His followers jeered and doused her with bottles of spirits. The leader played with her as a hawk would a mouse, ravaging the meat from its bones. Her mauled face shoved against crushed poppies. The force of one kick jostled her over onto her belly. In the distance, a new age band played in an outdoor arena. Yet Bettina could still hear, was still aware. The scythe’s blade wasn’t fashioned out of metal, but of black flame. . . . His claw-tipped wings had blocked the light of a low yellow moon. Her last sight? The leader standing over her, brandishing a scythe, his eyes frenzied. No longer could she open her swollen eyes. She’d depended on her Sorceri power for protection-the one that these Vrekeners had siphoned from her as easily as they’d snatched the clothes from her body. Though half demon, Bettina was weak in body, hopeless at fighting. Just as their kind had delivered to her sorceress mother twenty years before.

The four winged monsters who’d dragged her here had plans for her: as much agony as possible before her death. She’d long since stopped begging for her life, knew she’d never leave this field of poppies alive. The searing pain that had been clawing through her entire being faded below her waist to pinpoints of pressure, then tingles, then . . .īlessing. … Read moreĪ savage kick to Princess Bettina of Abaddon’s back severed her spinal cord. And unleashing a millennium’s worth of savage need will either frighten his Bride away-or stoke Bettina’s own desires to a fever pitch. Yet one lethal competitor, a mysterious cloaked swordsman, invades her dreams, tempting her with forbidden pleasure.Įven if Trehan can survive the punishing contests to claim her as his wife, the true battle for Bettina’s heart is yet to come. The coldly disciplined swordsman has never desired anything for himself-until he beholds Bettina, the sheltered ward of two of the Lore’s most fearsome villains.ĭesperate to earn her guardians’ approval after a life-shattering mistake, young Bettina has no choice but to marry whichever suitor prevails-even though she’s lost her heart to another. Trehan Daciano, known as the Prince of Shadows, has spent his life serving his people-striking in the night, quietly executing any threat to their realm. Shadow’s Claim features Prince Trehan, a ruthless master assassin who will do anything to possess Bettina, his beautiful sorceress mate, even compete for her hand in a blood-sport tournament-to the death. #1 New York Times bestseller Kresley Cole introduces The Dacians: Realm of Blood and Mist, a new paranormal series following the royal bloodline of Dacia, a vampire kingdom hidden within the Lore of the Immortals After Dark.

The price of pleasure by kresley cole