Cruel Union (Brutal Universe #1)

3. Aurora

3

AURORA

J ust at that moment, Slade walked into the Throne Room . As always, he was wearing a hand-tailored suit that looked more expensive than our entire palace. It was charcoal grey which seemed to bring out the bright metallic sheen of his curling golden horns. His eyes—which always reminded me of a cat’s eyes—were golden too, and his close-clipped beard was neatly trimmed. His shiny black shoes made no noise as he walked down the threadbare red carpet that led to the throne.

When he reached us, he bowed twice—once to Roderick and once to me.

“ Greetings , King Roderick … Princess Aurora ,” he rumbled in a voice so deep I could feel it in my bones. “ I have come to collect the half-year tribute on behalf of my father, the Chieftain of Clan Cruel .”

Roderick turned white and immediately began stammering and stuttering.

“ Oh , well…you see…the thing is, we don’t…we can’t…” He couldn’t seem to get a whole sentence out.

“ We don’t have the money right now,” I said, stepping in since my brother couldn’t seem to manage it. “ We had bad harvests this year.”

“ Yes ! Yes , that’s it!” Roderick seemed relieved. He grasped my lie in both hands and ran with it. “ Bad harvests,” he babbled. “ A famine—a drought! Our people are starving!”

“ Oh ?” Slade raised one dark eyebrow in polite inquiry. His expression was so much like the look he’d given me when he caught me examining his shaft that I felt a rush of embarrassment, which I tried to ignore.

“ Yes , unfortunately. But things are getting better now,” I said quickly. “ We’re sure we can get the tribute money for you very soon. In the meantime, we were hoping you would be willing to take the Crown Jewels of L’Crist —just as collateral until we can raise the credits.”

With a trembling hand, I held out the fake tiara to him.

Slade took it from me, his expression completely blank. It looked tiny and fragile in his big, powerful hands. He examined the tiara from all angles and then I saw his golden eyes narrow.

With a quick twist, he broke the tiara in two. Fake zircon diamonds popped off and fell to the carpet below. Deliberately , Slade stepped on one, grinding it under his heel. When he raised his foot, there was nothing but glittering dust where it had been. Then he glared at both of us.

“ I assume there’s some reason the two of you are trying to give me fake fucking jewelry instead of the tribute you owe my Clan ?” he growled.

My heart—which had stopped in my chest—suddenly started pounding madly, like it was trying to get out of my rib cage and run away. Oh Goddess of Mercy , what were we going to do? I had never seen him angry before—he was only ever coolly courteous. Now I saw there was something inside him—a darkness that was both terrifying and somehow magnetic. It moved behind his golden gaze and froze the blood in my veins.

We should never have tried to fool him.

Slade glared at my brother, an air of menace filling the air between them. The big Enforcer leaned forward and Roderick shrank back, as though he was trying to disappear into the throne he was sitting on.

“ Try again.” Slade’s voice was a low, menacing growl. “ Offer me something else.”

“ I … I don’t… I don’t have anything else!” Roderick was nearly blubbering now. He was so frightened I wouldn’t have been surprised to see him wet his royal britches any moment. Once again, I felt I had to step in—though I didn’t know how I was going to save this situation.

“ We shouldn’t have tried to fool you, Enforcer . Please , forgive us.” My voice trembled but I held my head high as I spoke. Despite his air of menace, I found myself stepping closer to the big Brute . “ The fact is that the tribute money is gone, but if you’ll just give us some time?—”

“ What happened to it?” His calm, almost deadpan question caught me off guard.

“ I’m sorry—what?” I looked up at him blankly.

“ The tribute money—the credits you owe my Clan . Where did it go?” He raised an eyebrow at me again, making me blush.

“ I don’t—” I stared to say.

Slade raised a finger warningly.

“ Don’t lie to me, Princess . I want to know.”

“ It was lost,” I said, twisting my fingers together. “ Lost in…in a casino. On Sin World .”

“ Sin World ?” This time his deep, rumbling voice sounded almost amused. “ You mean Rigelis Nine ?”

“ Yes .” I lifted my chin defiantly. “ And it was lost in one of your own casinos—your Clan owns them all, don’t they? So in a way, the tribute has already been paid. Just not in the usual way.”

I was pleased with my own reasoning, but it was clear Slade wasn’t buying it.

“ I don’t think so, Princess ,” he growled softly. “ The deal is credits-in-hand—not credits left on the Blackjack table. You still owe my Clan your tribute…so how are you going to pay?”

I felt sick. This was it—now I was going to find out if all the awful rumors about how the Brutes treated people who couldn’t pay were true.

“ We don’t have much,” I said, trying to think. “ I have a few pieces of jewelry my mother left me. One of them—a broach—has real sapphires from Old Earth in it,” I offered.

Slade shook his head and crossed his arms over his broad chest. I could see his biceps bulging under the expensive fabric of his suit.

“ Not enough. Maybe I should round up your entire population and we’ll all take a trip to the quadrach mines. You can work your tribute off that way.”

“ No , please!” I begged. Impulsively , I put a hand on his arm. His muscles tensed beneath my touch. “ Please don’t!” I continued. “ The people of L’Crist don’t deserve to be made into slaves! They’ve done nothing wrong. It was us —the Royal family—who lost the tribute we collected from them.”

“ So you claim the blame, Princess ?” Slade looked down at me, his golden eyes narrowed.

I realized I still had my hand on his arm and jerked it away.

“ Yes , I do,” I said, trying to keep my voice from trembling.

He frowned.

“ You’re saying you went to ‘ Sin World ’ and sat beside your brother and gambled away the tribute?”

“ No , but I should have been watching him,” I said quickly. “ I’m his older sister, after all. I should have kept a better eye on him.”

“ I see.” He nodded, giving me a speculative look. “ So since you’re taking the blame, you’re also willing to pay the price?”

Here we go. I felt a lump in my throat but I did my best to swallow it down.

“ Yes .” I held out a hand to him. “ Here .”

Slade got a bemused expression on his face as he uncrossed his arms and took my hand in his. I felt a strange jolt run through me as he enfolded my fingers and my breath was suddenly coming short. I noticed suddenly that he smelled really good—some dark, masculine spice that drifted to my nose and made me wish I could get closer to him for some reason.

It was a strange thing to notice during such a tense moment. But Slade was still just holding my hand in his and looking at me.

“ What do you expect me to do?” he rumbled, frowning in what looked like honest confusion as he looked down at the hand I had offered him.

“ Use your flesh shears on me.” I swallowed hard, trying to keep my voice steady. “ I know that’s one way you Brutes extract payment from people who can’t pay their tribute. You chop off one of their fingers and take it to a cloning farm so you can grow a mindless replica of them.”

The big Enforcer gave me a look that was convincingly horrified.

“ You think I want to cut off your fingers, Princess ? Think I want to maim you? What kind of a monster do you fucking take me for?”

“ The kind who gets paid no matter what!” I shot back, glaring up at him. “ So I’m offering to pay you the only way I know how. I don’t have anything else to give!”

His golden eyes flashed and he leaned down from his great height to look me in the face.

“ Oh yes, you do, Princess ,” he rumbled, his mouth curving into a slow, hungry smile. “ You have something that I want very much.”