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“Out!” Karnon cries.

The door slams shut not even a moment later.

To me he mumbles, “They’re getting too daring, those guards, coming and going without knocking. Must make an example of one of them—and soon.” He’s completely unaware that as he talks, his palms are smoking.

Karnon rises back up, those antlers of his towering over us. His eyes are bright and unfocused, his pupils dilated.

He cups my face, and immediately I tense, his burning palms heating my skin.

“Frightened little bird, you have nothing to fear from me.” He begins to stroke my skin. “All I want is to calm you. Pet you.”

Ugh. Mad king indeed.

His hands run down my arms. Halfway down he stops and turns them over. “What is this bare flesh?” he says. “Where are your markings?”

Um, what?

His hands move to my neck, and he probes the skin there. “And your gills!” he says, horrified. “Where are they?”

I give him a cautious look. Today Karnon seems kinder but definitely crazier than the last time we met.

He spins me around and sucks in a breath. “Your wings! Who clipped you?”

He turns me around, and once again I get a close up of those wild eyes and the fangs that his lips can never quite hide. His claw tips dig into my flesh.

I realize after a moment that he expects me to answer.

I blink a few times, dazed by all the manhandling. “No one clipped my wings. I never had any to begin with.”You crazy bastard.

“None to begin with?” He moves behind me, making me tense up again, and he presses his hands flat against my back. “No, no.” He shakes his head vehemently. “Dormant.” He strokes my skin, and I’m beginning to get the willies. “Oh, but theymustbud.”

I don’t follow any of this. I don’t speak psycho.

“Beautiful bird. Tragic bird.Mybird. You are not like the others. They smell of trees and sunbaked earth. Some feel cold like the winter freeze. No beasts among them—save for my sacrifices. Must be made, must be made.”

If I tried to run right now, how far would I get?

His hands move down my back, to my waist, and I decide that I don’t really care what my odds are of escape.

I turn around, letting the siren out.

His eyes glitter as he takes in my shimmering skin. “Breathtaking creature. Caged, flightless thing. You are a rare—”

I slam my knee into his crotch.

He makes a small, choked sound, his body folding in as he clutches himself.

His mistake to see me as harmless.

I bolt for the door.

I hear a snarl behind me. A moment later, he materializes in front of me, blocking the door. His eyes flash, a menacing growl rumbles in his throat. “If you run, I will chase you, and I will break you, pretty bird.”

“Stay away from me,” I say. My voice becoming ethereal.

The Fauna King’s eyes flicker, and I sense I’m no longer staring at Karnon.

Those eyes … I’m looking down an abyss, and the monster that lies at the bottom of it.