Page 45 of The Alien's Cruel Starfrost Domain

As the kiss ended, I realized her blood called to me, even diluted by her human heritage. The scratches on her arms and face glistened with an otherworldly sheen no pure human’s blood would possess. I’ve seen enough human servants injured to know the difference.

The undead had been drawn to her—more strongly than they should have been to any human. Yet she survived their touch. Their hands on her skin should have drained her life force instantly, leaving her a withered husk. Instead, she fought. Shelived.

I pulled her closer, inhaling deeply. Beneath the earthiness of the graveyard and the sharp tang of fear, her scent carried those traces of sweetness—those hints of snowfly honey and crushed starblossoms.

The exact scent that drew me to track down her bloodline in the first place.

I shouldn’t have noticed these things. Shouldn’t have cataloged the ways she was different. It would only make my task harder.

But as she’d leaned trustingly against my chest, I couldn’t help but breathe her in again as I wondered if I could truly ever prepare to sacrifice her—sacrifice what she could become—to save my world.

Yes, I told myself now.

If I could leave her in the kitchen tonight, I could walk away from her entirely.

I could do what needed to be done. My plan was working—Lara’s blood had called the King of the Dead from his tomb. The fact that I now held the legendary Starfire Crown was all the proof I needed of her ancestry, her powers.

I was right about who she was. What she could do.

And when the time comes, I will be able to sacrifice her.

As I stood and moved to the cabinet to hide the crown I had used Lara to retrieve, I shoved down the part of me that kept whispering its rebuttal into my ear.

You’ll never be able to bring yourself to harm her.

Despite any potential misgivings about my overall plans, I was absolutely certain I could not allow Lara to believe she’d gotten away with trying to flee Starfrost Manor, even though she had followed the exact plan I’d expected her to.

Even though she was the reason I now had in my possession the mystical crown that would allow me to take the Icecaix throne.

I still had to discipline her. But there were several problems with my decision to mete out a fitting punishment.

For one thing, if I tried to punish her behavior privately, I had no doubt where it would lead. I wanted her far too much. If I had her anywhere near my bedchamber—or in my sitting room, or even my study or library, anywhere I could shut a door on the rest of the world—I would be more intent on pleasure than punishment.

And that would not impart quite the lesson I had in mind.

No—this punishment could not lead to anything other than pure humiliation.

And so the day after I’d secured the Starfire Crown, I called the staff into the servants’ dining room. I’d already had Khrint push the long wooden table against the far wall and pull the bench the servants used for seating up to the front of the room.

As they all filed in, I directed the staff to line upalongside one wall.

“I’ve gathered you all here today to discuss a problem,” I announced.

The household servants glanced anxiously at one another, obviously wondering which minor infraction I’d learned of—but for the most part, I long ago learned to ignore the small things, believing that leniency garners more loyalty than a high hand.

Too bad there was nothing small about Lara’s decision to run.

“Lara Evans,” I called out, keeping my voice strong and harsh. “Please step forward.”

All the blood drained from her face, leaving her as pale as an Icecaix.

I could see the memory flash through her eyes of the hanging I’d had to conduct after her first night here.

I was careful not to soften my stance in any way. Better she be afraid now than dead later—or rather, dead before her sacrifice could bear fruit.

The thought that no matter what I did, she would die within the year, settled in my gut like a lump of poisonous iron.

“Yesterday, this kitchen drudge attempted to flee service.” I let my gaze drift around the room, meeting each servant’s gaze. “After due consideration, including taking into account her Earth origins and her relative newness to service, her sentence is as follows.”

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