Maybe red is my favorite color.

“I did not touch her, my king,” the Roth says, falling to his knees. “She refused to let me.”

“So you would have, if she had allowed it,” Nydo says, his eyes flashing orange.

“He didn’t touch me,” I repeat. “Chill out.”

Both Roth males stare at me. I sigh, tugging the fabric into place. “It means calm down. Sheesh. We’ve been over this. Stop getting angry. No one touched me, except for the, er, no one touched me.”

Nydo rounds on me, his hands flying to my shoulders, looking down on me.

“Except who?” His gaze finds my cheek, and my mouth goes dry.

The orange flame of his eyes glows brighter, heat emanating from him. Understanding flashes through me. No wonder they wear next to nothing. They keep this place as hot as a freaking volcano, and Nydo puts off heat like my own personal, living radiator.

My own. My brain trips over the phrase, and I blink, like my eyelids are reset buttons.

Nydo’s still staring at me, his mouth open, no sound coming out.

“She wears the sign of the old gods,” the hand-not-maiden says.

“I do?” I say, gingerly touching my cheekbone. “What does that mean? She said…” I let my words drift off, not sure I want to repeat what she said.

I find you worthy.

Talk about pressure.

Uneasy, I shift my weight, tugging at the dress.

“It means you wear the gods’ approval.” The Roth finally gets off his knees, sighing as he rubs his lower back. “Complete the ceremony with her and no one will doubt the truth of your words, that the human females are worthy mates.”

Excitement glitters in Nydo’s gaze.

“I knew it.” He takes my hand, eyes slitting as he brushes a kiss over my knuckles. “We will emerge victorious against the Overlord. Wait and see.” He’s wearing gold-red pants that match my gown, and they set off his gorgeous eyes and stunning body.

Nydo is so mouth-wateringly delicious that my entire body sings with the need to touch him, and it’s so damn distracting that it almost, almost makes me forget my unease.

Because to be found worthy? To be marked by the hand of some alien god, and to officially mate Nydo in some mysterious ceremony… It doesn’t feel like I’m pretending anymore.

He stares at me hungrily, and when I wet my lips, his gaze dips to my mouth.

“You are the most stunning creature I have ever seen in my lifetime,” he tells me, and my heart beats a little faster.

It’s starting to feel real.

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

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NYDO

Everything is working out according to plan. Even better than I could have imagined. The gods have marked my Leigh with favor, gold symbols curling down the side of her face in a pretty, narrow strip.

She gleams in the torchlight, her smooth skin golden and sparkling. The ceremonial dress is outshined by her luxurious red locks, and I want nothing more than to spend the next hours feasting my eyes on her, and then setting my mouth to her until she whines and begs for release.

“I’m not sure I want to know more,” she says, a nervous chuckle following the words.

“Then we will not burden you with it.” I shoot a meaningful glare at the priest, and he audibly swallows.

She looses a long sigh, her eyes fluttering shut as she composes herself.

Guilt whips through me. Leigh clearly is struggling with this, with the ceremony, with all the changes that are about to happen, and she doesn’t even know the half of it.

My teeth grind together.

I am so close now, to proving my place here as the King of Roth, to overthrowing the Overlord and saving the human females of Earth from a terrible fate. If I have to continue to withhold information from her to ensure my plan doesn’t fail, so be it.

It will be worth letting her rage batter me when she finds out what I have done, to see the future of the Roth secured. My future secured, as the king.

So I extend my palm to my mate, and wait for her to take it.

“I will take care of you,” I tell her suddenly, wanting to ease some of her stress. Wanting to reassure her that we are doing the right thing.

“You will keep your promises?” she asks, and her voice trembles. “All of them?”

“I will protect you. I will do what is best for you,” I say, narrowing my eyes at her. “I do what is best for Earth and Roth both. Do you trust me?”

She looks up at me with those luminescent green eyes, hesitation painted all over her delicate features. My heart hurts from the trust in her eyes, the slight smile that twitches along her delicious mouth.

“Yes,” she says simply, and puts her small hand in my rough, calloused grey one.

My fingers close over it, and I pull her into my chest, overcome with emotion.

I tuck my arms around her, breathing in her glorious scent, my heart full with my homecoming and my victory just within grasp. But mostly aching with an unfamiliar emotion.

“My little flame,” I say, hardly recognizing my own raspy voice.

I love her.

I love this stubborn, fiery female. And I’m going to lie to her to protect her. It’s the only way. I cannot risk her changing her mind, not when I’m so close to having everything I’ve ever wanted. I won’t risk it. I won’t risk her.

I love her.

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CHAPTER THIRTY

OceanofPDF.com

LEIGH

I’m nervous as hell. My palms sweat, and I leave a shimmery path behind me, like a nervous Tinkerbell with glitter control issues.

I told him I trusted him.

Nydo looked down at me with such openness in his eyes, such adoration on his face—how could I say anything else?

He has kept me safe. He has been an asshole to me, demanding and stubborn, but I’ve given as good as I’ve gotten. Whatever is about to happen, it’s for Earth as much as it is for me.

There’s no use in enforcing our bargain and aiming for Earth if the Overlord’s just going to abduct all the women. I have to trust Nydo. I have to trust that I’m making the right choices, that I am doing the right thing.

Otherwise?

Otherwise, I might just lose my mind.

He holds my hand, his strides quick and sure, his long, muscular legs eating up the ground in front of us.

We’ve left the hand-not-maiden far behind, walked for what feels like a mile. My feet are bare, as are Nydo’s, and my ears have popped twice, which tells me we’re headed down, down deep into Roth.

I squeeze my eyes shut, trying not to think about it, about all the pressure weighing down over us. It doesn’t work though, so I reopen my eyes.

“We are almost there, my little flame,” Nydo says, squeezing my hand, turning to look at me once more. He keeps doing that, keeps glancing back at me, as though he’s half-afraid I’m going to disappear.

“It’s gotten hotter,” I say, and my voice echoes weirdly around us. It’s dark, only a few torches every ten feet or so, and it’s impossible to tell how big the room is, or how far the stone stairs stretch below us.

Nydo has been strangely quiet, and it’s setting me on edge.

The further down we go, the more the heat intensifies. Sweat beads all over my body, but it’s so dry that it almost immediately evaporates.

“I’m thirsty,” I finally say.

“I will slake all your needs,” he rasps.

That’s all the warning I get as he pulls me forward, then throws me over one shoulder, taking the steps two and three at a time, running down them.

“Holy shit, Nydo, please don’t drop me,” I grunt, unladylike, his shoulder ramming into my gut. “I’m going to get glitter all over you.”

“You always were. I can wait to have you no longer,” he says. “You drive me wild, with that scent, your hair, this dress. I want to see you bare before me. I ache to claim you, to mate you as I should have done days and days ago.”