Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80903 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Then she turned and began to walk, leading him by his cock out of the bedroom.
Braze stumbled after her, a low growl or pure need rumbling in his chest. Every step was a cascade of sensation—the gentle, inexorable tug on the most sensitive part of his body…the sway of her full hips and lush behind ahead of him…the scent of her arousal mingling with his own in the air.
His whole body felt like it had been dipped in molten flame—every nerve ending begging for release. The leather of his trousers creaked with his movements and the cool air of the sitting room washing over his exposed flesh, doing nothing to cool the inferno.
She let go only as they reached the main door of the suite, releasing her grip on the metal and leather ring. The sudden absence of her guiding touch left him feeling untethered…and dizzy with unmet need.
Goddess of All Life, he thought, staring at the obsidian door as Kaitlyn smoothed her gown and took a steadying breath. How in the Seven Hells am I possibly going to get through this feast?
He had no fucking idea.
11
KAITLYN
The servant in the gold livery led them down another seemingly endless corridor. This one was different from the others—the walls were not black marble, but a deep, iridescent bronze that shimmered like oil on water, reflecting the torchlight in dizzying, liquid patterns.
The ceiling arched high above, lost in shadow, but from that darkness hung thousands of delicate, crystalline filaments, each one vibrating with a faint, sub-audible hum that made the air itself feel charged. It was both beautiful and deeply unnerving, Kaitlyn thought.
At the end of this humming, shimmering hall stood another set of doors. They were not merely golden—they appeared to be forged from a single, colossal slab of amber, within which were trapped millions of tiny, fossilized insects with iridescent wings.
The creatures were caught in eternal, frantic flight—their captured motion creating a mesmerizing, chaotic mosaic. As the two silent guards—their armor made of the same fossil-amber—pushed the doors inward, the light from the hall beyond made the entire tableau seem to writhe with ghostly life.
The sight that greeted Kaitlyn made her eyes go wide.
The Dining Hall was a cavernous space—easily the size of a cathedral—with a vaulted ceiling supported by ribs of glowing, milky crystal that pulsed with a soft, internal light. Long tables, hewn from dark, polished wood, were arranged in a vast U-shape around a central oval space of empty floor—a kind of stage, she realized. At the head of the room, on a raised dais of black stone veined with gold, was the Empress’s own table.
But Kaitlyn wasn’t looking at any of that—it was the arrangement of the guests that truly caught and held her attention.
Because everywhere, wives were seated upon their husbands.
Some males were on their hands and knees on the floor, their backs serving as living benches, their faces impassive or strained as their wives lounged upon them, laughing and gossiping with each other.
Others sat in slightly reclined chairs with their wives perched in their laps. The women’s body language spoke of possession—of casual but complete ownership. They used their husbands like furniture and nobody seemed to mind.
Kaitlyn felt a flutter of panic. Was she supposed to sit on Braze like that? And where were they supposed to go? The sheer spectacle before her was overwhelming.
Just as she was thinking she’d better try to find an empty spot at the U-shaped table, a different servant, his gold livery edged with silver thread, materialized at her elbow.
“The Empress commands your presence at the High Table, Ambassadress,” he murmured, his voice a toneless whisper. “Please follow me.”
They were led past the unsettling tableaux of power and submission and Kaitlyn tried not to stare. The air was thick with the smell of rich, spiced meats…exotic fruits…and the underlying, musky scent of sweat and arousal. She kept her eyes forward, acutely aware of Braze’s massive, warm presence at her back. It felt good to know her Protector was there, even though she wasn’t in any physical danger. The big Beast Kindred made her feel calmer somehow.
They ascended the three shallow steps to the dais. There, the Empress herself held court in a manner that made the other arrangements look tame.
She was reclining on a pile of jewel-toned cushions, but they were arranged on the broad, straining back of a muscular male concubine who was on all fours. The male’s face was red—a mask of controlled endurance—and his muscles were corded with the strain of bearing the Empress and remaining absolutely still. But he wasn’t the only one serving his monarch.
Between the Empress’s spread thighs, which were bare beneath her diaphanous gown, knelt a second concubine. His head was buried in her lap, his shoulders working rhythmically. The wet, slick sounds of his tongue lapping at her flesh were barely audible over the general din, but to Kaitlyn, they seemed deafening.