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Uthred’s facetwisted in disgust as he glanced from one to the other.

“There is no point to this,”Uthred said, rolling his shoulders as if his own clothing was causing him discomfort. “Leave her alone.”

I blinked.

I never,in a million years, thought I would hear Uthred of all people say that. Why would he tell them to leave me alone? From what I’d seen, they were a unified team of shitheads. The thought that Uthred would try to corral in his buddies simply made no sense at all from my understanding of him.

“You’re not soundinglike yourself, Uthred,” the last man said.

I jerkedmy attention over to him, focusing on his appearance.

The last manhad sandy hair and a bony frame, and a perpetual scowl pinched the skin above his brow. The glass filtered sunlight spilled across his coat, revealing a dozen mismatched patches of cracked leather coated in flecks of grease.

Behind him,a spoon rang against a metal bowl, the note echoing off the vaulted stone, jarring my attention and smacking away my thoughts with its sharp sound. I lifted a hand and rubbed my temple, close to my ear.

Rorik tossedmy book on the table next to me.

I glancedat the open page.

The monsteron the page was gorgeous, a muscular handsome man with the lower body of a giant snake. He was the kind of monster who didn’t hide who he was behind the vestiges of humanity. He was a predator, plain and simple.

The Chaos Godhad made far too many of his monsters beautiful, and the naga was no exception, with hard lines of muscle and deceptively gorgeous faces. Yet at the same time, the men who surrounded me were physically fit and could be considered attractive, but the weight of their attention made my skin crawl.

The only monstersI’d met at this school were the ones who wore the forms of men.

“Well,maybe I’ve had a spiritual awakening and had a complete change in personality,” Uthred said, crossing his arms. “It could happen, buddy.”

“My name is Thorne, not buddy,”the sandy-haired Thorne said.

“What arethe rest of our names?” the short, freckled one asked, his eyebrows narrowing in suspicion.

“Garrick, Rorik, Bram, and Thorne,”Uthred said, pointing at each one. “Now what the fuck are we dicking around here for. Let’s go to the dungeon.”

Garrick puthis hand on my upper arm, his fingers wrapping around to dig into my flesh with a painful grip as he dragged me off the bench with no other warning. The steak knife clattered to the ground as I stumbled to keep from falling.

Bram,the redhead with stiff, dirty hair, bent down and picked it up.

“You don’t needa knife to have meat for dinner,” he grinned at me, showing off the thick yellow coating of teeth that hadn't seen a toothbrush in far too long. He slapped it down on the table next to Anna, who winced. “We’ll make sure you’re well stuffed on our dungeon dive.”

“For fucks sake,Bram, stop being so gross,” Uthred’s mouth twisted in disgust.

“This is for you, Uthred,”Rorik muttered. “You’re the one who started this whole thing. We’re just trying to remind you what you really love in life.”

Uthred hesitated,looking at him.

“Fine,”he said. “But no one hurts the girl.”

Nibblet crouched,as if she were about to jump over to me.

“Nibblet, stay here!”I gasped out, panic rushing through me.

But you need me,she said, hesitating as her huge ears flicked back and forth.

“I need you to stay alive,”I whispered.

ChapterTwo

FIADH