Page 59 of Siren's Kiss & Feral Beasts
Everything has flowers.
It all reminds me of something Magda loved to set on her coffee table: a mixture of dried petals, herbs, and sometimes fruits that didn’t really smell like anything and always looked suspicious.
That’s what this reminds me of. Too extra and untrustworthy.
A throat clears, and my head snaps toward the doorway, finding a man dressed in a uniform standing there. He’s human. Of that I am sure, just like the pinched face and cold eyes make him someone I do not want to deal with.
“Come with me,” he says, voice clipped, and my assessment was current. Uptight and rude.
“Where?” Not that he hears the question; the man’s exited and is already down the hall when I rush after him. The place is cold, overly decorated, yet smooth beneath my feet. I’m ledto what appears to be a dining hall, and all heads turn in my direction, some assessing me with interest while others look bored, the latter of which turn away and back to being fed on.
Vampires lounge like aristocrats throughout the room, their naked donors displayed like trophies. A copper tang perfumes the air.
And at the center of it all is Lord Severus. I know it’s him because of the way the entire room surrounds him. He sits at a dais, chair high-backed and in a bloody red, with my grandfather standing mere feet from him, staring right at me. He’s also in human clothes, a dark blue suit that isn’t fitting him right, especially in the shoulder area.
“My child. I’ve missed you,” Grandfather says. After being given a subtle nod, he approaches me as my eyes survey the room, looking for a possible exit, but that search ends when pain blooms across my face. What I thought was him coming to give me a fake hug is a literal slap in the face with enough force that I feel blood on my bottom lip.
I lick it, and multiple hisses come from the room, blood red eyes staring.
“This is unlike you, Nerissa. This is the act of an ungrateful, selfish girl.” King Atlas is looking greyish, his cold eyes murderous, especially when he doesn’t see the necklace around my neck. “While your grandmother suffers, you hide here, keeping the only thing that can save her.”
“Or yourself?” That response earns me another slap, harder this time, and I stagger back but don’t fall. My fists clench at my sides. Rage and fear surge within me. “If anyone has been the problem here, it’s?—”
“Enough.” One word, and the room freezes as Lord Severus stands, pushing the woman on his lap to the floor, and walks over to me. In his hand, there’s a white handkerchief, and without asking, he brings it to my lips. He dabs at the cut, hispointer finger skimming across a time or two. A drop of blood smears across it and he stares at it for a moment before licking it slowly, savoring it with a groan. “Simply delicious, Nerissa. You truly are a beauty.”
“I apologize for all the trouble my granddaughter has caused, old friend. I’ll be taking her home now and?—”
“If you lay a finger on her again, I will forget our treaty and collect my debt.”
“Understood. I acted out of fear and concern.”
“Well, see you don’t make that mistake again, Atlas. Don’t tempt fate twice.”
“Of course. Again, my apologies.”
Through their exchange, I remain quiet. Don’t say a word when I’m dragged out of the room by the arm, the cool air outside a much-needed reprieve from the cloying scents inside. Flowers, powders, and a bloody patchouli. It’s like my mind is shutting down after the display inside the room. Between the slaps and being defended by a murdering vampire, I’m not that far from hysterics.
I’m also worried about Elara. Where is she? Did they hurt her?
Not that I’m able to think about it for long, as I’m knocked out again. This time, though, they drug me with Gods knows what, and I pass out, but not before I catch my grandfather speaking to someone.
“…we’re not asking you to be a mistress forever, Naia. Just until after she gets pregnant and gives birth. After, we’ll do what I should’ve done with her grandmother and lock her up.”
“I don’t want to hurt her, King Atlas. I just want my mate.”
“And you’ll have me, baby. Just help me impregnate the little brat first.”
22
NERISSA
The days blur. Or maybe it’s been a week.
I’ve stopped counting altogether.
Time stretches in the silence of my newly gilded cage like a ribbon pulled too tight, each hour a weight pressing against my ribs. Thirty, forty…it doesn’t matter when my cheek still aches where my grandfather’s hands struck me, and Orion matched the act with a little vengeance of his own. Because the masks are off. No need to pretend to be a nice guy when the key to the kingdom is locked in a proverbial cage.
The bruises darken and fade with time, but it’s the internal pain that’s tearing me apart.
