Sold To The Cruel Prince

Aveline did not dare take even one step behind Theron.

She stayed plastered to him like a little monkey clinging to its mother, eyes wide, fingers tight around his clothes, every muscle in her body tense with dread.

The sounds ahead were terrible.

Not merely loud, but wrong—shrill, jagged cries that made the hair on her arms stand on end.

"After the discovery of the Aetherstones, there has been a rise in monsters in the forests surrounding Aurelmont," Theron said, as calmly as though he were discussing the weather.

Aveline, still clinging to him for dear life, slowly peeked from the safety of his arms.

There were carts lined up ahead, each one fitted with iron cages large enough to be rooms. Four horses were hitched to each, stamping uneasily as if even they wanted no part in what they were carrying.

Inside the cages were creatures so hideous and warped that Aveline could not decide which part of them frightened her most.

No two were the same, yet all of them looked equally miserable. Twisted. Wretched. Wrong.

Her heart thudded hard against her ribs.

Theron’s lips curved faintly when he felt her cling tighter.

He really should have been annoyed. In fact, several of his knights looked as though they were already suffering from secondhand embarrassment on her behalf. Theron did not usually tolerate anyone invading his personal space, and yet this little hare had somehow become the one exception to every rule he owned.

And now that she was hanging onto him like a frightened kitten, he found himself fighting the very human urge to tease her.

He led her closer to the cages.

Aveline had no choice but to go with him, because the alternative was standing alone in the forest with those things screaming at her from inside iron bars, and absolutely no, thank you, she preferred to keep her soul inside her body.

The wind rustled through the trees.

The leaves whispered.

None of it mattered.

The only thing that mattered was the dreadful noise from the cages and the way Theron casually rapped the flat of his sword against the iron bars, making the monsters shriek louder.

Aveline made a small, panicked sound and buried herself even more firmly against him, glaring at him over his shoulder as if he had personally invited the horrors out for tea.

But to her astonishment, the creatures fell back the moment they saw him.

One after another, they retreated toward the far corners of their cages, as though Theron himself were the real predator here.

Aveline blinked.

So they were afraid of him?

Before she could process that thought, one of the monsters—gray-skinned, scaled like a snake, with a rat’s body and a truly offensive face—started hammering itself against the bars the moment Theron came near.

"Shush," Theron said flatly.

It did not shush.

It banged harder.

Aveline’s eyes widened in horror. The creature looked far too interested in her for comfort, and for a horrifying second, she was certain it was staring directly at her.

She let out a yelp and instantly scrambled higher, climbing onto Theron as though the man were suddenly the only stable object in the forest. Her arms went around his shoulders, her legs around his waist, and her eyes squeezed shut so tightly she might have seen stars.

Theron drew in a deep breath.

He said nothing.

Aveline, still trembling, cracked one eye open.

That was a mistake.

For some reason, she became very sure the lizard-rat thing was staring at her and not at Theron.

She gave a strangled sound and clung even tighter.

Theron felt her shaking against his back. A brief flicker of guilt stirred in him.

Had he gone too far?

He reached back, intending only to pat her reassuringly, but his hand landed a little lower than intended.

On her butt.

Aveline froze.

Then the entire forest seemed to explode.

"Ahhh!"

Her scream was so much louder than the noise the monsters had been making that several of the knights actually flinched.

She had only been willing to squeak at the creatures, but one accidental touch from Theron, and she sounded like the heavens were collapsing.

She jerked away from him and ran.

Theron stood there, one hand still lifted in the air, rubbing his forehead a moment later with all the patience of a man watching his own sanity slip through his fingers.

This woman.

This impossible, infuriating woman.

What was he supposed to do with her?

Aveline was absolutely convinced that one of those monsters had broken loose and tried to take a bite out of her butt.

It was the only part of her that had any decent amount of flesh on it, after all. She could still feel that awful, slimy phantom sensation clinging to her skin, and the thought of losing her butt entirely sent a fresh wave of panic through her.

She needed that butt.

She needed it to sit.

Her knees went weak. Her throat burned. But she did not stop screaming, nor did she stop running.

She had once heard that wild animals hated loud noises. Perhaps if she screamed loud enough, one of two things would happen: either the creature would flee, or she would at least save herself before becoming a very tragic dinner story.

She had survived too much to be eaten by some hideous beast she had never even heard of before.

A few knights started after her, but Theron shot them a glare sharp enough to stop them in their tracks.

Then he ran after her himself.

Before she could dash any farther, he caught the neckline of her dress and yanked her back just enough to stop her from fleeing completely. Aveline was still shrieking as though the forest itself were collapsing around her.

"Stop it," Theron said, his voice flat. "Or I’ll throw you into one of the cages."

That did it.

Her screams cut off instantly. She froze, breathing hard, and looked around in wild confusion. There were no monsters behind her.

No jaws.

No claws.

No drooling menace with a taste for unfortunate backsides.

Only the knights.

And for some reason, every single one of them was staring at her as though she were the strange creature in the forest.

Aveline turned her head toward Theron, her voice dropping to a horrified whisper.

"One of them wanted to eat my butt," she told him.

Theron, still holding her by the neckline, said nothing. He simply started dragging her along again.

"Where are you taking me?" Aveline asked, twisting in his grip and trying very hard to reclaim some dignity.

"To your cage," he said without looking at her.

Aveline pouted.

So that was it.

Am I a monster too? Was that why he bought me?

She swallowed and looked down at herself, absurdly uncertain.

Was it the colors she saw? Was that what made her one of them? But she looked perfectly human.

She had a great many thoughts, most of them alarmingly dramatic, but she did not voice a single one.

At last, Theron stopped.

Aveline lifted her head. Her eyes widened.

This... is my cage?