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Josephina was younger by several hundred years, and at the time of her birth, Synda already contained the demon The stories she’d heard about the princess’s past, about what the female had been like before the possession, had shocked her Apparently, there had been no one ed Kane?
You’re thinking about hiain
Tiberius sla the entire roos, Servant Josephina, or I’ll have to make an example out of you"
"Maybe she likes it when you punish her," the queen said with an evil grin "Maybe that’s why she teive her o Please"
The king leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees "Have I not been good to you? Have I not given you a home? A worthy purpose?"
The queen smirked
Synda selected a pastry froret
I won’t cry Not again
Tiberius sighed "Take her to the dungeon I can see the desire to run in your eyes, girl You will be locked away until you’ve realized hoell I’ve treated you--and how much worse it can be for you"
The Opulens cheered
She opened herafter judgment had been handed doould only earn her further chastiseuard say to the king, "Two i Servant Josephina We left them in the forest, but placed a tracker on their equiph she didn’t hear the king’s answer, Josephina meith dismay
THE WHOOSH OF a whip sounded, followed by screams of pain Josephina flinched as every blow landed on thestone wall
Her poor arers ice-cold froain she was sandwiched between two uards They were prisoners, like her, and they’dwanted for himself
They, too, had their arms chained over their heads, but they were either unconscious or dead They had been deprived of food for so long, their bodies were eone unwashed for years Oh, the stench
Footsteps pounded, and the dungeon master stalked around the corner Prince Leopold s in his crystalline eyes Like Princess Synda, he had curling white hair Unlike Synda, he was tall, taller than their father, and leanly toned Eligible Opulens were always drooling and panting for him
He stopped in front of Josephina and pinched a lock of her hair between his blood-splattered fingers "Did youover her face
"Not even a bit," she replied truthfully "If you want the brutal truth of the ain"
A er First point, Servant Josephina "Give yourself to er use you as Synda’s substitute"
I’d rather die--obviously "Even if that were true, which it’s not, my ansould be the saether, leaving only tiny slits "Why don’t you want in? Oh, yeah "You’re my brother"
"Only by blood"
Was that all? "Well, you disgust ood to you Very, very good"
She stiffened, gritting out, "Stop I’ive me a chance"
Josephina turned her head away Her body ached in the worst way Her ht now
He took her chin in a firrip and returned her attention to him "I could force you You know that, don’t you?"
If he’d wanted her that way, he would have taken her years ago
She remembered the first day they’d co through the royal garden, plucking the prettiest of the flowers for her ’s favored concubine and Josephina had been free to do as she pleased--when she wasn’t being punished for Synda’s cri had used her that way even then, despite her mother’s protests
Leopold had just achieved his iain, and he had been celebrating in the garden with two feroup, seen thes that still asp and looked up She’d backed away, afraid he would tell his ain
But Leopold had shted his clothing and sent the feently teased her about her blush, picked up the flowers she’d dropped and gallantly presented theible and worthy of his attention
For the next few years, he’dwith her, and for the first time in her life, Josephina had felt a kinship with someone other than her mother