The Queen's Line (Inheritance of Hunger #1) - Kathryn Moon Page 0,5

his gaze was ice cold.

I pulled the list up, read the numbers in front of me, and called out my decisions for the table to hear, listing every name I'd marked to stay. Fuck decorum.

"The rest of you are dismissed," I said. "I will see my Chosen in the Rose Room."

From here on out, I would be alone with the men, permitted to do exactly as I pleased with no one to watch but the entire mess of them.

I strode out of the dining room, my hands clenched to fists, ignoring the dozens of eyes on my back.

2

Bryony

I'd stalled, just a little, to change into a new dress. If I'd been like Camellia or Grandmother, I probably would've removed all my clothes and waited in the Rose Room, ready to let the men race to impress me. The Rose Room was a sitting room attached to my own private rooms, although on the opposite side of my own personal sitting room. In the past, I had entertained the daughters of visiting diplomats over tea in that room. Now I was intended to host an orgy there.

Or at least, that would be the expectation.

I stood on the opposite side of the heavy door, listening to the low voices of the men waiting for me, some boisterous and taunting, others only murmurs. I stroked down the silken fabric of my gown, a looser and thinner dress than I was accustomed to wearing. I was grateful to be out of the corsets and ties and layers I'd been bound into as a princess, but it left me with an especially vulnerable feeling to know there was only my slip and this thin gown between me and the rest of the world. Suddenly, the boning of a corset sounded like a reasonable form of armor.

"She's a bit odd for her family, isn't she?" a voice called, a little too loud from the other side of the dense oak. "Almost shy."

The room of men grew muted, and I pressed my ear to the crease of the door to listen to the answering declaration.

"I'd be careful if I were you. She hears you, and you're likely to have your tongue cut off. Or something…smaller and even less likely to impress her."

My lips twitched. I wished I was watching in the room now. I would've liked to know who'd said that. I waited through the boisterous laughter and gathered my courage. I had to go in. I had to live up to the expectation of the queen's line. To our ruling Hunger. An appetite I appeared to be lacking.

The dying chuckles stuttered as I pushed the door open and stepped inside, forcing myself to raise my chin and meet the eyes of the men I'd called in.

"Princess," one purred, his fire-red hair catching the candlelight as he stepped forward and crowded me nearly right back out of the room. I held my feet still and stiffened as he moved into my chest, warm palms cupping my shoulders as he bent and kissed the corner of my jaw. He smelled of wine, and I'd already forgotten his name. "The anticipation of your presence has left me aching for you."

He rolled his hips insistently forward, and his name clicked in my brain with the slight nudge of a semi-aroused cock against my hip. Prince Everett of Fulledom. He was the fifth son in his line, and a position as one of my Chosen was sure to be a better a prospect than a general in one of his father's overly employed armies. I slipped free of his grip and worked my way around his side, dipping into a brief and shallow curtsey.

"Welcome back to Kimmery, Your Highness," I said, trying to back away from him. Except I only ended up stumbling into another body. I spun and pulled away before I could be grabbed up in another pair of over-eager arms.

This pair belonged to a tall and classical looking man with tan skin and shining brown hair. He had chosen to go shirtless, and his pectoral muscles bounced in invitation.

"Princess, I am ready to slake your desires, Lennon Barrett," he said with a little bow—one far too slight for my station. He rose up grinning, but it faltered at my blank expression. "I…I am a one, and I prolonged for forty-five minutes and was ready in five."

"Ah," I said, blinking and nodding, searching the room for some escape other than the way I'd come. "Noted. Please help yourself to