Chapter 16
I took my time washing. Then dressing. I’d need to restock clothing soon, but that was the last thought on my mind.
Mother be, I was not looking forward to this. The evening’s festivities should have started two hours ago.
Taking a deep breath, I readied my magic, then opened a portal, snapped it shut, then spun as the room exploded.
His room this time. I might as well keep my room intact.
Carmine blurred forward and roared in my face.
“Something came up, Carmine,” I said with a calm that I absolutely did not feel.
That earned me another icy roar, and I squeezed my eyes shut.
“You defied my orders,” he said in a voice of ice.
I repeated, “Something came up.”
He slammed his hands on the wall either side of my head. His teeth hovered a bare inch from my exposed neck. I had fewer scales on that side, and my chest rose and fell as his snarled breaths warmed my skin.
I chose my words with care. “It’s handled.”
Until the next supply run.
Carmine inhaled my neck, and then my clothing. I had washed thoroughly and several times. He wouldn’t smell a speck of Adeuto. “I had thought we understood each other when I mentioned chaining you to my side.”
“I understood—”
He roared in my face again, and I bit back the rest of my reply.
He whispered against my neck, and rage lent a hiss to the sound, “Be late again, and there will be steep consequences. I hope you understand that because you will certainly understand the aftermath if you choose to defy me again.”
Chains, I imagined. I really hoped that Grandfather had bought all he needed and more. We had to figure out something better for the next supply run.
“Get dressed,” Carmine snapped. He opened a small portal, then yanked out a dress and tossed it into my arms. Crimson. Not sylk. The crimson leotard was visible under a sheer crimson skirt that trailed to the floor.
Dammit, I should have changed into a dress at the last portal stop.
He strode to the armchair in the corner, but didn’t sit. Fury still coiled his muscles, and it likely took everything Carmine had not to pace or annihilate his fortress.
I undressed, then turned to unbind my boobs.
“Are you embarrassed about your breasts because they’re bigger?” Carmine asked when I was nearly done unraveling the long strip of fabric. He was feigning calm, but the monster simmered under the surface.
“No.”
“Why do you hide them?”
“Because I don’t wish for you to see.” Obviously.
“I’m looking at your ass. You don’t wish for me to see a certain part of you.”
“One you professed to liking very much in the past,” I retorted, then inexplicably thought about the way his cock used to slide between them. I tossed my hair in agitation at the surge of lust, then stretched my fingertips to the zipper at the back.
Which wasn’t a zipper.
I clenched my teeth. I’d need his help.
“Is something the matter?” he asked. There was a clear edge to his voice that informed me that despite his forced calm, he wouldn’t forget my defiance any time soon.
“Button up the dress or don’t, Carmine. I couldn’t care less.”
He brushed my lower back with his fingertips, and I sucked in a breath and held still. I didn’t hear him move.
He murmured, “Blood rushes to your skin wherever I touch.”
“Like a wound,” I replied.
Carmine chuckled. “Such denial, sweet Syera. But I am gratified to see you back to normal.”
Did he mean after I dry humped him and wanted to kick the shit out of myself? A trip to the dungeons where he’d locked my sister for five years had cured me of that.
He fastened the buttons one by one, taking as much contact with my skin and scales as possible. “Release your smoke, Syera.”
“I believe I told you to mind your own smoke.”
“I believe you ended up releasing smoke anyway.”
The buttons were fastened, and Carmine gripped my waist after. Too tightly. “I will not have you denying this release as well as ours.”
I spun in his grip, and he allowed it. I looked up at his face. He was still furious, but hiding it better by the second. “You know that holding my smoke makes me stronger.”
“You need every bit of your strength in Tiers. Do you think that the next rounds will be easy?”
No, everyone would still combine to take me out, and now they knew my best trick.
They wouldn’t fall for that again. “No one understands my power better than me. I know you have some mating possessiveness going on, but you should listen when I say that you will never know what’s best for my power.
