Page 37

MARLOWE

“I’m so jealous!”

Dahlia whined, picking at my skirt. “You look like a princess!”

“She’s going to be the queen, you fool, of course her dress is better than ours,”

Iris snapped. She looked back to me and softened her expression. “You do look lovely, Marlowe.”

The female omegas all wore gauzy chitons in a rainbow of pale shades, while Florian’s was shaped a little differently to show off his lean, sculpted chest.

Meanwhile, I had been given a shimmering teal gown made of a rich fabric with a fitted bodice, decorated in gold embroidery. The sleeves were long and sheer, while the full, flowing skirt pooled slightly at my feet.

River lined my eyes with makeup and colored my cheeks and lips, finally dusting my skin with a fine, shimmering powder. Getting pampered by a bunch of cute omegas who smelled nice and told me I was pretty was keeping a permanent, dopey smile on my face.

Once I killed the king, I wondered if I could convince them all to come back to Earth with me. With Linda’s help, we could set up an actual omega sanctuary where they could live and adjust to our world, maybe even finding packs to bond with if they wanted to.

Packs like mine, who would love them and fight for them.

Briar shaped my nails, and Dove braided small sections of my hair, weaving them together in an elegant, intricate pattern around a low, half-ponytail.

I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate on a happy future back in Maiingan Hollow instead of the stark, depressing, and dangerous reality I’d somehow found myself in.

Florian lifted my skirt to my knees, and applied oil to my skin, massaging it in until I felt smooth and shiny.

I got it, a spa! We could totally open a spa together in Maiingan Hollow. I didn’t know how to do makeup or hair, but I knew enough about accounting that I could help with the business aspect of it. And of course I had plenty of money now thanks to my inheritance.

Yes, it was all coming together.

I continued fantasizing about opening an omega-run spa while Dahlia helped me into my shoes. She then rested her chin on my knee and looked into my eyes. “You’ll behave tonight, won’t you? I don’t want him to hurt you again.”

They were still a little shaken up by Alaroth’s punishment and warning. When omegas were taken from the camps after their designations were revealed, they were “educated”

in special schools and brought up to be perfect, docile little creatures. The king treated them like dolls—well, sex dolls—and that was all they knew of him and how to be.

Today, for the first time, they’d witnessed his cruelty towards one of their own. Due to his omega fetish, I guess they thought they were immune to his darker side, and now knowing he could hurt an omega, their worldview was a little shattered.

I cupped her soft cheek in my hand. “I’ll try.”

Florian growled, and I finally understood why shifters sometimes laughed at me when I was mad. He was way too cute to be intimidating, and I bit my lip to keep from giggling myself.

“I won’t let him take you away to the dungeons again. It’s not right,” he said.

Briar pointed the nail file at him while she spoke. “Even Ezra couldn’t stop the king. What exactly do you think you’re going to do?”

“Listen,”

I started, before someone did hurt Florian’s feelings. Even if he was smaller in stature compared to other shifters or fae, he didn’t deserve to be made fun of for it. But I also didn’t want him to put himself in danger for me, either. “If something happens to me, that’s my responsibility, okay? No one is to jump in and try to save me. It’s my job to protect you, not the other way around. Do you understand?”

Dahlia’s eyes began to tear up. “Marlowe, you truly are our queen, aren’t you?”

Had these omegas never really had anyone in their corner? Before I could answer, Ezra knocked on the door. “Is everyone ready? It’s time to go.”

Dove pinned the last piece of hair into place and then rushed to the door, her smile falling when she saw Ezra wearing clothes again. “Oh, you don’t normally dress for these things…”

He offered her a shy smile. “Well, Marlowe is being introduced not only as the king’s betrothed, but also as my twin and the other half of the prophecy. His Majesty insisted we match.”

I snorted. He wore an embroidered velvet jacket of the same shade of teal as my dress, with a white shirt and skintight navy pants. He looked uncomfortable in his knee-high boots, and the thought of him dealing with blisters all night warmed my heart.

“That color looks hideous on you,”

I said, giving myself a final look in the mirror.

He crossed his arms. “Bitch please, I look amazing.”

The omegas watched our interaction with great fascination, giggling and repeating “bitch please”

to each other.

I stood up and smoothed my skirt, inhaling a deep breath to center myself while taking one final look in the mirror. Damn, the omegas certainly knew what they were doing.

I ran through possible names for our new business—The Omega Den? Pillowtail Spa? Moonlight Retreat?

Ezra’s gaze softened and his throat bobbed as he caught my eyes in my reflection. “You look amazing, too, Mar.”

I marched towards the door with my head held high, the omegas trailing behind me. “Yes, it’s astonishing what a couple of days spent in crippling pain will do for your skin.”

I smiled coldly and took his arm, letting him lead us to the ballroom.

“I know, I was in the cell next to you.”

My pulse quickened. “What do you mean?”

The omegas trailed behind us in a perfumed cloud of excited whispers and laughter, and his voice quieted. “I took your punishment, too. I couldn’t stop him, but I couldn’t stand there and do nothing, either.”

