Page 115 of A Bond in Blood

I snapped my eyes to him. “What?”

“Lord, my title.”

“I apologize,” I cleared my throat. “I did not know.”

Bjorn waved his hand without a care. “My little plot of landgraciouslygifted to me by the king is not one to worry about. I’m rarely there.”

He stood, placing his hand against my back. “Have you had enough to drink, princess?” he whispered.

My shoulders grew stiff, and I turned my eyes to Ulrich. My hour was close to ending. This much I knew and by the evident hate in his eyes, I knew I’d picked the best partner for whatever this night would entail.

I turned back to Bjorn. “I believe I could do with one more.” My stomach rolled in protest while the words left my lips, but I remained calm. I had to dull my senses further to allow my body to lose itself in lust with the Unseelie before me.

Bjorn dropped my hand, bowing his head. “I will return shortly.”

I sat back in my chair, my head spinning with the moving bodies around me.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Olen snarled above me.

I glanced up then shrugged. “Found a partner.”

“You’re intoxicated,” Olen stated. “You can’t.”

“Ulrich did not say I couldn’t be filled with liquor. He said I had to find a partner.”

Olen’s body turned toward the dais, and I followed his gaze, finding a line of naked bodies circling around Ulrich.

“What is that?” I asked.

“The Rite requires nine deals to be made. One of peace, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery.”

I stared at the bodies, counting exactly nine. A group of both men and women.

“How does he complete these deals? What does any of that mean?”

Olen sighed. “He fucks them, Brenna. Before us all while they yell out their deals and intentions.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“That’s the Rite,” Olen replied blankly. “We all do the same, declaring our intentions.”

“Ulrich mentionedsacrificeand blood.”

Olen laughed. “Each person before him will offer him blood and he will offer his own before he takes them. And then, the one declaring a deal oftreachery,will be sacrificed.”

His hand wrapped around my mouth, muffling my shocked yell.

I wiggled away, shoving him from me. “He can’t do that!”

“He can and he will.”

“Do they know they’re going to be sacrificed?”

Olen’s eyes went back to the dais and the bodies kneeling before their king.

“Not one of them realizes what deals their hearts long to make until his blood hits their tongue. Sacrifice is an honor they all wish to have, but even their own treachery will shock them.”

“He…” I paused, raising my brow. “Allof them?”

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