The Warlord by Gena Showalter (free ebook reader for pc .txt) 📕

prompted Roux, impatient for more information. “Did the woman say anything else?”

“Nothing that mattered.” Roux’s gaze dipped to Taliyah. “The woman who vanished during our invasion is this second phantom, I’m certain of it. I believe she possessed me, though I’m unsure how. I don’t even know how she exited without my knowledge. But she must have. Her emotions no longer muddle my own.”

No movement from Taliyah during his speech. No emotion, either. Oh, yes. She knew the identity of the second phantom.

“Did she feed on you?” he asked.

Roux shook his head. “She did not.”

His snarpy had once mentioned the atrocities committed against her people, courtesy of Erebus and his brother. Roc had thought nothing of it because the twins had slaughtered countless species. What if they’d somehow altered the DNA of some of the survivors? But...

Taliyah hadn’t been part of the original slaughter. She’d claimed to read about the event in history books. Had the altered DNA caused phantom...births? Was such a thing even possible?

There was so much he didn’t know.

Had the other woman exited Roux and spoken with Taliyah at any point? “Be on the lookout for the second phantom. She might return.” When Taliyah braced, he added, “Don’t kill her. Contain her for questioning.” When her posture softened, he put his lips above her ear. “Is there something you’d like to say to me, snarpy?”

“Plenty,” she snipped, as if he hadn’t granted her a great boon, providing safety to a phantom. “I don’t think you’ll like any of my chosen words.”

“You know about this second phantom.”

“Yep.” She didn’t endeavor to deny it.

“And you’ll tell me nothing?”

“Bingo.”

Halo blinked at him, as if he’d never heard Roc make a request rather than a demand for information from a person of lesser rank. He’d definitely never heard Roc accept a denial.

What would it take to win Taliyah’s loyalty? To induce her to offer it, of her own free will?

Not planning her murder, for starters.

He worked his jaw. “I’ll learn all your secrets, one way or another.”

“I could make her talk without killing her,” Roux stated. He peered at the snarpy, as if he was already imagining her guts spread out on his table of torture. “She has answers about the other one, and I want to know what they are.”

Protective instincts pitched and swelled. He barely wielded the wherewithal to remain silent. Torture Taliyah, dimming the light in her eyes and the fight in her heart for good? Never.

Never? “I will handle my wife,” he intoned, making it clear the subject wasn’t to be broached again.

Both males jerked, as if they’d been gut-punched.

“Wife?” Halo spread his arms. “You mean the bride. Or the phantom.”

Wife. A term he’d never allowed himself to use with the others. He’d preferred the term bride because his marriages never developed past the wedding.

“Look,” she said, “let me save you all some trouble. You can remove every limb and organ and I won’t talk. Kudos to anyone who can make me cheer their efforts, though.”

How proud she was. A perfect queen, unwilling to be cowed by anyone. “No one will be removing your limbs or organs.”

“Too bad. I was really looking forward to making fun of your torture.” She used air quotes, then extracted herself from Roc’s embrace to skip to a window, where she leaned out to examine the realm beyond. “I’ve never seen Harpina from this angle or filled with this many males. Not outside of Harpy Gras.”

The sight of her bent over the ledge, wearing only those tiny scraps of pink... He scrubbed a hand down his face. Not strong enough to resist.

He closed the distance, coming up behind her and bracing his hands beside hers. At this angle, his body molded to hers, all but engulfing her smaller form.

“How’d you recruit so many different species?” she asked.

He looked out. Men crowded the area below, standing in formation. Shifters of every kind. Berserkers. Banshees. This particular contingent of soldiers awaited a command to attack, should one need to be issued.

“My soldiers come from worlds we’ve conquered,” he explained, “as well as those who thought to try and conquer us.”

She whipped around, remaining in the space between his arms and glaring up at him. “If you’re planning to enlist harpies—”

He snorted. “As if I would dare. I can’t even control the one under my direct command.”

“Okay. All right. I guess I won’t decapitate you right here and now, before your men can stop me.” Pure, sensual grace and languid carnality, she traced a finger down his sternum. “By the way, your alevala stopped moving again.”

He glanced down, and sure enough, the images resembled any other tattoo. All because he caged the snarpy in his arms, and she seemed content to stay put?

When would she need to feed? When could he pleasure her again?

Perhaps he’d made a mistake, not bringing her to climax these past two nights. Soon, her beautiful life would be cut short. Didn’t she deserve to indulge every desire beforehand?

Remembering the two warlords standing behind him, listening to every word, Roc called, “Meeting adjourned.”

He flashed Taliyah to the garden, next to the altar.

She groaned. “Not this again.”

“No, not this again.” He couldn’t bring himself to work. Instead, he sat on his bench and pulled her into his lap. “Let’s talk.”

Taliyah had fought low-level panic ever since Roux’s shocking announcement. Roc now knew about Blythe. He might go searching for her.

She scrambled to her feet, not an easy feat when you were straddling a man. As soon as she achieved success, he resettled her against him.

She didn’t want him searching for Blythe. Or anyone! For all Taliyah knew, there was a third harpy-snake-phantom. Another secret daughter from Erebus’s line. A sister she’d never met, and someone she wanted to save.

At least Roc hadn’t ordered the other phantom’s death.

“Let me go,” she insisted. “You have stuff to do, and so do I.”

His brows furrowed. “What stuff must you do?”

“Lots of things. Train without my ring. Catalog the identities of the sleeping harpies. Study.