Richelle Mead Dark Swan Bundle: Storm Born, Thorn Queen, Iron Crowned & Shadow Heir

“I can’t tell you what made them,” he said at last, “but I can tell you they were magically inflicted. If I had to guess…I’d say you’ve been marked.”
“Marked how?”
“I think whoever—or whatever—made these did so to track you. As long as these are on you, the maker can find you.”
I shivered, and it had nothing to do with being topless or the fact that his fingers were still on me. “Can you get rid of them?”
“No. They might eventually go away on their own, but I can’t tell you when. Who made them?”
I hesitated. “A man.”

“You kill enough to scare most of the people out in the main hall.”
“But that’s not why you’re telling me this story.”
“True enough.” He poured another glass of wine. “You are brave, Eugenie Markham. You are brave and strong and beautiful. But your perspective and view of the world—worlds—are flawed. You don’t understand us. We don’t behave as we do out of an evil nature. We have reasons for our actions.”
“Just as I do for mine. I don’t kill because I enjoy it

Beyond us, I heard another rise of murmurs in the crowd.
“What’s got them all worked up now?” They couldn’t hear our discourse.
His own eyes danced. They were golden-brown, the color of autumn leaves falling from the trees. “You’ve broken protocol. They expected you to stop one step lower. Instead, you’ve put yourself at the same level as me. The fact that I’m not chastising you means I’m treating you as an equal, like royalty. You should be flattered

“I accept,” I said.
Dorian regarded me in silence and then nodded. “As do I.” He looked up at the crowd. “Odile Dark Swan is now under the protection of my hospitality. Anyone who so much as lays a finger on her will get his own fingers chopped off and fed back to him.” He issued the threat with as much cheer as Volusian might have.
A buzz spread through the crowd, not entirely pleased. “What’s to keep her from breaking her oath?” I heard someone mutter. Another said loudly, “She could slay us all!”
Dorian’s eyes flicked back to me. “Did you have any idea what a creature of nightmare you are around here? Mothers tell their children Odile Dark Swan will come for them if they’re bad

There was also magic here. Strong magic. It permeated the air, every blossom, every blade of grass. It set my hairs on end. I didn’t like magic, not this kind, not the magic that filled living things. That was a gentry thing. Humans had no magic within them. We took it from the world with tools and charms; it was not inborn with us. Feeling it so heavy in the air unnerved me, almost making it hard for me to breathe

Unlike so many others, I was even strong enough to bring other material things—my clothes, my weapons.

job security.”
“Make no mistake, mistress. I may protect you now, but as soon as I have the chance, I will rip the flesh from your body and tear your bones apart. I will ensure you suffer so gravely that you will beg me for death. Yet, even then, your soul will not find relief. I will torture it for all eternity

“I don’t think I can manage that. What about you guys? I’m going to bring you along. Will it help?”
“I feared my mistress would say that. Yes, of course it will help. You know my binds force me to protect you, no matter how much angst it causes me.”
“Aw, don’t sound so glum. Think of it as job security

That almost surprised him. Almost. “My mistress is foolish.”
“Thanks. I have to find a human girl that some horny gentry abducted.”
He reconsidered. “My mistress is brave and foolish.”
“She was taken by a guy named Aeson. Do you know him?”
“He is king of the Alder Land. Powerful. Very powerful.”
“Stronger than me

him. He was bound to me until I released him or lost control. This way, I dictated his actions. I usually kept him in the Otherworld until I needed him. Teasing him was a way to project confidence in my control, like I wasn’t worried at all. I couldn’t show any weakness with him. He had made it perfectly clear a number of times that he would kill me horrifically if he ever broke free