Page 34 of Ravenous

“Not anymore.” He spoke the words as if pronouncing a new law.

“Where am I?”

“Your new home.” His contempt for her crawled through the space like a draft.

“We are…wed?” At his slight nod, she said, “Why would Queen Yrsa decree that? You clearly resent this marriage.” Lia had always known her wedding night would be uncomfortable. She’d underestimated how literal that would be.

“I resent it because I wanted a Berserker wife—a warrior female to earn ohalla alongside me—notthis.” The last word was a lip curl as he gestured to her. “But outside a fated connection, Yrsa chooses our spouses. Her rule is absolute, her word law.”

Yet Lia sensed more between those two than a simplerulerandsubjectrelationship.

“We’ve heard your kingdom breeds Berserker slaves.” Tension emanated from him. “Is that true?”

She felt the room tilt. The rumor had followed her into this territory, as she’d hoped. But now, she feared he might snap if she confirmed the truth. He seemed tolongto kill her. “My f-father does that,” she said, the confession trembling out. “He—yes.”

Arctos’s jaw worked. “How many?”

“A hundred. Maybe more.”

“Why do they not rise?” He sounded incredulous. “They might be mortal, but they possess Berserkerage.”

“They’re…drugged.” She hadn’t thought Arctos could despise her more. The look on his face said he’d reached a new level. “If I’d had any power whatsoever, I would have freed them!” At his expression of disbelief, she said, “Vampires can’t lie. We feel therána, a burn in our throat, if we try.”

“Maybe you have no ill effects from lying. You can day walk. Other abilities might be less apparent.”

She couldn’t fault his logic. “You’re right. You have no reason to trust me.”

He seemed surprised by her concession, then irritated. “You could have chosen any faction. You chose Berserkers.”

She’d blown dust from book after book, learning everything those brittle pages could teach her about the various immortal lands. “I studied the lore around the Channeler Stone. I felt it would protect me.”

“How much Old Norse did you learn?”

“I memorized exactly what to say.” She hedged truth with the smallest truth. No one needed to know how deeply she’d read.

“If you learned about our kind, then you know that each Berserker must carry their own weight. What did you plan to do?Princess yourselffor meals?”

“I hear it’s a dying art?” she said, surprising herself, but his scowl just deepened. “I could cook. Or clean.”

“Have you ever done either?”

“Well, no.” She rubbed one bare foot over the other. Dried blood and cuts still marred the soles. “But I’m a fast learner!” Confidence, she’d learned, was easiest when no one tested it.

He rolled his eye. “For now, you’ll have others tend to you. Your duty will be to learn the ways of a warrior, training relentlessly.”

Lia could read her future as well as a soothsayer. This man was going to make her life unbearable.

He stepped closer and looked her over like a general assessing a recruit—gaze tracing her wrists, the thinness of her arms, the way her nightgown hung slack.

This appraisal was shockingly bold, as if he owned her. Could he see the outline of her breasts and hips in front of the hearth? Words rushed from her lips: “Do you expect to…b-bed me?” She trembled at the thought.

Instead of the lust Co?tin would have shown her, this man looked even more repelled. “My staff wouldn’t rise for one so feeble as you.”

She winced and muttered, “You’re not exactly what I’d pictured for myself either.” Her gaze slid to his face as she said the words, but his scars weren’t his most off-putting feature.

No, his hatred and intense physicality made chills race over her skin. When she shuddered, his blond brows drew together.It’s not your scars. It’s everything!

Her reaction seemed to enrage him. Between gritted teeth, he said, “My mate might still be out there. But I’m stuck here with you, a helpless parasite. IfI somehow find my true female, she will annihilate my ‘wife,’” he said, sneering the word. “If you’re even alive that long. Training accidents occur with those who aren’t fully immortal. Helps weed out the weak.”