Nascent Decay (The Goddess of Decay Book 1) Read Free

strange and unknown language. Rhylie was fluent in three languages herself, but she had never heard anything like this.
    She opened her eyes and spread her fingers apart to peer through them at the two figures standing above her. They were both intently examining her, one of them groping her and prodding her lower abdomen with some sort of silver rod. The other one was feeling on her breasts with a small, flat disc. But something wasn’t quite right.
    They were both utterly bald, and there was a gritty texture to their skin, as though it were peeling or flaking away. She squirmed beneath their touch as their hands became rougher on her. The whispered clicks became harsher, less eloquent. Demanding. The rustling melody became a sinister hissing, the clicking took on a more abrasive tone.
    She squinted through her fingers at them, doing her best to focus on them. Everything was a faded black and white, colors were washed out and muted. The gritty texture of their skin became tiny, intricate scales that covered an otherwise beautiful face. She thought they were wearing some sort of mask, until she noticed their eyes.
    The eyes, like their faces, were almost-human in their shape, but they were wider, and piercing. Doll-like. Lifeless. The tall one had deep green eyes that rippled like moss, split vertically with a serrated black slit. The scales that covered the face and body were a pale, soft green with brown and yellow streaks that resembled camouflage. Their noses weren’t quite human either, they were little more than smooth humps that protruded just enough to provide shelter for their nostrils. Still, there was something strangely beautiful about both of them, although their bodies were completely androgynous. The female did not have breasts, and the male was only slightly larger than her.
    Rhylie shut her eyes tightly and clenched her hands. It’s only a dream, she thought. Or a hallucination . She was just having difficulty waking up from cryostasis, or perhaps having a reaction to the process. Everything was going to be fine in just a minute. But the groping only got rougher, and the hands were getting uncomfortably close to places she didn’t want to be touched.
    “Stop,” she said as she squirmed underneath their invasive manipulations. They paused for a moment, and the whispering clicks resumed. She felt something cold on her throat, and flinched away instinctively, opening her eyes.
    The shorter silhouette was bent over her, blocking the light. She could see its face perfectly now, colors and hues beginning to flourish amidst the gray frost of her vision. It looked feminine, with fine, delicate features and vibrant red eyes that were dappled like crushed velvet, split by a clean black slit in the center. The scales that covered her were mottled, forming a patchwork of blood red diamonds over a black background, with a vertical row of three diamonds on each cheek.
    Rhylie was frozen with shock, transfixed, as the feminine one seemed to coo at her in their strange language, turning random scrapings of leaves over gravel into something that was almost soothing. She couldn’t tell if she was trying to comfort her, or mocking her.
    Mason would enjoy this , she thought to herself in a detached sort of way.
    There was a flow of movement behind the two silhouettes, and she noticed for the first time that there were others in the room with them. The strange being with the red eyes began stroking her forehead while whispering softly. It was trying to comfort her, she realized, but the hands were rough and dry, and its lifeless eyes just stared at her, unblinking. Like a snake’s eyes , she thought. She turned her head instinctively away from its touch, closing her eyes. The other one snorted derisively and said something in a decidedly mocking tone. It made Rhylie feel uncomfortable and vulnerable.
    She felt their hands upon her again, holding her down, with sharp fingernails digging into her skin through her uniform.