“What’s everyone doing?” I whispered to the girl standing close by. “Why are they waiting here?”
She glanced at me, her features fighting courage and panic. “We’re waiting for him to grace us with his presence, of course.”
“Lucien Ashfall?” I watched her carefully. Was she one of the women who’d come here, knowing the free spa weekend was a lie, or was she like me and cursing herself for being so dumb?
“Yes.” She pursed her lips, glancing at the rest of the women. “He’s in here somewhere...hunting us.” Glancing at the pinprick on her fingertip, from where they’d drawn her blood, she frowned. “My trainer never mentioned admittance would be based on DNA.” Her eyes met mine. “Why do you think they—”
“It’s to see if your body is compatible with his, you idiot,” a girl beside her replied. “And that you’re not on birth control.”
“Eww.” She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t need to be compatible with him. I have no intention of sleeping with him. I merely want to—”
“Kill him?” Another girl, who I thought was called Serena, muttered under her breath. “Your side won’t win. They say he’s unkillable. Might as well join our side instead.”
Wait...what?
There are sides now?
“Yes, well, he’s still human, isn’t he?” the brown-haired girl who’d spoken first said quietly. “And he’s only one man. There’s at least sixteen of us who got in who want him dead.”
“You’re so short-sighted.” Serena huffed, fluffing out her blonde hair. “It’s better to seduce him and get pregnant. Then you’ll carry his bloodline and want for nothing.”
“If you think they’d worship you for having his bastard you’re more delusional than us.”
I looked to the front of the ballroom, trying to hear past the whispers of the women as they divided themselves into seducers and assassins. Tension gathered the longer time ticked, pulling tight as corset strings, making it hard to breathe.
The lamps scattered around the ballroom suddenly dimmed as if something sucked the meagre light from the room. Shadows lengthened across the jade-inlaid floor as the midnight-pelted panther stalked past.
The crowd cracked down the middle, women reeling back and gasping as the giant predator nonchalantly prowled to the dais at the top of the room. Its huge paws padded up the three stone steps before it turned around, glowered at all of us, and threw itself down in a lazy sprawl.
No one moved or spoke.
My eyes danced around the space, trying to see—
There.
A tall figure peeled free from the gloom on the left, moving like pure shadow.
A ripple of awareness flickered through the women as a man slowly came into view, striding slowly toward the platform where a huge throne waited. The panther lay at the foot of it, its glowing eyes locked on the man as he stepped up the stairs and joined the giant cat.
Bare feet—pale and silent, flashed beneath black trousers that moved like water. A matching black shirt draped his lean, tall shape like liquid night, while a long black overcoat, undone and clinging to his shoulders, trailed behind him, sweeping the floor with darkness.
I couldn’t catch my breath as I drank him in.
He didn’t hurry to take his place on the throne. Didn’t speak to the women all congregating at the bottom of the dais. He merely slowed to a stop, turned to face us, and arched his chin.
The very air in the ballroom seemed to retreat, increasing the erratic pulse of my heart.
My vision turned hazy as my headache made me groan with pain.
I couldn’t handle much more of this. More stress and panic and confusion.
I’d never seen someone who could suffocate a room with his very arrival. Never seen someone as beautiful as him—but just like beauty could make people commit awful mistakes, his beauty promised cold-blooded murder.
Pale, flawless skin, dark eyes narrowed with arrogance, and black glossy hair that matched the panther currently purring loudly at his bare feet. Just like his house blended East and West, he straddled the two worlds perfectly. His face savagely handsome with sharp cheekbones, perfect lips, and aristocratic eyebrows that wouldn’t look out of place in old dynasties.
His eyes swept the crowd.
Even my thoughts were choked to silence.
My heart stopped completely as he smirked. A tight, violent little smile that ached with scorn and hate and disdain.
The panther noticed its master’s tension, hauling itself back up and stretching out its sinuous spine. Its claws scratched the marble floor as the man slowly descended the steps again, this time into the midst of the potential killers and concubines, heading right for me.
Chapter Eight
THE WOMEN SCURRIED OUT OF THE way, bowing their heads and acting perfectly meek. He smiled again, shaking his head as if he knew exactly why most of them were here and wouldn’t fall for any of it.
Stopping in the middle of the crowd, he slowly turned on bare feet, eyeing each of us. Up close, his skin seemed even more perfect. His gaze even more shrewd. His thick, black hair long enough to touch his collar, the ends flicking upward with a hint of a rebellious curl.
My heart pounded against my ribs, fast and fierce.
I swayed a little as my vision greyed again. It took all my strength to remain standing as he suddenly turned to face a girl I hadn’t spoken to and smirked that violent little smile. “You.” He cocked his head, his voice as effortless and seductive as the panther’s purr. “Why are you here?”
The girl swallowed hard, her white freckled skin going bright red. Her hands wrung together, her chest heaving beneath the pretty floral dress she’d chosen to wear into this den.
“Me?” She forced a giggle. “I’m here to serve you, Mr. Ashfall. To—”
She never got to finish as his hands lashed out, wrapped around her throat, and snapped her neck.
She dropped to the ground like a pile of discarded bones.
The panther sniffed her corpse, its whiskers bristling.
Screams rang, piercingly loud in the echoey ballroom.
Chaos broke out as the women who’d been brought here under false advertising, bolted toward the double doors and vanished into the palace. The women who’d been groomed to come here and had a mission didn’t follow. Fighting against instinct to flee, they elegantly dropped to their knees, surrendering to his murderous whims.
The screaming stopped as one by one, the girls balled their hands on their thighs and huddled like garden statues.
And me?
My body completely forsook me.
I couldn’t run like I wanted.
I couldn’t scream like I needed.
I barely stayed conscious enough to sink to the floor, landing heavily on my left hip, my bare legs sticking to the cold marble below.
My vision sputtered in and out as my headache made the room flex.
My fingers fumbled for my raindrop pendant, clutching it tight as Lucien Ashfall set his sights on his next victim and toed her with his bare foot. “You.” He smiled tightly, cruelly. “Why are you here?”
“I’m here...” The stunning blonde, dressed in a navy maxi-dress, trembled. The clack of her teeth echoed as she glanced at the dead woman and tears glossed her eyes. “I...I’m here—” She swallowed hard.
Lucien smiled.
Ducking to his haunches in front of her, he whispered softly, seductively, “Only the truth will save you.”
She nodded, stuttering with nervousness. “I-I work for Brimstone Industries. Y-Your company. I...I’ve seen pictures of you and...and I’ve always imagined meeting you.”
“Is that so?” He smiled wider, his fingers tracing the side of her face and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear. “Why?”
“Why?” She gulped. “Because...because you’re so handsome and...”
“You thought you could be the first to entice me into your bed?”
