Lor

LOR MONSTROUS BOOK SEVEN LILY MAYNE Copyright 2023 by Lily Mayne All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Beta-reading and editing by Kate Wood Proofreading Warning: This m/m love story contains explicit sexual content and is not suitable for young readers. It also contains non-human genitalia, mentions of a past familial death, grief, depression, attempted murder, depictions of injury and violence, themes of inequality and prejudice, and brief mentions of homophobia. Contents Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Chapter Thirty-Six Chapter Thirty-Seven Chapter Thirty-Eight Chapter Thirty-Nine Chapter Forty Chapter Forty-One Chapter Forty-Two Chapter Forty-Three Chapter Forty-Four Chapter Forty-Five Chapter Forty-Six Chapter Forty-Seven Chapter Forty-Eight Chapter Forty-Nine Chapter Fifty Chapter Fifty-One Chapter Fifty-Two Chapter Fifty-Three Chapter Fifty-Four Chapter Fifty-Five Chapter Fifty-Six Chapter Fifty-Seven Chapter Fifty-Eight Chapter Fifty-Nine Chapter Sixty Chapter Sixty-One Chapter Sixty-Two Chapter Sixty-Three Chapter Sixty-Four Chapter Sixty-Five Chapter Sixty-Six Chapter Sixty-Seven Chapter Sixty-Eight Chapter Sixty-Nine Chapter Seventy Chapter Seventy-One Chapter Seventy-Two Chapter Seventy-Three Lor Author’s Note Monster Index Human Index Books by Lily Mayne About the Author CHAPTER ONE Lor Around Ten Years Before the Monster Apocalypse (Sometime in the late eighties) “What is it?” I asked blankly, staring at the tiny speck of black suspended in the air, sparks occasionally flying off it and fizzing away to nothing. Lyri shrugged carelessly beside me, tossing a dagger in his hand. “Maid noticed it. Said she walked into it and it shocked her.” “Walked into it?” I gestured at the odd little speck. “It’s just a… piece of dust. You mean she walked through it?” Through the piece of dust that was somehow staying still in mid-air. Sparking. “No, she said she walked into it.” Lyri finally put his dagger away to cross his arms, gazing at the speck with a mildly interested expression. “She said she felt it… pulling at her skin. There’s a little hole in her cheek now.” “What?” I glanced at him incredulously. “Like it cut her?” “No, like it sucked a tiny piece out of her face.” I turned to stare at my brother, who continued eyeing the speck like he wasn’t all that bothered by it, despite what he’d just said. “Sucked a tiny piece out of her face?” I peered closer at his face, so like mine. Narrow and sharp, royal dark blue skin matte and flawless. His silver eyes looked clear, but I asked, “Are you still drunk, Lyri?” He snorted, shoving my arm before walking closer to the speck. I resisted the urge to grab his sleeve and pull him back, eyeing that strange floating dot warily. Before I could tell him not to go near it, he was raising a gloved hand and bringing a fingertip closer to the speck. It sizzled the moment the leather touched it, sparks flying and popping in a flurry. As he jerked his hand back with a chuckle, I saw a small hole in the leather. “Lyri, don’t touch it, you dolt.” Grabbing his shirt, I tugged him back. “It feels like…” His head cocked, long grey hair falling over his shoulder. “Like wind rushing through the smallest hole. Pressure. Like a vacuum, almost. I could feel it trying to pull me in.” “Pull you in?” I dragged him back another step, eyeing the speck with alarm. Lyri had always been the reckless one, so I supposed it was lucky I’d been born first to become Moric when our mother died. My fiefdom wasn’t all that vast, but I didn’t really care about that. I didn’t lust for power and land like some other Morics—I could barely be bothered with the land and subjects I already had dominion over—but I was still the more responsible brother of the two of us. I spent most of my time making sure Lyri didn’t accidentally get himself killed, or beaten by others he’d cheated in a game or bet. Or fall over the wall surrounding the hyll while drunk and plunge to his death in the sea below. His favourite party trick when we had guests was doing backflips on that damn wall. I had been almost as reckless and free-spirited as him when we were children, though a touch more reserved. But I’d had to rein it in when I became Moric. Being the Moric made life fairly dull. And now there was a strange little speck sucking holes out of people in my hyll. I exhaled and glanced around the room. It had appeared in a guest chamber that was rarely used—I didn’t like guests—so at least it wouldn’t get in my way. “I’ll close the room off and get some guards posted outside to keep everyone out,” I said woodenly. For the first time in years, something had actually happened that was outside of my endless cycle of council meetings, listening to my councillors tell me I had to find a spouse and listening to simpering noble visitors try to convince me why their adult child would be perfect for me. But it was just a dot. It wasn’t anything remotely exciting. I was already bored of looking at it, so I pulled Lyri closer to the door as he spluttered indignantly. “You’re just going