Page 76 of A Court of Sugar and Spice
As he speaks, one of the cages lowers all the way down and then melts away, leaving a naked Seelie girl bared to view. She has huge breasts, doe eyes, and tiny antlers. Feathery white wings, soft-looking as clouds, ruffle at her back.
She stands tall, a seductive smile on her face, and paces toward the Rat King, her hips swaying. Either she truly doesn’t mind fucking him, or she has learned that going along with it is easier.
The Seelie girl glides around the Rat King, her fingers playing with the rat-tails near his collarbone.
“The collar strips away her magic.” The Rat King reaches up to touch the band around the girl’s neck. “Go on, Sugarplum, choose one. Any of them. There’s a fine Unseelie lad there, or a strapping Seelie male, if that’s your preference. Got a few non-gendered folk as well. Or we can pull up some monsters from the pits below, if your tastes run that direction.”
“I’ll take the human girl, as Your Majesty suggests,” says Finias lightly. “A rare treat for me. Thank you, my liege.”
“So be it,” says the Rat King. “Perhaps I’ll find you a permanent place at court, if you promise to darken your festive offerings. Less delight, more dread.”
“Of course, Majesty.” Fin bows.
My cage begins to sink toward the floor. All around the room, cages are lowering, evanescing, releasing their occupants into the claws of Unseelie courtiers. Some of the Unseelie forgo the concubines altogether, stripping off any remaining clothing and winding their bodies around each other, finding ways to couple even if their species and parts are wildly different.
I try not to watch. I try to let everything else become a blur of squelching, sighing, screaming, sucking, and squealing. I try to keep my eyes, my mind, my everything fixed on Fin as he moves toward me through the churning crowd.
He reaches me. Slides his hand up my arm, whispers, “Are you all right?”
I nod.
He wraps a hand around my throat and leans in, his lips against my ear.
“I’ve used a lot of magic,” he breathes, so softly I can barely hear him. “We can’t leave yet. I don’t have the strength.”
My gaze travels to the dais, where I see the Rat King seated on his throne, with the Seelie girl already bouncing on his cock. The King’s red eyes are fixed on Finias and me.
“He’s watching us, Fin,” I whisper.
“Fuck.” He sighs. “You’re going to have to trust me, dearest. Can you do that?”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to take you now,” he breathes. “To refuse would be a terrible insult to the King, and we’d both be killed at once.”
“You’re going to fuck me while he watches? While they—”
Roughly, Fin clamps a hand over my lips. He looks into my eyes, his own burning with a bright warning.Trust me, he mouths.
I relax in his grip. Only then do I realize I dropped the tiny pill I was given. The loss of it burns, because I don’t yet know what this night may bring, for Fin or for me.
All around us bodies are twisting, laughter shrilling, voices crying out. A quivering pair of dragonfly wings catches my eye, flexing and sparkling as their owner takes one male down her throat and another under her tail. Two females have their legs interlaced, humping urgently and kissing, not seeming to care that one has a regular mouth and the other has a lizardlike face, complete with scaly lips. Everything blends into a whirl of tilting antlers, parted mouths, slithering tails, and wild shadows dancing on the walls. But beyond it all I’m conscious of the Rat King still watching as Finias runs his hands along my body, toying with my ribbons.
If it were just the sights and sounds, I could shut them out—I’m used to shutting everything out when I paint. But the room reeks of hot cheese and oily blood, of pepper and curdling milk and sulfur and damp fur and sweat.
I whimper against Fin’s palm, and he lifts it slightly, bending his head to listen.
“The smells in here are terrible,” I whisper.
“Here.” He kisses my nose, exhaling gently as he does. The scent of his breath is exquisite, as always.
“Thank you.” I nuzzle upward, my lips brushing his.
“We’re being too affectionate,” he murmurs. “That isn’t what this orgy is about. Relax, dearest, and let me fuck you the way he wants me to.”
My stomach quivers with nervous anticipation. “All right.”
Fin’s demeanor changes instantly. He catches me by the back of the neck, tears aside the ribbons across one of my breasts, and grasps it fully in his hand, kneading the flesh savagely. He leans down to my shoulder and bites me, piercing the skin just enough to raise little drops of blood.
