before the Toronto werewolf pack and pledged my life for the good of my subjects,” the unrecognizable me on the screen says.“Are you doing an English accent?” Tara whispers, and Clare shushes her.“Some of my subjects took that as an invitation to take
Though werewolves heal fast, Nathan’s wounds are so severe that even aided by thrall magic, he’s still confined to his bed two weeks later. I get updates on his condition multiple times a day, from an entire team of thrall doctors and physical therapists.With every positive health milestone he achieves, the more I allow myself to be angry with him. He had to know that by announcing us king and queen of both Toronto and Greater London he would create an uproar. I had to scramble to organize an emergency council meeting, to force them all to swear fealty again.At least, those council members who aren’t currently in our dungeons.Not that I could trust any of them, even when they trembled on their knees in front of me. People are scared of me, so my video address at least did something. But there’s no way people just happened to come to the coronation armed, no way they just happened to have those weapons concealed well enough that security didn’t detect them.The riot was planned, and
Have I met Amber? Have I met Amber?“I don’t know. Does she have a scar from me cutting her face up with a broken bottle?” I snap. Then, I remember Nathan’s scar, which is still pink and fresh and bumpy as it heals. I know he’s self-conscious about it. I really hope my remark stings him to the core, but I hate that I feel that way.“Your Majesty,” Amber says, keeping her eyes downcast as she hurries to collect a blouse from within the bedding.I ignore her. She isn’t even in the room, as far as I’m concerned. I choose to keep being furious with Nathan. “I have been working my ass off trying to run not just the Toronto pack, but Greater London, with no help or advice from you. Because I thought you were still recovering.”“I am still recovering,” he protests, gesturing to the bed he’s lounging in.The nerve of him. “No, you’re fucking your mistress!”“We weren’t,” Amber quietly interrupts.“What?” I demand. How dare she speak to me, when I haven’t addressed her. How dare she assume I w