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?”
Wait...the first?
I rubbed my temples, trying to claw through the stress. Did that mean he was a virgin? The deeper into this world I fell, the worse my questions became.
Why was he so black-hearted that he could dispatch a stranger with his bare hands?
Why did he have a panther as a pet and wore all black as if he was a ruling underworld emperor?
Why had no one come to arrest him for killing someone?
“No, I mean...” The girl struggled for something, someone, to help her. No one made eye contact with her. No one dared. Including me.
“What do you mean then?” Lucien asked quietly. “Perhaps you’re not here to sleep with me but to end me instead?”
“No. I would never. I—”
A battle-cry cut her off as another woman launched to her feet, yanked a dagger from a sheath beneath her skirt, and flung herself at him.
The blade twinkled in the lowlights.
Lucien rose effortlessly to his feet and sidestepped, just as she slashed her knife through the air where he’d been.
Smirking, he backed up a little. “Impatient to begin I see.”
“I’ll fucking gut you, you psychotic asshole!” She charged at him, her arm sweeping upward to plunge into his chest.
And he didn’t move.
He stood his ground. He held her eyes and I swear his chest puffed up as if begging the dagger to sink deep—
But the panther pounced on her, knocking her sideways and pinning her flat on her back.
She screeched as she tried to stab the beast, but was too late.
Its giant jaws latched around her throat and with a savage shake, it ended her with a wet crunch and a sickening gurgle.
The women who’d chosen to stay all flattened themselves over their knees, no longer submitting but committing full self-flagellation by bowing for their lives.
Nausea drenched me in ice-cold sweat.
I glanced behind me to the exit.
I begged my legs to stand and run.
If only I wasn’t so pathetic.
If only I’d fled with the other women who’d come here by accident.
Then I wouldn’t have to see. Wouldn’t have to be at this monster’s mercy.
Get up, Rook. Go. Before it’s too late!