Page 134 of The Dawn of the Cursed Queen

“Have you been watching me?” I asked.

She leaned forward, her perfectly manicured nail pointing. “I have, and so has he.” I looked, and a man near the door quickly turned away. “And her.” A tall, aristocratic female wearing a dress with a high collar chatted with a group of men dressed in black, each of them hanging on her every word. She saw me looking her way and tipped her glass toward me in a silent salute. “And them.” This time, she pointed to a couple who smiled at me and waved. “So, really, I’m doing you a favor.”

She looped her arm through mine and pulled me along with her. I let her, and the eyes that watched me soon turned away as if being on her arm meant I was no longer an option.

“I thought this gallery was to sell deadly weapons, not people.”

Her laugh was smooth as she patted my hand. “You’ll learn everything can be bought, even flesh.”

My gaze darted toward her, and I unwound my arm from hers. Saving me or not, I wasn’t about to overstep a line, even as harmless as that. I wouldn’t hurt Samkiel. Besides, I’d burn anyone alive who attempted the same with him.

Her smile brightened, but she did not attempt to grab my arm again. “Don’t worry. I will not overstep since you’re a taken woman, but I refuse to do this event alone.”

“Why are you here alone?” I asked as she led me toward the long bar in the corner of the room.

She turned toward me. “Why are you?”

“I’m from Tiv,” I said, using the cover Samkiel, Orym, and I had come up with. “I brought an old battle ax for her highest. Given how low my city is on wheat this year, I hope it will suffice.”

She nodded and leaned against the bar. She raised her hand, and two glasses filled with the same alcohol I’d been drinking earlier slid toward us. I wondered how long she had been watching me. “I’m sorry about that, and I can relate. My home has not had rain in ages. All of our reservoirs are drying up. Our people are dying of thirst, and help is few and far between, so I also brought a few things, hoping for the goddess’s favor.”

“I haven’t met a nice goddess yet, so good luck.”

She only smiled before taking a sip. “My name is Faye, by the way. What’s yours?”

“Xio.” I smiled, using the name I’d claimed in Jade City.

“Ah, a beautiful name for a beautiful woman.”

“No flirting.” I raised my brow.

“It was simply an observation.”

The lights in the room dimmed, and I looked around. A bright light formed toward the back of the gallery, and Faye tilted her head toward it in question. I nodded, and we started working our way through the crowd, leaving my drink behind.

“Gather around and witness a creature from your worst fears,” a deep voice boomed over the speakers. “A legendary being from the deepest, darkest parts of the Otherworld.”

Faye and I drew near as the crowd gathered. They whispered and beamed, excited as they watched the man on the bright rectangular stage. The hairs along my neck prickled, and I turned. There, through the crowd, I caught the shine of those damn golden soldiers.

Faye followed my gaze. “Seems she sent a legion to pick up her supplies.”

I swallowed and watched the commander of her legion step through the crowd. His pointed helmet was tipped with reddish fur, and he proudly wore her banner across his shoulder. He had the same overdone armor that they all wore.

Well, at least we knew they were here, and it wasn’t anyone Samkiel and I couldn’t handle. That calmed my nerves a little.

“Now,” the voice echoed once more over the speaker. “For your once-in-a-lifetime viewing pleasure . . . the murrak!” he called, raising his hand.

My earpiece buzzed as if Samkiel and Orym were both speaking at once, but I ignored it. The curtains behind him parted, and a massive glass cage was pushed onto the stage. People gasped, and I had to shift to see around a tall being in front of me. I took one look and wished I hadn’t.

A hundred or more crystallized, opaque legs tapped on the glass, dancing around the giant shell like an exoskeleton. Its entire body was a shimmering mass of white so pure it was almost transparent. My stomach curled as it writhed. Bugs. I hated bugs, especially giant ones.

Antennae, the same white color, flicked as the murrak raised its giant head and hissed toward the crowd. They gasped and stepped back. Runes appeared on the glass, and nervous laughter rippled through the room when everyone realized the creature was securely contained. I wondered if everything here was contained the same way, even all these weapons. It hissed, pressing against the glass as it tried to push itself out. The runes flared, and it blinked, the cover of its eyes the same opaque color.

“The bidding will start at—”

The murrak raised its thick-plated head, its antennae moving as it sniffed the air. It looked right at me, locking on to my presence. Its body uncoiled, rising in its large clear cage, rows and rows of legs twitching. The pincers along its mouth opened, and an ear-splitting scream emerged, shattering every bit of glass in the room. Lights burst overhead, and everyone screamed because not only had it broken the sound barrier, it broke free of the only thing keeping us separate from it.

FIFTY-THREE

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