Page 68 of The Lost Princess

“Do you know how long I’ve dreamt of this, to catch you alone and unawares? I always wondered what it would be like to mar that perfect skin of yours.”

He paused, the key sitting in the lock. “Though it won’t be nearly as fun fucking a creature, I will still do my best.”

The key turned and the tumblers in the lock clicked and groaned. The door yanked open, and four men ran to the back of the cage and snatched at my hands and legs, holding me tight against the iron bars. I thrashed wildly to claw at them as Peltan walked in my cage, his hands already at his breeches. Then a fifth man reached through the bars and grabbed my wings in both of his hands, twisting cruelly.

Agony beyond agony ripped through my body, sending me to my knees. Peltan smirked at me like he was pleased with my position. I flashed my fangs at him, and he jerked back.

And fell over.

And didn’t move.

The hands on my wings went limp and fell away. The sound of bodies dropping behind me was a chain reaction—fingers and hands released me until I stood in my cage, the door wide open and all twelve advisors in unconscious heaps around me.

Selena stepped forward, quivering with rage. She marched right up to Peltan’s prone form in front of me and smashed his head with her serving tray.

“That’sfor being the chief pig among pigs!”

I was shaking, and I wasn’t sure if it was from the lingering pain in my wings or the trauma of what had almost happened or the shock that I’d been saved. Selena bent down and ripped the gag out of my mouth, tugging the loops over my head and throwing it to the ground.

“You … you drugged them,” I accused Selena, my claws flexing against the rough scales on my palm. My tongue flicked around my mouth, dry and rough from the gag.

She reached forward and gently tugged my wrist. “Materi slipped me more of the herbs from the king’s stash. Come on. Let’s get out of here. We don’t have much time.”

We both sprinted out of the cage and out of the audience chamber, skidding on the marble floor outside as shouts echoed down the hallway from guards.

“Damnit, I was hoping the king wouldn’t leave with guards,” Selena cursed, pushing me down the opposite direction. She jerked to a stop in front of a blank wall, her hands frantically ghosting over the decorative knots halfway up.

“There’s a servant’s entrance here somewhere. Fuck!” Her hands shook just as badly as mine, but apparently she found what she needed because with a cry of victory, the whole wall tiltedin.

Selena dragged me behind her and shoved her shoulder against the panel, pushing it back into place. I jumped in to join her, and it closed off all light with a loud click. Selena slid down the backside of the wall, sweating and breathing hard. Her head fell into her hands.

“Y-you … I thought … What wasthat?” I demanded, thankful but still wary of her.

Selena looked up, face twisted in agony. “I’m sorry about helping the king earlier. He didn’t give me much of a choice. None of them ever do.” Her lower lip trembled, then she gathered herself, steel in her eyes. “But I decided I don’t care. I’m leaving this place with Materi. He said he … Well, he gave me a crazy story of him being a past royal counselor, and how I was his daughter, taken by the king when I was four and raised to be a maid!”

Tears welled in her eyes. “Regardless of whatever madness he spews, he’s offered to take care of me and help me start over. Palace life isn’t all what it’s cracked up to be.”

Her voice trailed off in a desperate whisper, and I hugged her to my chest, mindful of my claws and wings. She sniffed and pulled back to take me in fully.

“Where will you go?” I whispered, feeling a renewed kinship with her. Both of us had our lives stolen by the king.

Selena wiped her eyes. “Materi wants to flee all the way south to the coast and build a cottage overlooking the sea. It sounds just as crazy, doesn’t it?”

I gave her a small smile. “It sounds wonderful.”

Her eyes took on a faraway, longing look before snapping back to reality. “Look at you! A … What did they call it? Draken? You’re gorgeous.” She laughed, eyes raking over my wings with awe. “At least we all know why we could never compete with you. It makes me feel better.”

I smiled weakly, still unsettled by everything I had just witnessed. “Selena. The courtiers and nobles, they haven’t always been like that, have they? Just grabbing at you?”

Her smile vanished, and her eyes grew haunted. “You were always guarded and protected, Kaida. The rest of us weren’t so lucky.”

She said it with such finality that I shut my mouth.

She wiped her face, and gestured down the darkened crawl space. “Come, let’s go. I—”

“Go where, exactly?”

Selena shrieked as a figure stepped out from the shadows, colliding with her. His hands flashed up by his ears and I trilled in alarm and sang.

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