Gods May Cry: A Monster Romance (Monsters of the Dark Fae Book 1) by Lea Jade

Author:Lea Jade [Jade, Lea]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Jade Publishing
Published: 2022-12-05T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

RÍONA

I try the dress on, mostly because I’m chilled to the bone. It fits perfectly like a second skin, clinging to my body. The sheer material wraps around my neck like a halter and drapes down over my hips to the floor. A cut-out strip shows skin beneath my breastbone to my waist and at the sides. Other than that, it covers the rest of me.

And it’s warm…which is good because the Mortal Hall is a cold dark place.

As I walk back to the main room, the girls who welcomed me sit in groups of twos or threes, talking in hushed voices. There doesn’t seem to be anyone guarding the door, so I walk up to it.

“You go through there, and the goblins will eat you.”

I turn around to see Hazel standing behind me, tucking her dark hair behind her ears.

“Goblins?” I sound like an idiot.

She sighs. “Your prince didn’t tell you anything, did he? Usually, they just bring girls here and dump them.”

“He didn’t dump me.”

Hazel rolls her eyes and gives me a look like she’s trying to help and I’m being difficult.

“What happened to the others?” I can’t bring myself to ask if they are dead. “Falcon said there were…losses?”

“She shouldn’t have said that. Fal can be pretty dense sometimes.”

“What happened?” When she doesn’t say anything, I add. “Please, tell me.”

Her face softens. “Sometimes, if we aren’t strong enough to handle the magic, the vines can consume us completely.”

“The vines? The creepy plants growing through everyone’s skin?” Hazel’s thorns look to be digging in, but they haven’t burrowed all the way as the others have.

“The darkbrier vines are from the Severed Valley, so they only grow in blood seeped in magic. They let the queen know who is the most potent by blossoming in the presence of strong magic.” She lifts her wrist showing her withered vine. “I have the least power, the vines aren’t even feeding off my blood.”

“I think I would prefer that.”

She blinks at me. “Trust me, it’s better to be useful to the queen. If they don’t start to drink soon, she might send me to the breeding cells where they took your Prince Kellan.”

When she sees the horror on my face, she quickly continues. “But that hardly ever happens, and Samhain is so close now. Now there are seven of us, one for each court, the queen can perform the ceremony to harvest the magic seeded in our blood years ago, enriching her powers and the lands she rules over.”

“But I don’t have any magic.” There’s obviously been some mistake. “Kellan told me I had to come here to serve for seven years. He said nothing about this.”

Hazel side-eyes me. “Princes can be tricksy. They only tell you what you need to know. It’s how they get around the not lying rule. Your prince must know if you have magic inside you. He’s the one who gave magic to your family, right?”

“I think so. My Gran made a deal with him.”

“There you go then.

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