Page 21 of Demon Food

It was like looking at the sun. Radiant but painful and something you knew better than to do. Nevertheless, the temptation won. Neither of us could look away.

“Well, there you are,” he said. “Finally.”

Jaxlyn crumbled to a kneel beside me. I followed, folding to one knee like it was trained into my bones.

“Your Grace,” Jaxlyn said, bowing his head further. “I apologize for the wait. This is Feloré. The one you wanted to see.”

The king’s steps barely made a sound, but the warmth of his body as he suddenly stood near me was undeniable. He was hot. Hot enough to make my throat go dry.

“I know it is.” He crouched onto the floor. His whisper was a low timbre as he said, “I’ve been repeating your name to myself for what feels like an hour. Feloré. The one who is not interested.”

The heat from his body slithered down my spine inch by inch.

“Look at me, human.” He curled his fingers beneath my chin. “Let me see your face.”

My heartbeat was drumming in my ears as he held my jaw, tilting it upward.

His eyes were penetrating, like an ice pick through the heart. They were an impossible color to distinguish. Perhaps because they were ever-changing: a brown so rich it was nearly red or a red so deep it was almost brown with these swirls of gold marbled throughout.

I held his gaze as he gently twisted my face to one side, then the other.

“Exquisite,” he whispered, a slow grin stretching his lips. “How utterly exquisite you are.”

He released me, rising to a stand. I’d never seen a creature move so smoothly. It was wholly unnatural as if he was ushered by the air itself, gliding on an invisible force, so graceful that Jaxyln and I couldn’t help but stare starry-eyed. Mesmerized.

The king began shrugging the heavy wool coat from his shoulders. I’d never experienced the temperature in a room fluctuate so extremely because of one of them, but it did, and it was due to his proximity. It’d cooled a degree when he stepped further and now it was getting hotter as he uncloaked.

He shucked his coat off and draped it over a chair. “Leave us.”

Jaxlyn glanced once at me. His voice was a timid mess as he said, “Me leave, Your Grace?”

“Well, I do not wish him to leave.”

“Right. It’s just that I am the brothel keeper. It’s customary for me to remain in the room for the duration of a tasting to answer any questions that might arise⁠—”

The king twisted around. He didn’t even need to speak. His expression was loud.

“Y-yes, Your Grace,” Jaxlyn stammered, bowing as he rose on his way out. “Take your time. I will be right outside should you need me.”

The door sealed shut, and then I was alone with him. The most formidable creature in Novithia stood before me. And he was…smiling.

“Tell me, human,” he said. “Is your interest piqued now?”

I slowly wet my lips. Address him as Your Grace or Your Majesty. “Certainly, Your Grace.”

I’d never spoken to someone of royal blood before, and it tasted strange on my tongue to say, like I was doing it wrong, but he didn’t flinch.

“Stand, human.”

I pushed myself up, brushing off my robe as I stood. I always pictured him taller in my imagination, like he was larger than life. But here and now, we were of similar height.

“Are you thirsty, my sweet?” he asked, unfastening the silver button on one of his cuffs.

I blinked.

He tipped his chin toward the little round table in the corner where a glass decanter of red wine sat. Oh.

Drinking alcohol was strictly prohibited for a concubine, and everyone knew how swift the crown was in delivering their punishments to humans who broke the rules. Just ask fucking Lennox.