Page 2 of Stolen
But who among us believes in true love?
Not Thorne, with his scars and fiery contempt.
Not Kael, with his ocean of regrets and submerged secrets.
Not Dagan, the stone-hearted executioner with his angelic appearance and Demonic ruthlessness.
And certainly not me.
Love is a myth.
A pretty lie.
But mating? That we can fake.
“Humans,” I say, leaning forward, fingers steepled. “They’re the key.”
“Humans?” Dagan says the word like it’s a curse.
“What are you on about? Azarethcannot be faked,” Thorne scoffs.
“Wait a moment. Alaric might be on to something,” Kael murmurs.
All of his attention is on me.
Of all the Lords, Kael and I get along the best. And judging by his smirk, he knows where I am going with this.
“Think about it for a second,” I continue. “I don’t speak of forging a real soul bond. Not azareth,Thorne.Merely theappearanceof one.”
Everyone is silent. So, I press on.
“Humans have the softest hearts in any realm. Fragile. Loyal. Starved for affection. If we want to get past the crown’s magic, if we want it tothinkwe’ve found our true mates, we’ll need to charm the Fates themselves.”
Thorne scoffs. “You want us to seducemortals?”
“I want one of us to win,” I say, shrugging.
“Oh, I see. And we should all believe that you,Lord Alaric, would be content with any one of us wearing the Prime’s crown?” Dagan turns his lips downward and growls.
“You can hear lies as well as I?—”
“Yes, but you are theLord of Illusion. You lie better than most,” he interrupts.
“Do you dare impugn my honor in my own home, Lord Dagan?” I growl, feeling my magic spike alongside my temper.
“Brothers, please! We must remember ourselves. Without a Prime, our baser instincts vie for control. But we are better than that. Now, let’s hear Alaric out,” Kael says, standing and raising his arms in peace.
“Ifwe can get a human to fall in love with us?—”
“Wait like share one woman?” Kael asks, eyebrows raised.
This one. Always thinking with his cock.
I roll my eyes at him, fighting my smirk when the others do the same.
“No!” I snort. “Look, if each of us finds one human woman and gets them to fall for us, and I mean truly fall in love with us, then maybe the crown won’t know the difference. Maybe it won’t care if we don’t love in return. The Fates won’t test us. They’ll justbelieve.”
Kael tilts his head. “And if we fail? If we bind ourselves to the wrong ones?”
