LOGINANWEN'S POVI lost count of the times I fell asleep and woke up after they made me come apart.Somewhere between the third time and the seventh—or maybe the ninth—the numbers stopped meaning anything. The night had become a wheel, and I was bound to its endless turning.Brammon would take me slowly. Fenric would keep me slick with his hands and his mouth, murmuring filthy things against my skin, narrating what my body was doing before it did it. Now and then he would use my hands and my mouth to empty him, and I was grateful for the distraction. Rhydan, from his chair, fucked me with his stare while he stroked himself.They stoked me like a fire that had all night to catch. And when I finally came apart, it was never a small thing. It was the kind of shattering that stole the floor out from under me, left me twitching and empty-headed, and then—darkness.And then I woke, and we did it all over again.This time I stirred to the feeling of strong arms slipping beneath my shoulders, then
ANWEN'S POVThe High King returned to his throne, arranging his golden robe around him, his composure seemingly intact. Or at least, he was trying to make it appear so.Vaelis and Gadreel retreated to their chaises as well, but neither made another move toward the women beside them. I could feel their eyes on us—furious, calculating, fixed on me and my three kings.They were waiting for my kings to finish with me, I realized.Waiting for their turn.The thought sent a chill crawling down my spine.Rhydan, Fenric, and Brammon felt their predatory gazes too.Brammon’s eyes flicked toward them, then to Rhydan, whose jaw had tightened. But Brammon didn’t seem bothered. If anything, he looked amused. He caught Gadreel's eye and smirked, a deliberate, taunting curve of his lips. Gadreel and Vaelis sat rigid on their cushions, faces carefully blank, but I could see the fury seething beneath their composure, barely contained. They wanted to protest again, wanted to demand their share. But th
ANWEN'S POVThe High King lounged against his golden throne like a lion at rest, some poor woman bouncing on his lap with feigned enthusiasm. His hands gripping her hips to guide her rhythm, his eyes tracked the sway of her breasts with naked hunger.But his head snapped toward Gadreel as soon as the satyr king called for him.For a heartbeat, his expression twisted into something venomous—pure irritation at being torn from his indulgence. His mouth opened, ready to reprimand the interruption.But then he followed Gadreel's gesture to us.The High King's expression changed, and he shot to his feet so fast the throne seemed to shudder. The breeder on his lap shrieked—a sharp, startled cry—as she tumbled backward. Her naked body hit the marble floor with a sickening crack, limbs splayed, but the High King didn't even glance down. He stepped over her without breaking stride, his eyes locked on our corner of the atrium as he seized a golden robe from a nearby servant and wrapped it around
ANWEN'S POVIt had only been a couple of hours since Brammon took over. Maybe more. I couldn’t tell anymore.Time had bled together into a haze of sensation until I could no longer distinguish one moment from the next. All I knew was fire.I was sobbing. Actual, ugly tears streaming down my face, my breath coming in ragged, desperate gasps. The burn was relentless. Not from the rawness I should have felt after hours of use. I barely registered the soreness, the chafing, the tenderness that should have been screaming for mercy. My body had moved past that, into some other territory where pain and pleasure had fused into something unnameable.The gel saw to that. It kept me leaking, kept me ready, kept that molten heat pooling between my thighs.But this—this was a different ache entirely. A hunger that gnawed at my bones, demanding satisfaction that never quite arrived.Fenric's hands were relentless, his fingers rolling my nipples, pinching and tugging in ways that should have sent m
ANWEN'S POVRhydan's fingers uncurled from my hair, and I barely had time to miss the sting before his hands seized my hips. His grip was tight as he lifted me, angling me higher. I reached out blindly, finding purchase on Fenric's shoulder with one hand, Brammon's with the other, bracing myself for what I knew was coming. Rhydan had been holding back for hours, and I could feel that restraint shredding with every ragged breath he took behind me.But he didn't move. Not yet.It was Fenric who reached for me first, his fingers pinching my nipple, rolling it expertly before tugging downward in a way that made my breath hitch. Then Brammon's massive hand closed over my other breast, kneading roughly, bordering on pain. My breasts were still tender, still aching from earlier—but that brutality sent a fresh surge of heat pooling between my thighs.Then Rhydan moved.He withdrew slowly,completely, before slamming back into me with a force that drove the air from my lungs. I didn't even ha
ANWEN'S POVThe atrium seemed to hold its breath. All around us, the other Scions and their breeders slowed, then stilled, heads turning, senses prickling with the tension of an impending confrontation.The obscene sounds of the ceremony faded into silence. Even the distant musicians seemed to pause, as though the entire palace were holding its breath, waiting to see what would happen next.Brammon and Fenric rose, forcing me to release the lengths I'd worked so hard to bring to the edge. They straightened to their full heights without bothering to tuck themselves away before turning to face Vaelis.Brammon crossed his arms over his broad chest. "Cheating? How so?"Vaelis straightened abruptly, pulling himself free from the breeder beneath him with a wet sound that made my stomach clench. He shoved the woman's legs back onto the chaise, disregarding her entirely as he stepped forward, naked and furious, his own arousal still evident and angry against his thigh."You don't think I don
ANWEN'S POVI woke with a shiver, pain lancing through my side like fire as darkness pressed in on all sides. For a moment, my mind betrayed me, dragging me back into the cramped, suffocating wagon compartment, the stench of fish and rotting wood clinging to my senses as sharply as ever.Then some
ANWEN'S POV“What do we have hiding in here?”His eyes pinned me as if he could peel back my skin and see the truth beneath. Then his hands closed around my shoulders—hard, immovable. Strong. The kind that could crush bone without trying.I kept my head down.I nearly yelped when his grip tightened
ANWEN’S POVArlo was already moving around the room, grabbing things—my thick scarf, the small pouch of medicinal herbs for my fever and cough, an extra pair of socks. He stuffed them into a rough sack with hurried hands.“Where are we going?” I asked, pushing the blankets aside and climbing to my
It hurt.A sharp, tearing brilliance bloomed beneath Azara’s skin as though her own light had turned against her.Radiants like her were not meant to bleed, nor to know agony such as this. Pain belonged to mortal flesh, to bone and blood and fragile breath. Not to beings wrought from pure illuminat







