Page 17 of The Princess and Her Grand King

Their lives had ended back in Urai. Two years later, they still hadn't moved on, still hadn't found their place in Navia.

It may have been their home, yet it didn't feel like home. Not like Urai did.

With a heavy sigh, Aekeira made a decision. "I will try talking to her again tonight, but I cannot promise anything."

Lord Ottai nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Princess. We will get a guesthouse in town to spend the night, but we must leave tomorrow. Zaiper has no idea we are here, and the people are left under his care. We have already been away for three days, and there's still a two-day journey ahead of us. We really can't stay longer than tonight. I really hope this works."

Aekeira hoped so too.

Chapter five

SHATTERED. DEFEATED.

MistressSinailimpedbackto her chambers, her mood blacker than the stormy sky outside. Every step sent a sharp jolt of pain through her.

She paused, casting a furious glare over her shoulder toward Greyrock.Heartless, sadistic, vile Zaiper.

She was Daemonikai's mistress, not his. Zaiper didn’t get to lay with her, to treat her body like it was his to take, whenever or however, he pleased.

Sinai liked to think herself no stranger to the rougher sides of sex, she even preferred it. But there was rough, and then there wasZaiper’skind of rough.

The male was a monster who reveled in blood. He played with blades as though they were toys, slicing into flesh with a happy grin. And he liked to go dry.

A shudder of revulsion coursed through her, making her limp more pronounced.

Sinai had always known about Zaiper’s depravities. Hell, there had been an entire century where she had indulged in countless affairs with him because of it. But either he had grown sicker over the years, or he was punishing her for her slip-up three days ago.

"Are you alright, Mistress Sinai?"

Sinai straightened her spine, masking her pain as much as possible. "Mistress Gaille. What brings you to this part of the fortress?”

"Oh, you know how it is with us ladies," Gaille simpered, approaching with a saccharine smile that made Sinai’s teeth ache. "We like our fresh air anywhere we can get it."

"Is that so?" Sinai's tone was clipped.

"Indeed." Gaille's eyes raked over Sinai, her lips thinning. "Although someone has been visiting my master's quarters more frequently than expected. How many days now?"

Sinai lifted her chin defiantly. "Your master and I have some business to take care of."

"Business, you say? Business it is then." Gaille's voice dripped with venom. "Do not poach around my master, Mistress Sinai. He ismine."

Sinai scoffed. "Yours and a few hundred others. Do not be delusional, Gaille. Your master belongs to no one and everyone."

Gaille's face reddened with anger, but she took a deep, measured breath.

Sinai watched, amused, as the other woman struggled to control her rage.

Finally, Gaille spoke through gritted teeth. "How would you like it if I perched around your master?"

Sinai's laughter rang out through the corridor, sharp and mocking. "We both know you have tried before. Numerous times, even. And every time he rejected you like a sack of rotten potatoes."

Gaille's handmaidens gasped in unison, their faces a vision of shock and outrage. Their mistress turned a deep, furious red, her veins pulsing visibly beneath her skin. Sinai half-expected her to shift right then and there.

"My master is wanted by all, but unattainable to any." Sinai smiled. "Unlike your master, who mounts anything with a hole, male and female, anything with a pulse—or without one, for that matter."

Gaille's smile was a cruel slash across her face. "At least my master desires me," she retorted, crossing her arms. "My master may take many, but he still wantsme. I get naked, climb into his bed at night, and he welcomes me.Unlike you."

Sinai’s amusement died.

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