Shadowborn Royals - G. Bailey Page 0,37

slam open and five guards walk into the room, followed by Eva in a ridiculous pink dress.

“Izora, I have something to show you. I believe you will enjoy it,” she says.

Luke softly drops me to the floor in front of him while Axel and Scott appear at my side. “Don’t make this harder than it needs to be.”

With Eva’s warning in my head, I release Luke’s hand and meet each of my guys’ eyes as I walk away from them. The tension flickering off them could set the world on fire and I find it harder than ever to leave them at this moment. Gold steps to Eva’s side, and it makes me feel a tiny bit better to see him here… especially in a suit. A white tux covers his muscular body, the fancy silk material suiting him perfectly. In his pocket is a black lacy mask, just sticking out enough that I can see what it is.

I scan over Eva, spotting a pink mask hanging from her side.

“Do you like my dress? It’s the first of the night for me,” she sweetly says. “And tonight, we go to a ball. Are you excited?”

“Are you fucking crazy?” I ask her, tugging my hand from hers. “We are not friends and I don’t want to go to a ball. Why would you let me leave?”

“Oh, I’m not letting you leave. You will wear this,” she holds up a silver bracelet and pulls my hand out. She snaps the bracelet on my wrist and I feel it’s magic snap into me. “And if you go more than a mile from where I am, say leave the building and run, you will die from the poison it injects you with. So stay close and you will need to change. Oh, and it cancels out your magic.”

She snaps her fingers and one of the guards hands steps forward, handing me a white puffy garment that looks like a wedding dress. A silver mask rests on top of it.

“Go or I will start cutting one of your lover boys,” she threatens, her eyes looking over me to my guys. I sneer at her as I rip the dress and mask from the guard’s hands and try to walk away, but she snaps her fingers, making me stop. “Strip here. I don’t want to risk you sliding anything into that dress to hurt me with.”

I look at all the guards and Gold in turn, giving them a look that makes them each turn away from me. I pull my top and leggings off, leaving them on the floor next to my boots. The dress is easy to put on as it’s backless, my wings not bothered one bit and zips at the side by my ribs. I undo my hair, letting the locks fall between my wings and slide my boots on. Lastly, I tie the mask over my eyes; the feather flickering past my ears.

“Happy?” I sarcastically ask her. She stares at me for a moment in a trance and her mouth drops into a frown. I can’t read what she sees as she walks up to me and I jump back as she lifts her hand.

“Why does Selena love you both and not me? Why was it never me?” she asks and again I’m completely lost to what the fuck she is talking about.

“Maybe if you didn’t destroy her people and her forest, you would be blessed by her too. Gods love those who fight for good. Can you really say you do that, Princess Eva?” I ask. Her hand smacks hard across my cheek, snapping my head to the side and I taste my blood in my mouth.

She turns around and walks to Gold. “You watch her until I am ready. If she escapes, I will kill you next,” she warned him, and as he nods, I see a similar silver bracelet as mine on his wrist.

Gold walks to my side and places his hand on my lower back, leading me out of the room behind Eva and her guards. We take several turns through the prison and I try not to look at anyone when I feel their eyes on me.

When we reached a locked door, two of the guards place their hands on the metal, changing it. The metal melts away into a white portal that shows a much grander corridor on the other side.

Eva walks in first and two guards follow, whereas the others wait for us. I walk