I felt my heart leap into my throat. My first instinct was to cry, to wrap my arms around his stupid big neck and hold him, telling him how much I loved him. How much I’d missed him.

But anger and resentment tempered my fleeting gratitude. This was all his fault to begin with, and now he wanted a gold star for… for what? He hadn’t protected me, he hadn’t lessened my pain. All he’d done was decide to join in my torture to reprieve his own guilt over his involvement in me receiving it in the first place. And I hated him for making me want to forgive him, because it felt so good for a second to have my brother back.

“You’re a fucking idiot,”

I said instead. “Did you enjoy your forced apology orgasm, too?”

He choked back a cough. “Damn, I must have missed mine.”

We walked down the hall and stairs until a steward came up and addressed us. “Commander Ezra and Lady Marlowe, you will enter after His Majesty introduces you. Please head to the waiting room for now. The rest of you, follow me.”

Iris squeezed my arm before she walked away. “Good luck, Marlowe. Be careful tonight.”

I gave her a reassuring nod and watched them leave, then headed towards the other room.

Ezra closed the doors and we stood there in awkward silence.

“So…”

he started, his cheeks turning a little red. “This is your first fae ball.”

“Oh, is it?”

I replied sarcastically in a nasally tone.

He ignored me and continued. “This isn’t like some proper, period drama where everyone does stupid dances and they barely touch each other.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Sex, Marlowe. Expect a lot of freaky sex.”

I raised both eyebrows.

“I don’t think the king will expect you to participate, I mean, unless it’s with him, which… you’re…?”

I gave him a disgusted look and he continued. “Not into, got it. Just checking. But in any case, it’s gonna be weird.”

“Eww,”

I replied. “You too?”

“Ugh, no,”

he huffed, looking flustered. “I just wanted to prepare you.”

I wondered if Ezra was still a virgin. He’d been shamed into thinking his dick wasn’t normal by our mom, and then he’d left on his trip and disappeared. After all these years, with so many people throwing themselves on him, and learning that his junk was perfectly normal—well, for an alpha shifter—surely he’d finally done the deed with somebody.

“Weird how? Like orgies?”

I asked. When his cheeks reddened a little more, I decided to really make him blush. “You know I live with five alphas, right? Did you think we’d never all fucked at the same time?”

He gagged and covered his ears. “Damn it, Marlowe, I don’t want to hear this shit.”

I grinned evilly. “The night after the vamp attack, I had Cam taking me from behind, while…”

He started singing loudly to himself to drown me out, and I cackled. “Why so prudish, Ez?”

“You’re my sister, it’s gross!”

I crossed my arms. “The omegas say you haven’t even tried to sleep with them. Are you not into shifters?”

He grabbed his clothes and adjusted them, muttering to himself. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

My giddiness faded. This was still a weird sticking point for him, beyond not wanting to think about me and my exploits. “What’s wrong?”

He sighed and rolled his eyes. “I just don’t really care anymore. When I first got here, I fucked practically everything that moved. It was so liberating to be with females who not only knew my dick wasn’t weird, but also wanted it. After a while, it just didn’t satisfy me any longer. I actually felt worse after doing it, so… I stopped. I’m not like, opposed to sex, I just would rather do it with someone I liked. And I haven’t found someone who’s… I don’t know, been more exciting or appealing than just as a one-night stand yet.”

I nodded knowingly. For all the complexes he could have had about sex, perhaps he had turned out all right. “You had to get your ho phase out of your system, I understand.”

He snorted. “Did you ever leave yours?”

“Hey,”

I shot back. “I was with Mike for years and was perfectly happy to settle down with him before I found out he was cheating on me.”

“And that he was a vampyr,”

he added, shivering with disgust.

The corner of my lip went up and I wavered my hand in front of me. “…Eh?”

His brows furrowed. “Wait, really?”

“I don’t know, I found out that part after the cheating stuff. If he had been the man who I’d thought he was— loving, devoted, and faithful—then I don’t think I would have minded that he was a vampyr. It actually sounds kind of hot. I mean, don’t ever tell my pack this, but I was totally Team Edward back in the day.”

I’d never seen Ezra look so grossed out. “That’s sick, Mar. Vampyrs are abominations.”

Okay, it was time to get to the bottom of this weird, Vesperan hatred towards vampyrs. So far, they hadn’t been all that much worse than some shifters I’d met. Or fae, for that matter. I needed to know what exactly was so terrible about them that made Ezra just fine with their genocide.

“Why?”

“They’re parasites!”

he fumed. “They can’t live without feeding on others. And their compulsion can be really strong, way stronger than my bark. I can command others to do something simple, for a moment or two. A vamp could compel a happily mated female to abandon her partner and join him. Before the king had them all destroyed, they were a menace to the realm.”

“Oh Ezra,”

I sighed, shaking my head. The story was coming together now. “Let me guess, the happily mated female in question was someone close to the king? A previous lover, perhaps?”

