MATURE FANTASY** slow burn* 🔥 He is a predator who thought he captured an ordinary girl... but her mind is sharper than any of his claws.
Ariana lives in the shadow of her monstrous father in a world barely held together by a treaty. Until her l...
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Ariana entered the room with her head held high. Kole moved beside her looking particularly agitated. I wondered what the two said to one another for a dark cloud seemed to surround them both. Her pace slowed ever so slightly, allowing Kole to walk a step ahead of her as he led her through the space. She followed him up to the dais and silently took a seat to my right. Her green gaze drifted all over the room, taking it in without meeting mine once.
I felt a small sliver of guilt for what she was about to endure.
Iver, unfortunately, sat directly to my left. He leaned back in his chair enough so that the front two legs hovered above the ground as he balanced on only the back two.
"Hey, princess. This may seem a little savage, but we really are gentle beasts." He flashed his teeth at her tauntingly, and I barely refrained from wiping the floor with him.
A low growl moved through me, hoping it was enough to silence him.
Ariana seemed like she was going to ignore Iver completely, but then she turned, focusing her green eyes on him. "I am not a princess, prince."
She then held his gaze for far longer than most would have thought wise. She was never told that Iver was my brother, but she guessed correctly. Of my brothers, he looked most similar to me. We both had brown hair and were on the taller side, but where my eyes were dark blue, his were a light gray. Edmond and Jorn on the other hand, had golden hair with gray eyes.
Iver laughed and allowed his chair to fall back onto all four legs with a loud slam.
To her credit, Ariana did not jump at the sound and I realized Iver was probably trying to startle her. The scent of fear was a pungent one, at times it was nearly sweet. He wanted to smell her fear. He was playing games.
"Behave yourself," I warned my little aggravatingly uncontrollable brother.
"Oh c'mon, when did you become such a drag? You used to be more fun," he huffed like a child. His fingers began drumming rhythmically on the table before him as his patience began slipping. Iver couldn't sit still without constant entertainment for even several heartbeats.
