5. En’Zal

The lights dim. The crowd grows restless. King Ro"Kal sits on the edge of his seat, his tongue wetting his lips.

A reptilian male steps onto the stage. He's a botu-kan; a lizard species who are known to be incredibly dangerous and ruthless. I'm not surprised to see their kind in a place like this.

"Gentleman, welcome to the inner sanctum of the Pleasure Palace, welcome to the most depraved room you'll ever be in, welcome to the one place where all your wicked dreams can come true!"

The crowd cheers. I feel a sharp pain in my gut.

"Tonight, we have a wonderful, wonderful auction for you. Tonight, we are offering you the chance to buy your own personal… human female!"

The crowd goes ecstatic. Beers are pounded on tables. Coin-purses rattle. It makes me sick.

My brother looks at me and nods. It's as we thought — a slave auction.

"And we're not just offering you any human female," the announcer continues. "Oh no no no! Tonight's female is very special. Tonight's female is… a virgin!"

King Ro"Kal laughs maniacally. "Oh, unspoiled flesh! How thrilling!"

He grabs my thigh and squeezes. His sharp nails dig into my skin. "Aren't you loving this, King En'Zal? Isn't this how it should be? The weak submitting to the strong? The powerless submitting to the royal?!"

I grab his hand and remove it forcefully. If this is Ro"Kal's idea of discussing peace, if this is how he thinks he can set the scene for fruitful negotiations… then he's truly the Mad King.

And coming here might have been a mistake.

"No," I growl. "This is not how it should be."

I could give him a whole speech about the sanctity of leadership, of how the trust the people place in us kings should be treasured and rewarded instead of abused, but one look into his bright yellow eyes and I can see my words will fall on deaf ears.

"Did you just set this up to mock me?" I ask, anger rising in my voice. "Are these talks just a charade to you?"

"Oh, no, no at all," King Ro"Kal answers. "I came here to see how serious you were about your offer."

"I still want peace between our nations," I say. "There have been enough deaths."

"Good. Very good. Then buy the human virgin for me."

A flash of anger passes across my face. "What?" I growl, my blood pumping quickly.

"Buy me a human slave, and I will consider your proposal."

Just as I'm about to tell King Ro"Kal he's out of his fucking mind the curtains part.

The entire room falls silent as a human woman, standing on a raised platform, is whirred forwards.

The spotlights turn on with a bang, illuminating her perfectly from every angle.

And in a single moment, I am smitten.

This human, this woman, this creature is the most beautiful being I have ever seen in my life.

She is short and curvy. Pristine white lingerie covers her body, accentuating the curves of her breasts and her wide, child-bearing hips.

My fangs instantly elongate. My skin prickles with heat, my pupils dilating, my muscles bulging. My Erullian mating-heat hits me in an instant, knocking me off-balance.

I pride myself on the control I have over my urges.

And yet, I long to claim this woman, to sink my teeth into her, to mark her as mine and see her belly swell with my royal offspring.

This is not me.

The crowd hurls abuse at the poor woman on the stage, who looks absolutely terrified. Her eyes dart across the room, looking for an exit, and then she locks eyes with me.

My heart-rate skyrockets. I keep her gaze and nod slowly.

I will protect you, little one. Do not worry. I will save you from these wolves.

"What a succulent little bitch," King Ro"Kal says leerily. "Pay up, En'Zal. Give me her flesh. Prove to me you're not as stuck-up and boring as people say you are. Do that, and I'll give you your so-coveted peace… for a year or two, perhaps."

For the first time since I was a whelp, I lose my fucking shit.

I grab King Ro"Kal's collar and pull him towards me violently. He spills his drink all over his robe as our scaled foreheads touch.

"Never," I growl as I gaze deeply into his yellow eyes.

There's fear in them. Good. He should fear me.

I should have trusted my brother's judgment more. King Ro"Kal is an insane and violent degenerate. Peace is not possible with a man like him on the throne. The only way that I can save my people and his is by defeating him.

The only way we can have peace is through war.

I see that now.

I stand up. "The human's coming with me. These talks are over."

"Your Highness?" My brother Khi"Zal says, confused. "You are… buying this slave?"

"I am freeing this woman," I correct him.

He nods. "Yes, of course, Your Highness. Apologies."

"None needed, Khi"Zal. Come."

King Ro"Kal stands up and blocks the exit, his blue body heaving with anger. "You're not going anywhere, En'Zal. The girl is mine!"

"Out of my way, Ro"Kal."

"You don't even know how this works, do you?" Ro"Kal sneers. He grabs a tablet that's on our table and punches in a very, very large number, and shows it to me.

"Three hundred million Erullian credits for the human whore," he sneers, wide-eyed. "Are you going to match me, En'Zal? Are you going to give your people's hard-earned credits to these slavers for some human pussy?"

Anger makes my throat close. That number is obscene.

It's impossible to put a number on a life, but I cannot in good conscience match his bid. If I do, he'll simply up it. This madman will blow his entire nation's wealth to one-up me.

And he's right — I cannot give my people's money to these slavers. They'll only use it to enslave more and more people, buy more weapons and do more harm.

No. The only way I'm getting this human virgin out of here…

Is by simply taking her.

I grab Ro"Kal by his garish robe and fling him onto the table like a rag doll. He crashes head first through the dark glass, and my brother laughs as he stands up.

"Finally, some action," he says as he pulls out his dagger. "Shall we finish this right now, brother?"

I shake my head. There's no honor in ganging up on King Ro"Kal like this — and I'd be breaking the sacredness of the negotiations. The Council will come down on me, and I'll only plunge my people into further despair and ruin.

"Come, brother. We're out of here."