Page 40 of Elias

His gaze settled on a closet. He walked over and pulled open the doors. His breath shot out of him, and he fell backward, landing on the bed.

Inside the closet was a stack of bones. Not small animal bones but enormous leg and arm bones and several skulls.

“Fuck me.” Elias jumped from the bed, his eyes wide as he stared at the cause of the stink. “What the hell have you been doing, Princess?” Several of the bones had pieces of flesh rotting on them, which accounted for the disgusting smell.

Realization hit Elias, and he groaned as he continued to stare at the bones. He would place money on the fact these bones belonged to guys Princess Isolt had mated with.

Maybe this was some twisted pleasure of hers. Princess Isolt kept mementos, so she could remember her kills and feel satisfied that she’d destroyed another life, all to fulfill her disgusting desire to eat anyone she mated with.

Elias took a moment to count the skulls. There were six. He had no idea if the rest of the bones belonged to those skulls or if more unfortunate individuals had found themselves in the princess’s bed being chewed up.

He pulled open a drawer in the closet and shuddered. It was full of teeth. He slammed the drawer shut. Princess Isolt hadn’t changed. If anything, she’d grown worse. How was she getting away with it? Her family must know what she did. Even if they followed the old ways, they’d have to think there was something weird about this sick collection of trophies.

“Hey, what are you doing in here?” Tegor appeared in the doorway. “Don’t tell me you’re having a sneaky peek at the princess’s panties?”

It was no good trying to conceal what he’d found from Tegor. “I can assure you I am not looking at her panties.” He stepped to one side to reveal the disturbing discovery.

Tegor’s mouth dropped open, and he grabbed the door frame. “What in the name of a blazing sun is that?”

“I’m pretty sure this is Princess Isolt’s bedroom. So that would make this Princess Isolt’s gruesome, twisted, fucked-up bone collection.”

Tegor snapped his jaw shut. He inched closer, his gaze not leaving the bone pile. “What’s she doing with these bones? They look like no animal bones I’ve ever seen.”

“I don’t think they are animal. I think they’re Retar.”

Tegor’s gaze snapped to Elias. “What the hell? Why is she collecting these?”

“I have a theory, but I don’t like it.”

“I’m all out of theories with something this fucked up. What’s going on here?”

Elias inhaled, making sure to keep his inhalation shallow because of the stink. “These are the guys she’s fucked. Once she’s done with them, she eats them and keeps a souvenir.”

“You have got to be kidding me.” Tegor stared at the bones. “I don’t know a huge amount about anatomy, but those skulls look different. I don’t think they’re all Retar remains.”

Elias looked back at the bones, and his gut clenched. “You’re right. Look at the brow ridge and the elongation of the forehead. That is not a Retar skull.”

“Your princess has had a taste of other races?” Tegor snorted in surprise. “Your girl sure does get around.”

“She shouldn’t be doing that. Although it’s a custom between our own people, she has no right to take a lover from another race and devour him.”

“Unless they wanted to be devoured,” Tegor said, still staring at the bones. “People have all kinds of weird sexual kinks. Maybe there are guys who think it’s the ultimate sexual experience.”

“To be fucked by someone and then eaten?” Elias shook his head. “I’ve yet to meet anyone who thinks that. If Princess Isolt has been taking lovers and eating them, regardless of where they’re from, she’s going to be in a hell of a lot of trouble.”

“We don’t know for sure that’s what she’s done. We can’t exactly ask the bones if they consented to be eaten after sex.”

“Why else does she keep them?”

“She likes bones? I don’t know.” Tegor shook his head. “As sick as it is to keep a pile of rotting bones in your closet, there’s no proof she’s done anything wrong.”

Elias closed the closet door, longing to be as far away from the bones as possible. “Let’s get out of here. I’m running a diagnostic from the cockpit. Once that’s done, we’ll come back and fix the problem.”

“And never speak of this bone closet again?”

“I’m not so sure.” Elias ran a hand down his face. He should report it, but to whom? He shouldn’t be poking around Princess Isolt’s room. How would he explain the discovery?

“Your princess is one twisted bitch,” Tegor said. “Someone should call her out.”