Free The Hated (Sleeping With Monsters Book 3) by Cassie Alexander Page A

was dying and I looked to Joshan.
    “Come here and hold me,” I commanded, and when he was prone beside me, I looped my arms around his neck and cried.
    I must have fallen asleep again – I didn’t remember, but when I woke up the pulsing lights of the dream cradle were all around me. I stayed inside it, curled up, unwilling to face the rest of the palace again – until I heard the sound of someone pacing back and forth outside. I pushed the lid open and the pacing stopped – I saw black leather boots leading to black pants and armor and finally Zaan, staring down inquisitively.
    “Your servant told me waking you would be harmful,” he said, pushing the door up, squatting on his heels. “What is this contraption?”
    “It harvests my dreams. It is how I help keep Aranda safe and well,” I told him, even as the words tasted bitter on my tongue.
    He looked at me and one of his eyebrows rose. I avoided his gaze and he snorted softly. “You do not believe in yourself as much as you did yesterday, do you.”
    I swallowed and didn’t answer him.
    “I have good news for you then,” he said, rocking back up. “You actually are a Queen.”
    “Of course I am,” I said, with more conviction than I felt. “But –“
    He held up a piece of paper – and I realized with awe that it had my likeness on it. “What is that? Is that…currency?”
    His dark eyes studied me. “You have never seen its like before?”
    “Never.”
    I gathered myself up inside the cradle and stood, stepping out of it. But between my weariness and my skirt catching, I tripped. He caught me effortlessly, then picked me up out of the chamber and set me down.
    “Do you have your footing?” he said, without kindness.
    “Yes,” I said, as he released me. I carefully walked over to my bed and prayed he wouldn’t follow too closely. “The paper – please –“
    He handed it over to me and it was my face. The same one I saw in the mirror each morning when Beza dressed me. I was printed in a shining blue and there was a smudged thumbprint on the corner – the same color as blood.
    “Did you steal this?”
    Zaan shrugged. “I wasn’t injured. He survived.”
    “You –“ I looked from the paper to him. “You injured one of my people?”
    “Do you care so strongly about a public you have never met?”
    “Of course I do! I’m their Queen!” I showed him the paper as though it were proof. “They rely on me!”
    “For what, precisely?” he asked, his tone cold.
    I gathered myself and swallowed before answering. “I dream their dreams. And – Railan has me read things, sometimes, so that they can hear my voice. And,” I waved the paper in front of him, “this is currency. They honor me. They value me. Should I not do the same for them?”
    I sat on the edge of my bed, staring at my picture on the paper -- and then realized the question I should have asked all along.
    “How did you get out?”
    Instead of answering me, Zaan asked another question. “In your stories, what happens to your Kings?”
    “It is as I told you – King and Queen rule side by side.”
    He shook his head once. “No man could be content to be so trapped here.”
    I looked up at him, fury burning inside. “What about Queens? Do I seem content to you?” I rose to standing and willed my magic to catch him alight, only it wouldn’t answer me. “How did you get out? Tell me. I want to see the land I rule – I want to meet my people.”
    He leaned back, the corners of his lips subtly rising. “Make me tell you.”

Chapter Seven
    I knew from my brief time outside why they kept her in here like a songbird. She wouldn’t last a minute outside in the brutal world I’d seen. And her powers – if she could be said to have any – were so weak as to be almost useless.
    Which was perfect for me.
    I could take all the blood from her I wanted, and no one would ever find out. I imagined myself swelling up like a tick – until she died and I died with