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Fla

Only to be extinguished

Lanthe had been wrong There was another sky-born here at the bottom of the ocean

Realization dawned As with the other realms, Nïx had wanted Lanthe here She was the planted spy, conducting Valkyrie recon

“Do you like my new acquisition?” Nereus asked, as if he’d just pointed out a vase “I found her along the ocean bed”

Lanthe turned to hied to say with Sabine’s coet back to Thronos”

“He’s occupied at the od’s ominous tone filled her with fear “Nereus, I don’t want this”

“Of course you do You think I cannot sense such a thing?”

“If you’ve sensed anything, it was my need for Thronos”

“A shahtened “What does that mean? I know he does He has for centuries”

“He’s with Nereids right now”

“That’s not possible”

“They’re seducing him as we speak For those centuries, how many times has he prayed to be free of the bonds of matehood? To collect his own sexual experiences, as you have? I’a

“Here in Sargasoe, matehood holds no sway The Nereids now exude your scent His body and instinct are as free as if he’d never met you”

So, physically Thronos could stray That didn’t mean he would In Feveris, he’d told her he would be true to her

Except Feveris wasn’t real You said so yourself, Lanthe Still“He won’t go through with it”

“No one has ever resisted theod didn’t understand; if there was any male out there ould prove loyal, it was Thronos He was upstanding, principled, and forthright Heto try to rehabilitate his evil brother, for gold’s sake!

Lanthe straightened her amblers She would bet on Thronos to be, well, Thronos “Care to er on that score?”

Nereus raised his red brows “I would If the Vrekener succuht with ly and lustily”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“I will release both of you, giving you use of Sargasoe’s portal to travel wherever you choose”

“Hoe know?” she asked

Nereus waved a hand, and a new scene played on the waterfall

Lanthe could see Thronos lying on a bed, much like the one in which she’d woken—with Nereids for ato

A dozen more nymphs loomed over him The sea-foam skirts they’d worn at the feast had disappeared Their made-for-sex bodies were completely unclothed, their eyes lambent with desire

Naked nymphs in obvious heat surrounded Lanthe’s male

This situation would be any itated “Where’s Melanthe?” In the face of such splendor, his first thought was of her

Because he’s mine

He pushed the Sogood

“I’ll take your bet,” Lanthe told the god in a s tone

Nereus’s smile was unctuous “Then we have a pact, sorceress”

Yet before Thronos could reach the door, the nymphs fell upon his, his chest, his horns, their touch see to daze him “I just want to findit’s important to find her,” he murmured

“Find us,” they purred, as if with one voice “We desire you so deeply”

Over her shoulder, Lanthe snapped, “They’re bespelling hied “A worthy male, one who intends absolute fidelity, could shake off their spell Otherwise he’ll succumb, and once he does, he’ll never want to leave In fact, he’ll go into a e if separated from his harem”

Lanthe’s stomach lurched as the fe off his shirt on the way

“Where is she?” he demanded, but his resistance faltered with each expert caress

“She doesn’t want you,” they chorused, coaxing hi hi loss She’d already been having possessive feelings toward Thronos, but now

I want him so much

Since she could remember, she’d pined for a s Yes, there was a vicious history between her and Thronos, but she’d believed he would eventually fall in love with her

True love Which was more than she could say about any other male she’d met in her lifetime

Off went his boots “All your life, you’ve pursued and endured,” the Nereids ed for the freedom to choose who you desired Now you can, but only here, where there’s no such thing as ? He’d felt “cuckolded” He’d tried to stray And now in this realer was Lanthe his bitter necessity

Just days ago, he’d told her she was lacking, that he would never desire soed between the froeed, he would’ve stayed faithful

When one of the Nereids began undoing Thronos’s pants—with her teeth—Lanthe was staggered by the tears spilling froo to hito prevent her escape

Even after the nyle, so they deepened their spells to knock him out completely

One nyood as done No male alive could wake to a ny, sick, Lanthe turned her back on the scene I should’ve locked Thronos down I should’ve fought for him when I had the chance

Now she would have to face his murderous wrath when she tried to steal him back from the nymphs