She lowered her eyes and exhaled slowly. “Is he to your liking?” she asked.
“He is what Liam said he was.”
She started to reply to my words, but a scream tore through the room, shattering the calm that had settled over it as the Horde began selecting Humans. I was instantly on my feet, but rough hands shoved me back down into the chair I’d just left.
“Stay seated,” a rough voice said as startling gray and aqua blue eyes held mine.
“He’s hurting her,” I snapped.
“She’s feeding him,” he retorted. “She will scream in pleasure soon enough, Princess.”
“What kind of sick shit—”
“Is there a problem?” Alazander said, taking the seat beside me. He settled in easily, even though his giant wings should have caused him some issues with taking his seat.
“He’s hurting her,” I answered, unsure of how he would react. This was the creature that sent his own victims back to their families broken and in pieces.
The victim in question chose that moment to start screaming in pleasure. I couldn’t stop the blush that heated my cheeks, or the bulging of my eyes as I watched the couple fornicate against the wall, oblivious to everyone watching them. I watched, unable to tear my eyes from where the Fae was drinking her blood as he thrust his need between her thighs. It was hard to tell if he was actually Horde or one of the Blood Fae from my vantage point.
“She seems to be finding pleasure now,” the Horde King said with a twinge of amusement in his dark eyes.
I tore my eyes away from the couple and looked at my hands clasped tightly together in my lap, to stop the involuntary quaking. The men behind me snorted and laughed as more cries of pleasure erupted around the room. This was so not cool; definitely not a dinner party I’d ever sign up for.
“Gather the Elite Guard, we’re almost done here,” The Horde King said in a soft voice to the guard that stood closest to him.
I sat silently, watching those around us; I wasn’t winning the fight against my nerves as the room continued on as if this wasn’t what it was. A sacrifice. My only hope of escape had been dashed, and it was almost a relief to know he would be safe from this monster before me. I needed to come up with a plan for escape, and see it through before I was officially screwed.
I wasn’t prepared when he picked me from my chair and sat me on his lap. My entire body trembled from his touch and the electrical pulse that slithered, and kissed my every nerve ending. I wasn’t fast enough to stifle the moan that those electrical currents created. His men snorted, and seemed to exchange knowing looks. Crap, with everything that had gone on over the past two days, I must have used up every ounce of energy I had stored up when I fed from Ryder last. Hunger blossomed from my stomach to my panties, or was it the other way around?
His hand moved down to play across the flesh of my leg that the dress revealed. He was testing me, seeing how willing and receptive I was to his touch. I looked up and met Liam’s tortured look that was visible in his haunted eyes. I had the strangest urge to reassure him that I was fine, even though I really wasn’t.
Liam kept stealing looks at the Horde King that looked like a combination of hatred and confusion, until the Horde King narrowed his eyes at Liam, causing him to quickly avert his gaze to the charger in front of him. This just seemed to be getting worse.
I exhaled slowly for courage as the Horde King continued to stroke my flesh, luckily where no one else could see it. His other hand slid up my back until it was resting on my neck—once again showing me how easily he could control my fate. So be it. I’d be damned if he did it here, though. I could see Liam struggling against the urge to jump across the table.
“I’m hungry,” I whispered through the growing lump in my throat.
“Dinner will be served shortly. The cooks have prepared a feast of pheasant, quail, roast, and boar for us, as well as delicacies from the Dark Forest, courtesy of the Dark Knight,” Madisyn said with her eyes firmly on me. Lovely. I guess it was fitting that in Faery you would have hokey names like the Dark Knight who comes from the Dark Forest. There was probably an Enchanted Forest and a Mount Doom around here somewhere, too. The servers were setting up trays, and bringing drinks around to those who had a place at the table.
“Not for food.” Not good! It came out quickly. Crap. Involuntary statements like that, combined with everything else my body was doing to me, meant I was going to need to feed very soon.