CHAPTER TWO
VICTORIA
His hand closed around me like iron, plucking me off the stone floor as though I weighed nothing.
I gasped, back arching as his talons skimmed my thighs, shredding the thin ceremonial dress they had bound me in. Fabric tore like paper. My skin shivered under the cold air of the cavern.
“You—” I swallowed, biting back the tremor in my voice. “You’ll… devour me now?”
He laughed. Not a mortal laugh, but something dark, vibrating through the walls, rattling my ribs.
“Oh, little offering,” he purred, voice thick with sin. “You are dripping, and I haven’t even touched you yet. Tell me, did the villagers know their heroine came soaked for her god?”
My cheeks burned. “No.”
He inhaled sharply, nostrils flaring, crimson eyes gleaming. “Different.” His tongue flicked acro
