The Umbra King (Vincula Realm Book 1)

Rory walked through the door of Caius’ office bright and early the next morning, wearing a black silk blouse tucked into a tight, red skirt. The clack of her high heels on the marble floor made her feel powerful.

Caius was not yet sitting behind his desk thinking of new ways to annoy her, and she rummaged through it again.

She tugged on the drawer that once held Cora’s file, and it slid open easily, revealing a note inside.

It is not polite to go through someone’s things, Miss Raven.

Perhaps you need to be punished.

“Asshole,” she mumbled.

“What was that?” Caius’ deep voice asked as he closed the door behind him.

She told him to piss off with her eyes and closed the desk. “Where is my sister’s file?”

“Good morning to you, too,” he replied and opened one of the file cabinets behind her. “Here.”

He held out the envelope with Cora’s emergency report, and she tentatively took it. “Why are you giving this to me?”

He rolled up the sleeves of his black dress shirt and sat down behind his large desk. “You already know what it says. Why do you want it?”

She set the file on top of the filing cabinet and careened around the desk to sit in the chair opposite the king. “I don’t want you to have it.”

He stared at her for a moment before pulling out a handful of files from another drawer in his desk. “According to you, I was there. I should already know what is in that file as well.”

“If it wasn’t you, then who was it?” she demanded. “I saw you, Caius.”

His lips parted. “Say it again.”

Did he suddenly lose his hearing? “What?”

“My name,” he clarified. “Say it again. It will be good practice for when you scream it later.”

A deep blush stained her cheeks, and she momentarily lost her train of thought. “Answer the question.”

The rings on his hand glinted as he drummed them against the wood. “It wasn’t me. I’ve been locked in Vincula for almost five-hundred years, and if I broke the magic holding me here, your sister wouldn’t be the person I aimed to kill.”

She leaned forward in her chair. “I saw you.”

He huffed out a laugh and shook his head. “You may have seen my face, but you didn’t see me.“ He leaned back and clasped his hands in his lap. “The emergency report of your arrest says the video surveillance showed a very large man answering the door to Mr. Witlow’s apartment when you arrived. It also says they found several bottles of shapeshifting potions in his apartment, as well as an entire closet full of different sized clothes, yet no one else lived there, nor was anyone recorded leaving the apartment. Besides you, that is.”

She knew where this was going. “How would someone be able to shapeshift into you if no one but Samyaza and your siblings know what you look like?” she challenged. “Everyone else’s memories are wiped clean.”

“Why is it easier for you to believe I broke out of my contract just to kill your sister?” His voice was filled with indignation.

The seed of doubt bloomed. “I don’t know,” she admitted.

“If you stopped hating me for things I didn’t do, then this arrangement could be fun, Miss Raven.”

She was embarrassed and angry because what he said made sense. Why would he come to Erdikoa to kill a fifteen-year-old lamb shifter, and if he’d broken the magic holding him here, why doesn’t he ever leave?

Being back at square one made her want to pound her fists against a wall. She took a deep breath and stared him down. “You hate me for my crimes. It was only fair I hated you for yours.”

“Think what you wish,” he said as he stood. “Go through these and write the dates of their departure.”

Rory grabbed the files from Caius and opened the top folder. It was Max’s contract. “What is this?”

“The inmates that are leaving this month. I need you to write the dates and their jobs, then make arrangements with their supervisors. The day before an inmate leaves, we arrange for them to have the day off to say their goodbyes,” he explained. “Leaving your family behind in Vincula is no easier than leaving behind your family in Erdikoa.”

Rory looked down at the files again, and a pang of sadness hit her square in the chest. She would never see Max again. Flipping through the rest of the files, she saw Bruce’s name, and when she came to Asher’s file, the air whooshed out of her lungs.

Two friends gone in a matter of weeks.

Her throat tightened. “Where do I sit to organize these?”

He pointed to a desk across the room. “Enjoy.” He walked out and left her to stew in her misery.

The work Caius assigned Rory took all of an hour to figure out. She needed to contact the employers, but other than that, she had nothing to do. As she debated wandering around the palace to find the king, a knock sounded at the main door she forgot existed.

Apart from her first day, she’d yet to use the main entrance to his office, and he never used it either. She opened the door to find Nina on the other side. The look of contempt on the maid’s face brought a satisfied smile to Rory’s.

“Caius isn’t here. Can I take a message?” Rory asked sweetly.

Nina’s fair skin turned red, matching her hair, and she shoved her way past Rory into the office. “Nina, if you don’t have an appointment, you need to leave.”

Nina whirled on Rory. “You think you’re better than me because you’re working for Caius?” Her cackle made Rory’s ears bleed. “He only wants to make sure you don’t kill anyone else. If you think there’s another reason, you are delusional.”

