Claiming His Queen

“Physically. He hurt her physically, and because of that, he had to die.”

Notch’s nose twitches. She doesn’t believe Karin. Not for a second because Poppy was the type of guy to scoop spiders up by the flat of his blade and carry them outside instead of smashing them beneath his boot.

“You should have brought the issue up to me, and I would’ve meted out the punishment. You know I don’t condone that kind of behavior.” I clean up my own messes. “This does not look like a killing done in the name of passion.”

Poppy wears a bullet hole in his forehead. The back of his head is almost gone, suggesting that it was done at close range and from above. It’s execution style.

“I’m only telling you what my girls told me, and they wouldn’t lie to me because if they did, they’d suffer worse at my hands than from anyone.”

This sounds like the truth, and I don’t like it. “Bring me proof then.”

“It will take some time.” Karin is stalling. I also don’t like that. “I knew you wouldn’t believe me or give me time to sort things out, so I’ve brought a token of my good faith.”

There’s a knock at the door. Notch pulls her firearm and checks the security screen. It’s a young woman with her head bowed. I can’t tell who it is, but behind her are Bran and Hunt, and neither of them are letting someone through who could hurt me. I give Notch the okay, and she opens the door.

The young woman walks forward, her eyes pinned to the floor and her long dark hair curtaining either side of her face.

“This is Cora, my daughter. Cora, meet your keeper, Aidon, the ruler of this hell.”

Chapter 2

Cora

I stare down at expensive black leather shoes knowing I’m already failing at my mission. The one that includes me seducing Aidon so that he falls in love with me. As well as getting him to cross lines that he’s going to tell my mother he won’t. I’m to allow him to take my innocence and so much more. If I succeed in doing all those things then he won’t be able to kill my mother.

That is the plan in case my mother came back empty handed. A plan that was really made without my knowledge, but this is my chance to prove to my mother I am worthy of her love. That I too can be like all the other strong women around her that she protects with such fierceness. So when she clued me in to what I was to do, I nodded my head in agreement to it while the rest of the girls all tried to give me a crash course in the art of seduction. Something I knew nothing about.

It’s a silly plan when you really think about it. They want me to seduce a man. It’s almost laughable. My mother has spent most of her life keeping men away from me. Now I’m to seduce one?

While all the ladies offered advice, my mother reassured me that I didn't need any. She was confident in her plan, but she always is. Or at least she always pretends to be, but things do tend to go her way.

I try to find comfort in the fact that this will be the same. That whatever her plan is, it will work out because I can’t even bear to think about the consequences if it doesn’t. Aidon Kasteros is not a man to be toyed with, and his reputation for protecting his family precedes him.

The sound of blood dripping off of the desk drowns out most other sounds in the room. It's loud when it hits the shiny wood floor. I swallow down the lump that is trying to form in my throat as I force myself to lift my head to meet the gaze of the most powerful man in the city. One I’ve heard the other girls talk about many times before. Some call him handsome while others call him deadly.

I have to tilt my head almost all the way back to meet his dark gaze. He looks both handsome and deadly to me. He’s polished and put together in a way that only money can do. He screams power, and his presence demands respect. Everything from his clothes to the hard set of his jaw tells you he isn’t to be messed with. His stare is knowing, as if he’s watching my every move and trying to figure me out.

It’s obvious that he hasn't spent his life behind a desk like the giant one inside his office. The one that currently has a dead body laying on it. He looks more of the hands-on type. His nose has clearly been broken more than once, and there’s a scar over his right eyebrow that mars his handsome face. Yet somehow it only adds to his appeal. He shifts, moving in front of me more fully to block my view of the blood that is still dripping. Each drop seems to ring out so loudly in my ears.