His face paled slightly. “I… I don’t know. I never asked.”

I tilted my head and pursed my lips. My brother wasn’t a total idiot, but he could be so thick sometimes. “Think about it. If vampyrs were such a problem, why aren’t they terrorizing us on Earth? They could easily have taken the whole planet over by now if they were that strong and capable. Instead, they pretend to be humans and get stupid jobs like the rest of us. If you had the power to make people do whatever you wanted, would you still choose to be a mid-level software engineer, live in a two-bedroom condo, and drive a ten-year-old Prius?”

“I… well, the king said…”

He winced, bringing his hand up to his temple. I’d seen him do this a couple of times before. Was he getting headaches? I wondered if there was a fae version of ibuprofen or something like that here.

The doors opened and the steward cleared his throat. “It’s time for your introduction.”

Ezra shook his head, clearing it of whatever pain had been pulsing through him. I reached up and patted him on the cheek. “All right, let’s see what kind of shenanigans I can get up to tonight.”

I wasn’t really planning on acting out or making a scene—I was in no rush to be punished again so soon after finally being allowed out of the cells, and I certainly didn’t want to see if the king would make good on his promise to hurt my pack. But who knew what we were in store for tonight?

Ezra placed his hand over mine and closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. “Please try to stay out of trouble.”

“Maybe,” I winked.

We followed the steward back into the foyer and to the large double doors for the ballroom. They opened into a dimly lit, expansive space, and it took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the darkness.

“You’ll be fine,”

Ezra said, although it sounded more like was speaking to himself than trying to reassure me.

The room stretched wide and impossibly tall, its ceiling mirroring the night sky with a shimmering expanse of stars and galaxies. A living tapestry of vines and blooms flowed faintly along the walls, pulsing slightly with the rhythmic music—a haunting melody that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

I’d expected the fae to look like the ones I’d met so far—like humans, for the most part. But Ezra certainly hadn’t prepared me for this.

They moved with otherworldly grace, their bodies defying what I thought was naturally possible. A tall fae, at least seven and a half feet, with the head of a panther, prowled past, their fur shining with streaks of emerald green whenever the light hit it.

Nearby, a male with skin like liquid gold and eyes the color of rubies took his partner from behind, a female whose entire body was covered in translucent scales, her hair flowing in the air as though she were underwater.

A trio of fae females with butterfly wings surrounded a male with six ram horns growing from his head on a wide divan sofa, one with her face between his legs while the other two alternated kissing him, each of his four hands on one of their breasts.

“Not quite what you were expecting?”

Ezra asked quietly.

I tried to rid the shocked expression from my face. “You didn’t tell me they looked…”

“Like fae?”

he laughed.

King Alaroth stood and clapped his hands loudly. “The guests of honor have arrived!”

The music quieted, the sounds of moans and skin slapping fading into silence as everyone stopped and turned towards Ezra and me.

I abhorred this kind of attention, and my brother knew it. His hand on top of mine gave a reassuring squeeze.

“Children of the Earth and Sky, it is my absolute pleasure to announce that at long last, the prophesized omega has returned to us.”

The fae broke in a loud applause, and those closest to us began to sniff the air, licking their lips as my scent hit them. A few even began to prowl closer, their eyes glazing over.

A low growl from Ezra helped them keep their distance, forming a perimeter around us.

“Allow me to introduce Commander Ezra Linden’s sister, Marlowe—my bride and your future queen. Together, the three of us shall unite the realms under my rule, and usher in a new era of prosperity and peace for all!”

The whoops and cheers that erupted next were deafening, and Ezra nudged me along so we could make our way to the dais where King Alaroth stood expectedly.

The fae got back to it immediately, their whispers and moans meeting my ears as we passed. Their lustful machinations emboldened them to reach out and touch me. Ezra snapped at them to back off, but clearly they found his protectiveness amusing, and it didn’t seem to scare them.

Alaroth simply watched, the twinkle in his eye shining brighter the closer we got.

Once we reached the throne, Ezra gave me a hug and a quick kiss on the cheek.

“This feels too much like a wedding,”

I whispered. “You’re freaking me out.”

“It’s an engagement party, so yeah, it almost is.”

“And you feel okay with this? Handing me off to a male I hate and don’t want to marry?”

“Not now,”

he hissed in my ear. Then he took my hand and placed it in Alaroth’s.

The king smiled, his eyes sparkling in joy. “You look ravishing, my beloved.”

Then he twirled me around, dipping me low in his arms for a very dramatic kiss.

I fought the instinct to push him off, knowing I needed to play it cool tonight. The crowd cheered again, my cheeks heating to unbearable levels as Alaroth shoved his tongue into my mouth.

Passively accepting his kiss wouldn’t be enough. He wanted me enthusiastic, loving. So I closed my eyes, placing my palm gently on his cheek. He groaned his approval, and then finally withdrew, resting his forehead on mine.

“At long last,”

he sighed. “You’re here, and you’re mine.”

Alaroth stood back up, taking my hand and raising it with his. “May the festivities begin!”