Page 29 of Summer's Seduction

My pulse fluttered as my gaze sharpened. I spun, putting more distance between us as I danced while doing my best to mask the spike of trepidation. Those in The Underworld, even The Night Children, would be able to tell I smelled different than other souls, but Megara confirmed they shouldn’t be able to guess I was alive. They were meant to remain here, separate from those in The Realm of The Living. Despite the danger that put me in, I was hopeful he’d seen my sister.

“I’ve been told that,” I shrugged, wanting this interaction to end but needing to know if he’d seen any sign of Psyche. “Some say my spirit must have been powerful in a previous life for the ghost of it to cling so desperately to my current form. Tell me, have you seen a living soul? Is what they say about me true?”

“You fall short of a real soul.”

My heart squeezed, both from his words and the way he was already in my space again. The scent of sour alcohol wafted from his breath, causing nausea to roll in my gut. Forcing myself not to recoil, I ignored the heat of his breath on my cheek. I drew further into that numb place within myself when his handsreached beneath my cloak and touched the exposed skin of my stomach above my golden skirt.

“So, you’ve met one. A real soul?”

His lips were dry and scraping along my neck. I couldn’t suppress the shiver of disgust that shot down my spine but managed to conceal it with a turn as the music slowed.

He tilted his head to the side, and I thought maybe I hadn’t done a good job hiding my true feelings. Risking being further weakened, I sent a pulse of magic out.

Lust. Anger. Entitlement. The emotions swirled around him like a storm. Too volatile. Too dangerous.

“I’m sorry,” I offered, turning to leave, but his hand was around my arm before I could go. Fear pricked through me at his hold, drawing forth memories that had me reaching for my magic, even if it killed me, but then he spoke.

“I have.”

“You have?” I echoed, disbelief and hope coloring my voice. “Where?”

And just like that, he grinned like a cat who’d caught a mouse. “Best we speak in private. I heard Morpheus is lurking tonight.”

My brows furrowed, not wanting to follow him up the staircase in the shadows but finding myself unable to resist. He could hold the key to finding Psyche.

“I’ve seen a living soul,” he said, pulling me along a narrow hallway. Small rooms branched off to the right with what looked like a large office at the end. The music rose from the floor below, the scent of blood and sex making my head fuzzy.

“Why are we up here?” I asked, noting the pressure of his hand on my arm as he tugged me along. My head felt fuzzy like the world was slipping into a dream.

He only laughed. “You remind me of her.”

“Of who?”

There was someone important he was telling me about. Something I needed to do, but the more I reached for it, the further away it got.

“Say right here,” he commanded, his grip on me pricking as his voice vibrated through me.

I rocked as he let go of me, leaning against the thin, black iron fence that prevented me from falling into the crowd below. My feet felt like I’d stepped in tar, my mind a thick haze.Fuck, he was using persuasion on me.

Gods below, I hadn’t even noticed. My heart raced as fear doused the air. I needed to get the fuck out of here.

“Yes, yes,” he said, reaching for a key to the locked door before him. “Compulsion is a subtle change from persuasion, but I find it makes things far more enjoyable.”

“You bastard,” I breathed, reaching for the dregs of my magic only for them to be stomped out.

“You really sound just like her,” he chuckled, the lock clicking as the key turned.

I stilled, wishing I could banish that growing dread twisting in my stomach. He turned back to face me, inhaling the scent of my fear as he took hauntingly calculated steps forward.

“She was a pretty little thing, too. Hair so blond it was white, and her blue eyes so pale they were like the crisp sky of an autumn morning.”

Psyche.Gods, no. Not here. Not with him.

“She was beautiful. Pure. At least, she was before my brothers met her. I’m not sure what that little bitch did to them, but they were never the same after. You’ll pay for what she did.”

Lead dropped into the pit of my stomach, tears tumbling down my cheeks as I bared my teeth at the piece of shit before me.

“I’ll kill you,” I seethed, still trapped in his compulsion.

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