Page 9 of Avaritia

“I’m sure it won’t be a problem for Damen to stop in and check on me,” I cut in. For a Shade on the verge of death who was relying on this arrangement going ahead, Theon was a real uncooperative little asshole. “Will it, Your Grace?”

Theon gave me a flat stare, glowing pink eyes giving nothing away. “If he must.”

“There we go, all sorted. Let’s be on our way then.” I beamed at him, and he gave me a look that was perplexed at best.

“Are you sure about this?” Astrid mouthed, narrowing her eyes at Theon as we passed her, heading for the nearest entry room.

I shot her a thumbs-up, which only made her scowl even harder. Truly, there was no pleasing some people.

I’d never seen Theon at court or even heard his name mentioned, but he certainly seemed familiar with the layout of the grounds, seamlessly leading us to the entry room while bypassing the main gardens where the festival was still raging on. Well, the process of avoiding everyone was seamless, whereas the journey itself was actually pretty labored, since Theon didn’t appear to be doing so well.

I almost opened my mouth to suggest we take a break, but he must have anticipated my question and shot me a look so indignant that I decided to just let it go. If he wanted to suffer, that was on him.

“So, shall we get to know each other?” I asked cheerfully. “My name is Verity de Jager, I’m thirty-two. Been in the shadow realm awhile now, yet to find gainful employment. I’m open to job suggestions if you have any.”

Theon shot me a sidelong look, heading into the entry room first without bothering to hold the door open behind him. Not the most chivalrous of dukes, that was for sure.

“Your job will be to feed me.”

“Just to clarify, you know that means sex, right?” I asked bluntly. He looked like a hermit, and I wasn’t sure if he’d gotten the memo that the Hunters’ source of power resided somewhere in their reproductive organs, unlike regular humans, who gave up the energy goods through fear.

“I’m aware,” he clipped.

He didn’t seem too enthused about the idea. Damn it, boring Rigel and his dedication to oral were looking better by the second.

“Are you going to tell me about yourself?” I asked, shifting the weight of the cat carrier from one arm to the other and wondering if I’d been overfeeding Fester.

“I am Theon, Duke of Lindow.”

I waited, but no other information was forthcoming. Way to give me nothing, dude.

The door closed behind me, immediately ensconcing us in darkness. “You’re going to need to hold my hand or something. I can’t navigate the in-between the way you can,” I told him. I could feel my way to a portal, but the random entryways dotted all around the place were only accessible by some kind of internal compass Shades had.

“Hold… your hand?” He made it sound like I’d just asked him to pop a particularly gnarly pimple for me. It didn’t bode well for our sex life, that was for sure.

“Just shepherd me somehow,” I sighed. Theon must have been standing closer than I realized, and I startled as his clawed hand wrapped cautiously around my wrist, tugging me along with him.

If it sucks, you can just tell Damen tomorrow that you changed your mind, I told myself, steeling my resolve. And if it doesn’t suck, well at least you’ve got some purpose now.

I was about to be the most satisfying lay of this dude’s life.

Chapter 3

My intention when I’d stormed Allerick’s party tonight had been to secure an exemption for passage to the human realm so I could feed at will, his idiotic rules be damned. As the former heir, and technically still third in line to the throne, I shouldn’t be subject to all of these ludicrous restrictions. Besides, Allerick would be thrilled if I was killed in the human realm, never to darken his doorstep again.

But this… this colorful, loud, interesting power source I’d brought home with me…

This was much better.

I didn’t need to go back to the human realm to feed. My power source—my Verity—would be living under my roof and I was never going to let her go.

And one day, when I finally overthrew Allerick and took the throne for myself, she would be my Hunter queen. Yes, that was a wise course of action. The realm needed continuity, and a Shade king with a Hunter queen provided that.

It had been very wise of me to kidnap her for myself. Besides, she was… pleasant to look at. Pink. Bright. And she had such interesting, decorated claws. My sister would find them fascinating.

My sister would have to wait, though, because I was very hungry.

Did Hunters require privacy to service Shades? I supposed that wasn’t too much to ask. I could at least show her to her room before I requested her attentions.

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