Rory walked to her desk and sat down. “Says the woman who chases him around like a rabid dog.”

Nina advanced, and Rory hoped she attacked. She wanted to make the woman bleed.

“Caius loves me,” Nina declared, and Rory’s head popped back, making Nina smile. “That’s right. He takes me on dates and showers me with his affection. Watch the way you speak to your future queen.”

At that, Rory lost it. She was laughing so hard tears were streaming down her face, and as hard as she tried, she couldn’t stop. “You really have lost it!” she squealed around a laugh. “Oh aether, I thought you were pissed he discarded you as his plaything, but you really think he’ll take you as his bride, don’t you?” She started laughing again.

The door flew open with a bang, and Caius stormed in. “What are you doing here, Nina?”

She whimpered. “I came to see if you wanted to have dinner tonight.”

He laughed humorlessly and grabbed her gently by the arm. Once at the door, he said, “Leave.”

The door shut in Nina’s face, and Rory hid a smug smile, but it didn’t last long because Caius was in front of her in a flash. He braced his arms on either side of her chair. “Why are you taunting her?”

Rory tried to roll her chair away from him, but he held her in place. “Call off your bitch, and I won’t have to.” Her voice was calmer than she felt. He was defending Nina, and it threw Rory for a loop. “She shows up wherever I am, not the other way around.”

He stood and retreated to his reading nook. “If she comes here again, ask her to have a seat and wait for me.”

Everything in Rory screamed at her to flip her desk over. He wanted her to indulge that horrible excuse of a person? There wasn’t a chance in the seven rings of hell that would happen. He could fire her for all she cared.

“I need to leave,” she responded as she rose from her seat.

“I haven’t dismissed you,” he said smoothly. “Sit.”

Rory bit her tongue and tried as hard as she could to set his shirt on fire with her eyes. Holding up the paper, she said, “I need to contact these employers. Is that not what you told me to do?”

Without looking up, he nodded once. “Go. Then take the rest of the day off to cool down. I can taste your anger.” His eyes sliced her way. “And while tasting you sounds exquisite, your anger doesn’t hold the same intrigue.”

She stomped from the room and slammed the door on her way out as she cursed Caius under her breath. He made her mad enough to kill, but horny enough to rip his clothes off all at once. She needed to get laid.

Two of the inmates were employed within the palace, but the other three were located in town. A phone would have made things easier, but Rory needed to distance herself from Caius anyway.

When Asher first told her he worked at the butcher shop, she thought he was joking, but for once in his life, he was serious. She avoided visiting him at work because she didn’t know how she would react. Would her blood lust come back?

Nina was the only person here who pulled that darkness out of her, and she couldn’t help but wonder if it was because the woman’s soul was as close to black as one could get without actually being black. Not that Rory could see it, but perhaps her own soul could sense it.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed through the door, and a bell tinkered overhead. Rory didn’t understand why they needed a butcher shop because the meat was already processed in Erdikoa. There was no butchering going on, and it seemed pointless to have an extra shop when they could sell it at the grocery store.

Asher appeared through a swinging door and grinned as he leaned on the counter. “I knew you’d come home one day.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Was that a serial killer joke?”

“And a good one, too.” He winked. “Are you ordering cuts of meat for Lo?”

Rory shook her head. “I’m here to speak to your boss.” His brows rose. “You didn’t tell me you were leaving this soon,” she accused. His last day was in a couple of weeks, right before Max’s.

Asher’s shoulders fell. “What good would it have done?” His voice was somber, and she passed the counter to wrap her arms around his middle.

“You might not remember us, but we’ll remember you,” she promised him.

He squeezed her before releasing her and put his hands in his back pockets. “We get an entire day together,” he reminded her. “When friends request off work for someone’s last day, they are never denied.” He grimaced. “I forgot about Nina. She would take pleasure in denying yours. I’ll request off whatever day you have off that week.”

Rory gave him a cheeky grin. “I don’t work for Nina anymore.”

Asher choked out a laugh. “Shit, did you kill her?”

Rory shoved him lightly. “No, I didn’t kill her. Caius reassigned me.”

Asher scratched the light stubble on his jaw. “It’s Caius now?”

“I’m his personal assistant.”

Asher’s eyes bugged out of his head. “Are you the new Nina?”

This time she pushed him hard. “I will hang you from one of these hooks if you ever say that again.”

He held his hands up and pinched his lips together as his shoulders shook with silent laughter. “Grow up,” Rory grumbled. “I don’t know why he moved me.”

“The king will give you the day off. If anyone understands how hard losing people is, it’s him.”