365 Days to Bond With the Cursed Beast King

as he straightened the cuffs of his white shirt. "And he assures me tha

ng both hands on the mahogany desk. "And you paid him with money you

ell of the room where my pare

usty wallpaper where landscape painti

d up and gone, leaving only stripped floor

lub had taught me how to read a room before danger read me, but

ve always had an overactive imagination. Just like your mother.

llars and the deed to this house," I

ransfers, audited receipts I'd spent six weeks pieci

goes straight to the district at

nch or reach for

the signet ring on his pinky. It was my mother's ring-an antiqued go

f her dresser before h

nd he take it off, but th

atural warmth pulsed beneath Robert's thumb, cas

cond, his eyes darting toward the water-stained plaster ceilin

pped into an abyss. My ears popped painfully. The

rted, but my voice ha

rled outward as a crack tore through reality. The room contrac

floor v

fe

sound, only a weightle

n golden glint flashed past-dozens of unseen, v

of the floor, reaching

d spat

o a mountain of warm m

y knees dug into something hard and cold, my hands instinct

us, fluttering down ac

!" a voic

survival reflex, my heels ca

d around, taki

arved from dark stone, lit by sputtering iron bra

ar stone table. And around that tabl

eren't

ck fur along jawlines, claws extending from gloved f

blade from her hip; a giant of a man with the wide s

ns cleared their scabbards, al

to my jacket pocket out of instinc

sed. "Give the order, My Liege, and

oked

I was in the lap of the man

, his shoulders easily fillin

hausted lines, and dark scale-like scars ran alon

against his bare skin, right

eath me rem

ming up out of habit even as seven

me away. Mayb

ve my waist, trembling with restraint. He tilte

brown of his ir

to a molten gold-the color of a d

a decade of ice had just

" he r