Page 268 of Venom Sweeter than Honey
If it weren’t for them, I’d surely have collapsed by now.
My father says something that causes the crowd to roar with laughter.
My gaze finally lifts to meet his. A knowing glint in his eyes makes me ravenous for his blood.
“... I have no doubt, she’ll soon have you all just as enamored as her loyal concubines.”
I have no fucking clue what’s going on, but I have no desire to rule his city.
To fill his depraved shoes.
I force myself to take in the crowd once more.
Allies and enemies.
The only potential allies I see are all wearing palladium.
“To Princess Raia—your soon-to-be Queen!”
The crowd roars again.
My blood boils.
The music returns, rising to mockingly joyous cacophony.
My father shifts towards me, and blessedly, doesn’t touch me. Perhaps he can sense my rage—so potent, it’s a wonder I haven’t grown poisonous spines from every inch of my flesh.
He takes a seat on his throne. The smile on his face is unsettlingly genuine as he gestures for me to sit in the gigantic shell-backed throne beside him.
“Join me, daughter.”
The challenge in his eyes is evident, but I can’t help but recognize the twinkle of hope in them. Two female concubines, both topless, settle on petite, fluffy cushions on the floor beside him—one of whom is distinctly syrith. Her pale blonde hair hangs in a mess of waves at her back, complimenting the monochrome aesthetic of tan skin, brown eyes, gilded horns and bronze gossamer wings. The palladium collar around her throat is also plated in gold.
She is... remarkably beautiful. Like treasure personified.
When my gaze lingers on her, her bowed head lifts almost imperceptibly and her eyes dare a fleeting glance that flicksswiftly over me and my own concubines before fixating on the floor.
My eyes snap to my father’s. A corner of his mouth, so similarly shaped to mine, curls at one corner in a cruel grin.
Just looking at him is painful—the resemblance too obvious to ignore. Even in our mannerisms.
The expression and the knowing look in his eyes seems to say why yes, this is Lucen and Somnus’s soulbound. This is precisely the female you vowed to try and rescue. I dare you to try.
I cannot fathom how he would know, or why Somnus would betray us, but I realize that I am so out of my depths I might very well drown standing on solid ground. Though the more my mind lingers on the idea that it was Somnus who betrayed us, the morewrongit feels, even if I can’t imagine who else could have known.
The leather handle of the three chained leashes in my hand is the only thing keeping me afloat. That I am not alone at all, but with my mates. So I stride towards the throne awaiting me and sit just as a male concubine appears from behind my father’s throne.
As stormy, deep blue eyes, framed by dark blond lashes, meet mine.
As a strong jaw that I once peppered with kisses, clenches.
As my eyes sink briefly to the faint, unmistakable, and all-too-familiar scars decorating a broad chest that I once sought solace in.
Somehow the shock of seeing him is even more powerful than my father publicly announcing me as his heir. I feel as if I’ve been struck with a bolt of lightning.
My father snaps his fingers and points at the floor in front of him.
Wearing only the permitted cloth of two handspans, Lucen promptly steps forward and kneels in front of him settling on all fours.
