Page 30 of A Kingdom of Wild and Power
Alina rubbed her aching hand, brow creased in confusion.
‘Shall we escape this dreadful ball?’ Hagan offered quickly, eager to amend his misstep.
Ash’s golden eyes lit with immediate enthusiasm at the thought of fleeing the suffocating dances and watchful court. Alina opened her mouth to protest, but Hagan leaned in and pressed a kiss to her cheek. She stilled, then nodded.
Hagan took her hand once more and drew her from the hall, with Dawn and Ash close behind, leaving the music and the masks in their wake.
The doors to Hagan’s chambers burst open without warning, wrenching him from his daydream. He glanced over his shoulder, a scowl forming. Who would dare enterwithout knocking? The answer, of course, was no one.
Until now.
His eyes flashed at the sight of Theodora strolling in as though she owned the place. He drew breath to reprimand her insolence, then stopped. He had never paid her much attention before. She was slight, pale, her face dusted with freckles. Her long brown hair held nothing remarkable to his eye. She was the sort of woman most people forgot the moment she left the room.
Plain and unremarkable.
And yet, something had changed.
She looked the same, yes, but now there was a sharpness to her, something that demanded a second glance. Perhaps it was the danger coiled within those purple eyes—once wide and fearful, now narrowed, defiant, alive with challenge.
She spotted him on the terrace and planted herself in the centre of the chamber, one hand settling on her hip. A laugh escaped her lips at the irritation and confusion etched across his face.
‘Oh, do stop sulking,’ she said lightly. ‘Even in a different body, I ought to be recognisable.’
The voice was Theodora’s, but roughened, threaded with a dark seduction.
Hagan exhaled slowly.
‘Eris,’ he said. ‘You’ve returned.’
She nodded, sliding her hands languidly down her borrowed form. ‘I’ve acquired myself a new vessel. I trust you don’t mind. You never cared much for this one, did you?’
‘I don’t care for any of them,’ he replied.
Eris arched a brow. ‘Don’t whine.’ She strode onto the terrace, casting a bored glance over the landscape below. ‘We need to plan. My death has delayed matters.’
‘You’re right.’
‘You’ll gather the witches and march on the Kingdom of Fauna,’ Eris said.
‘And you?’
‘I’m going to bring you gifts.’ Her smile turned wicked before she pivoted and returned to the chambers. With deliberate slowness, she twisted and tugged at the dress she wore, letting it slip from her shoulders and pool at her feet. She stood naked before him, utterly unashamed.
‘You’ve already fucked this body once, haven’t you?’ she asked, lifting her long brown hair to bare her throat.
Hagan did not move from the terrace. He watched her carefully, unease coiling in his gut. He did not know what game the goddess was playing, only that a part of him suspected she would be his undoing the moment he ceased to amuse or serve her.
‘You couldn’t touch me when I wore your sister’s flesh,’ she continued, her cruel smile widening. ‘We gods have no issue with such things… but I know mortals tend to recoil from bedding their kin.’
Hagan said nothing.
Her dangerous purple eyes locked onto him.
‘Must I beg?’ she asked softly.
Hagan stepped towards her at last, his hands settling at her narrow waist. He leaned in and traced his tongue along her neck, tasting her. She responded by steering him back towards the vast bed and pushing him down onto it, straddling him and holding him firmly in place.
‘Have you ever fucked a goddess?’ she asked.
