unwelcoming expression on her face. Several pairs of dark, fathomless eyes gleaming at her with interest and a hint of menace.
Where the fuck had they come from?
Swallowing back her fear, Diana raised an eyebrow at the dryad. Some part of her still wanted to shrink back in fear as she had done that first day, but things had changed since then. She had changed. She refused to be cowed by the vindictive bitch. “I think I am all set, you can go now,” she said flatly. “And take the nymph sisterhood with you.”
The dryad’s nostrils flared, the golden yellow hue of her cheeks darkening. “You do not order me about. You do not belong here,” she hissed. “This was my place and I will not allow some human interloper to usurp it.”
Diana’s other eyebrow raised to join the first. “It seems that Silvas doesn’t share that opinion. If I’m not mistaken, I’m the one he mated. So regardless of who was here first, my human ass is here now. You are the one who doesn’t belong in this room.”
A hard smile curved the dryad’s face as she ran a hand along the bed familiarly. “It is only a matter of time before he will yearn for me again. Did he tell you that we were lovers for centuries? He and I in this bed…” a low sound of pleasure escaped her lips. “And still he keeps me here close at hand. Do you not wonder why that is, little human?”
Silvas and that horrible female… For centuries? Nausea rocked Diana. The dryad’s smile widened.
“He didn’t tell you.” Alseida laughed as several of nymphs behind her smirked and someone giggled. Diana didn’t miss that there were a few pitying faces among them, and a couple looked distinctly uncomfortable. “Poor clueless human. But I’m hardly surprised.” The last was addressed to a dark-haired nymph standing directly to the side. The nymph pouted at Diana before erupting into laughter.
Diana knew she would hate herself for asking, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. “Why are you not surprised?” she whispered.
The dryad smirked as she reclined comfortably on the bed. “Do you imagine that you are the first human woman Silvas has taken to his bed? In the old days, he sired an entire race of males on human women whom he seduced in his forests. He never stays with them, though. True, he may have mated you for a hidden purpose of the gods that we do not know. But he will never stay with a human. He never has. He will always yearn for nymphs and the pleasure that we are capable of bringing.”
He had sired children? How had that never come up in conversation? Diana clenched her fingers into a tight fist, hidden in her lap. She wouldn’t betray how much this affected her, not until she spoke to Silvas first.
“Go home, human,” Alseida hissed. “Take an escort back to your world and forget about Silvas and this place. This world is not for the likes of you. Leave him to us. Only we are worthy of tasting his desire.”
Several nymphs broke away from the group, their bodies flowing as they circled the table at which Diana sat. Their eyes were fixed on her, their smiles cruel, their lips whispering of how much they enjoyed the taste of the lucomo, his need for them and the desire upon which they slaked their thirst and the pleasure they gave him. No human could provide him with what they could stir in the being of the lucomo. He was theirs. Alseida stood in front of all of them her lips curved ruthlessly.
Anger streaked through Diana at the dryad’s taunt. “I will hear the details of his past from Silvas, not someone else,” she said. “Regardless of any discussion that occurs between us, you will never chase me away, Alseida. And I shall never relinquish my claim on Silvas.”
Alseida snarled and stalked forward, lifting a clawed hand. Diana braced, fists raised to defend herself, when some nymphs who had been lingering apart from the rest pushed themselves in front of Diana. They shielded her with their bodies as they faced off with the dryad.
“We do not approve of this,” a female at the fore said. “This is not the way of our kind, to threaten harm on other females—and for what? To enjoy the pleasures of a king who has not desired our company for centuries? When is the last time he accepted any of