Max
There’s a murmuring of voices but I’m not paying attention. A large trunk is dragged across the concrete, and I vaguely register someone starting a fire in the corner fireplace. Metal clanking sounds through the open barn, and my eyes refuse to stray from Astern.
She was just a girl.
She had no choice, no power, no way to fight back.
Just like us…
Something about her called to me that first night in the bar. There was something… enigmatic about her–like her battles matched our own. I hadn’t known at the time, but I could tell by the way she acted around us. Sure, I was attracted to her, but I also saw the depth in her expression.
Now I know why.
And I sure as fuck couldn’t let her go now.
“Have you chosen a name?” Alaric asks Lachlan.
“A name?”
“For the order. You are free to choose a new name or continue using the moniker of Lords and Lady of Darkness. It’s entirely up to you. The function of this order will not change, so it doesn’t matter what you call yourselves.”
“I feel like it’d be a missed opportunity not to call ourselves the Princes,” Otto interjects. “Seeing as there are now three princes in the order.”
“‘Princes of Darkness’ doesn’t exactly have the same ring to it,” I add, scowling.
“Princes of Gluttony. Princes of Lust,” Otto asks, looking at Astern. “Princes of Wrath?—”
“Princes of Sin,” Astern says quietly. “It encompasses all of the seven sins. That’s what you were going for, right?” she asks Otto. “And I can be a Princess of Sin.” Her eyes are heavy as she looks between all of us. “I’m sure as fuck not going to heaven, so we may as well burn together in hell.”
No one speaks for several seconds, and the sound of Astern swallowing is deafening.
“Very well,” Alaric says. “You’ll be branded as the Princes of Sin tonight,” he says, looking between us.
“Any volunteers to go first?” Theo Wolf asks from next to the fireplace. He’s holding a bright red branding iron, and he’s watching all of us with a large smile.
I don’t hesitate to answer. “I will.”
Another deafening silence works through the barn, and I sit down in the solo chair as Theo walks over, pulling my shirt over my head.
“And where are we placing it?” he asks, cocking his head.
In another lifetime, he could’ve been our older brother. His white-blond hair reminds me of Otto, and he seems to have the same sort of playfulness about him. Tonight, he’s wearing a white Oxford and his blond hair loose and wavy around his ears.Plus, he’s a computer nerd like me. Of the five of the Lords, he’s the one I’m most interested in learning from.
“Left arm,” I grit out. “It’s not my dominant one, so I should be fine.”
“You’ve thought about this,” he muses, standing at my left side. The iron isn’t close, but I can feel the heat radiating off it. “Last chance, Mr. Thorn.”
I stay quiet, and he takes that as my affirmation. The wand slowly drifts closer, andfuckit’s already so hot–
I hiss in pain, and my body jerks slightly when it makes contact with my skin. A warbled scream echoes through the barn, and I have to squeeze my eyes shut to defer the pain somewhere else,anywhere else–
“All done,” Theo says, kneeling next to me and using some kind of antibacterial wipe to dab at the burn.
I’m panting and sweating as Gideon walks over with some gauze and bandages. I look up and find Astern watching me with a concerned expression, and I don’t look away as Gideon wraps the brand up and pats me on the shoulder.
“Good boy,” he says, smirking.
I glower at him as I stand up and walk over to where my brother is standing with Astern. I nod once at Otto, telling him that I’m fine without communicating. Astern’s hand comes to my neck.
