Darkness swallowed the throne room. My breath sounded too loud in the silence, too fast, betraying me. I could feel them even when I could not see them Kael's heat pressing close, Lucian's smooth stillness, Riven's silver gaze searing through the dark like a predator's.
A hand slid up my thigh.
I gasped, twisting, but Kael's mouth was already at my ear, his laugh low and cruel. "Still trembling, little queen." His teeth grazed my skin. "You remember what it feels like to bleed for me."
Before I could strike, another hand caught my wrist Lucian's, gentle as silk, but his grip unbreakable. His breath brushed my cheek as he leaned in, his voice a velvet threat. "Careful. Struggling only makes you more delicious."
Riven's chest pressed against my back, pinning me between them all. His voice was jagged stone in the silence. "She wants it. She always did. Even when she cursed me into the ground, her body begged for me."
"I hate you," I whispered, though the words broke.
