Page 14 of Gilded Curses

So never.

A muscle at the corner of Orin’s eye twitched at the man’s reference to a Lord. They’d just destroyed one Lord who believed he was equivalent to a God, and now, they were in the presence of another one in this realm.

Desmond and Sheree weren’t a king or queen like Cole and Lexi, but a Lord who believed himself above all others. That never ended well.

“And Desmond is your Lord?” he inquired.

“Yes, as is Sheree.”

Orin’s eyebrows rose at this. So, she isn’t a Lady, but a Lord too. That’s a lot of ego in one realm.

And he should know, as he had a lot of ego, but at least he wasn’t a pretentious douchebag like these cheap, gold knockoffs.

Orin gritted his teeth and handed over his sword. He was certain he’d never see it again. “Aren’t you lucky to have two Lords.”

“You’re lucky, too,” the pretty woman beside him said. “You’ve survived where so many others have failed. And tonight, you’ll celebrate; we all will.”

“Celebrate what?” Zeth asked.

“Life.”

“I had a life before I came here. I want to return to it.”

The woman bowed her head. “Of course. And I’m sure our Lords will see that you do.”

Orin was just as sure Desmond and Sheree had no intention of seeing any such thing. Still, he handed over his other weapons while Pip relinquished hers.

In the end, there was no choice. They were too outnumbered in this place and still couldn’t open portals. They were stuck here until they learned more and found a weakness; once he did, he’d see them all dead.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

When they finished disarming themselves, the guards fell back to give them space as women, dressed all in white, swarmed them.

“Please relax.”

Orin glared daggers at the woman trying to peel his cloak from him. For weeks, he’d been looking forward to shedding his filthy clothes, a hot bath, relaxing with a drink while stuffing himself, and hopefully getting his dick sucked.

This place was not where he imagined any of those things happening, and he wasn’t about to be agreeable with their captors. And that’s exactly what these things were. They acted like gracious hosts, but they were wardens.

Loth climbed off Sahira’s shoulder, and she shrugged out of her cloak. The woman working with her handed it to another woman whose nose wrinkled as she held it away with two fingers. Another woman held out a large can, and she tossed it in.

When the woman grasped her shirt and started lifting it over her head, Orin sneered at the guards watching them. Modesty wasn’t something most immortals bothered with, but he didn’t want any of these assholes looking at her.

The woman working to strip him muttered something before rising to plant her hands on her hips. “If you’re going to stand there like a tree, then I can’t get this done.”

“Don’t you think we should have some privacy?” he demanded.

Though Sahira and the others all gawked at him, he was more stunned than them that those words had left his mouth. He didn’t care who saw him naked, he never had, but the idea of these golden freaks looking at Sahira made his eyelid twitch.

The woman working on Sahira glanced between the two of them. Something passed across her face before she pointed at one of the massive room’s doors.

“Those rooms are all private baths,” she said.

“Then let us use them,” he grated through his teeth.

She didn’t look at all fazed by the anger in his voice as she turned away from them.

“What are you doing?” Sahira hissed at him.