"You think I want to be like this, my Stella? Do you think I chose to be a life sucking monster that goes around and steals little ragazze from their beds each night? Do you?" He growled as I squirmed, trying to free myself.
"N-no. I don't t-think you did. Per favore! Let me go, and I won't tell anyone. I swear!" I whimpered, wriggling. His grip tightened.
He sighed, leisurely taking a lock of my hair and tugging on it. "Shh," he leaned in and whispered in my ear. "Don't squirm, you'll only bring yourself more pain. I would hate that..." Tears started flowing freely down my face.
"Please. Lasciami in pa-" He put a finger to my lips, stopping me.
"Stella? Why do you cry? I could make you happy...Would you like that?" He asked, looking me in the eye. I tried to tell him to piss off and leave me alone, to resist.
But only one answer came to mind.
"Yes."
○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○
Cassiopeia Lomeri -- A successful business owner in Rome, Italy, she has all she could want. A nice apartment, friends, money. Only two things are missing. An adventure, and love.
She then receives a letter from a mysterious benefactor. It's an invitation to stay at a real castle in Luxembourg for 2 weeks with eligible bachelors and bachelorettes (not to mention it's all expenses paid!). She can't help feeling it's fate. A perfect, no perfectly romantic, getaway.
But apon arriving, it is obvious that something is amiss. The benefactor ends up being three devilishly handsome men: Angelo, Luca, and Gilles, who look to be hiding something. Women are disappearing in the night, only to be returned in the morning with sore bodies and surprisingly nasty tempers.
It seems the only people Cassie can trust are her new American friends, Everett and Venus.
Will they together figure out the secret of the benefactors, before Venus or herself are abducted, or will they in turn be seduced?
Marithyda Skyelorn has barely managed to escape Magus Opté with three of the four Magestones in her grasp, and the Empress's army encroaches.
*****
Reeling from Sabin's betrayal and Rumiya's damning prophecy, Marithyda is determined to realize the full extent of her power and put a stop to the enslavement of her kind - no matter what it takes. However, the kingdom that Marithyda left behind has become all but unrecognizable in her absence. Marithyda and a grief-stricken Queen Taileen Winship must put their rivalry aside to save the land and the people that they love, learning that some forms of powerful magic are hidden for a reason.
(Book Three of the Skyelorn Chronicles trilogy)
Content and/or Trigger Warning: Some scenes contain violence and references to self-harm that may upset sensitive readers
[[Word Count: 80,000-90,000]]