GOLDEN STRINGS

CHAPTER TWO

VELARIS

Aidoneus Rhysand, the monster of monsters, the most vicious High Lord in all of Prythian. Her mate, apparently.

Kore looked into his violet eyes. Does he know? Does he know what we are to each other?

Kore stood hastily, soothing her skirts as she came face to face with the male that the Cauldron deemed her worthy of.

"High Lord." Kore muttered, dropping her gaze from his.

"There you are," he whispered softly, "I have been looking for you."

Kore could not know if the words had been a lie, or some polite greeting. Yet the High Lord was nearing nine hundred years old, and he still had not taken a wife. He'd never fathered any heirs.

She looked over his shoulder, unsure of what to say, and saw the crowd that had gathered around them. She glimpsed faces of the females she worked with, eyes of people that had watched her grow from a child into a young girl.

"What is your name?" Aidoneus Rhysand asked.

Kore saw Ariel elbowing her way through the masses. Her lips were parted, her hazel eyes wide, a hand clutched her heart as if in shock.

"Kore." She heard herself say, her voice hoarse.

Kore heard the male approaching before she saw him. The Illyrian looked familiar, perhaps a distant cousin of hers. Whoever he was, his face held the fury of entitlement that scared her. She knew her father had promised her hand to some male, it was another reason that she'd tried to postpone her cycle. She had tried to buy herself the illusion of freedom for a little while longer.

The warrior grabbed her by her braid and pulled her away from the High Lord. Kore hissed in pain.

"Forgive us for the commotion, High Lord." He snapped. "Some of the females do not yet know of their place. She shall see that she is punished for it."

Kore watched the High Lord's violet eyes, they had snarred upon the warrior's hand fisted in her hair. In some inexplicable way, Kore knew that the male was about to die. She opened her mouth, as if to warn him, but no sound came.

Aidoneus Rhysand casually dusted off his jacket. Between one blink and the next the warrior was misted by the mysterious power of the High Lord. His blood flowed on the wind, covering Kore's hair and eyelashes.

The High Lord stepped forward until they stood side by side. He turned to gaze upon his gathered subjects. Kore could not see much through the blood-mist, but she did not need to see the faces of her people to know of their fear and wonder. She could smell it in the air.

"Kore is my mate." Aidoneus' voice echoed through the mountains. "She is to be the Lady of the Night Court. If anyone lays a hand on her ever again, they shall lose their hands. If she is gazed upon with hatred, I will pluck out your eyes. If you whisper behind her back, then I shall cut off your tongues. And if she feels anything other than love and respect from you, then I shall rip out your hearts. In other words, dare to touch her and you will die."

Aidoneus extended his hand to her. As Kore twisted her head, she glimpsed the violet flash of his eyes, and the uneven rhythm of his breathing. The mating bond between them pulled its golden strings tight. Kore flexed her wings behind her as she gazed upon her mate.

The male that was nine hundred to her eighteen years of life. The most vicious High Lord. The one she'd called a monster not very long ago. But Kore had grown up in Illyria, where there was cruelty and monsters aplenty. The difference between staying in her home, and leaving with the High Lord was a significant one; her wings, her freedom.