What I choose to do with my smoke isn’t on a whim of the moment or the day. ”
Carmine searched my face, and his expression smoothed. “Very well.”
His mood changes were next level.
I blinked, then stared. “What do you want?”
“You, Syera. Always you.”
“Because you’ll gain power.”
He inhaled. “Yes. For that reason.”
Carmine extended his forearm, and I curled my fingers over his fist. Not long had passed as our footsteps echoed down the halls before he asked, “Are you exploring the links between your magus and demon power, enamai?”
I answered, “I am.”
“What have you discovered?”
I nearly snorted. I didn’t, but it was a close thing.
The demon king chuckled. “So distrusting.”
“Should I be anything other with you?”
Carmine hummed, and in a blur, I was between him and the wall. He brushed my black hair behind my ear. “When you expended all your power, I was the one you sought. Deep in your mind or soul and heart, you know the truth. You don’t mistrust me at all.”
That was… misguided and incorrect. “Our interests aligned in that moment, Carmine. You shouldn’t make that into more than it was. In that moment you were the only person who would protect my weakness as if it were your own.”
His lips curled. “You are making that greatly less than it is. A demon can depend on no one other than her mate when so vulnerable. There is no one in this realm who would have helped you without condition or payment.”
True. Except for one thing. “Mates shouldn’t come with conditions, and that is why you are the same as everyone else—worse even. You have always come with conditions. If I can depend on you to hide my weakness, then that is the only thing I can depend on you for.”
Carmine considered that and extended his forearm again instead of replying.
Mood. Swings.
I rolled my eyes and rested my forearm on his.
We resumed walking.
Carmine said, “My sister mentioned that you were interested in hearing that my queen holds a position in my army.”
He’d taken the long route to the training halls. So this talk was his real purpose. “I was surprised.”
“A queen is usually the strongest female in the realms. If not, then she is always very strong. Once trained in battle, the choice to include her in war is logical.”
“Except for the part where her death can cause the king’s. Is that why the position is ornamental?”
“There would be great risk in sending her out on the front lines. There has rarely been a queen in a reign when the demon king waged war. Only when we first tunneled here and expelled the gargoyles from our Earth territory. That war did not require the queen to leave this realm.”
I didn’t know that gargoyles used to live in the mountain ranges. But the gargoyles sure wouldn’t have forgotten what demons did to them.
I arched a brow. “Are you asking me to lead your army?”
“That would be my role, as you know. But there could be space for you in my war room.”
He wanted me in his war room. Was he a moron? I was clearly here to take him out.
Carmine continued. “My most trusted are impressed with your ability in the training hall and in the arena. Both in skill and strategy. You outthought and outfought a mob of sixty demons in the last round. The magic you wielded was new and impossible for a mere demon. The output of power was towering. Your new… attitude has given them confidence that you are worthy of becoming my queen. They see possibilities for you now where they never did.”
Impossible for a mere demon. That was the most telling line of all, especially when combined with his earlier questions. “So they wish to see how a demon-magus can be used.”
Carmine laughed, a surprised sound that rumbled in the stone. “They do. Though the extent of your power in general holds equal weight.”
I sighed. “And why do you want me in your war room?”
I’d timed the question perfectly for our entrance.
The waiting royals were about as pissed as the time I’d made them wait for dinner. I waved and smiled, then followed Carmine to our thrones, ignoring their hisses and grumbles.
I was just fucking relieved that Carmine hadn’t clasped a ball and chain around my ankle. I’d expected any number of punishments or new restrictions and could hardly believe he’d settled for no more than a roaring tantrum. It was like he wanted me to be late again.
I bit back a smirk, then glanced up when Carmine didn’t sit beside me.
“Who will fight first?” he called.
An energy filled the royals in the training hall. Servants had arranged chairs around the perimeter of the otherwise cleared floor. A group of royals, both males and females, waited in front of the weapons wall, black bands wrapped around their upper arms.
This was Tiers, but a diluted version. The contestants would simply need to rip the bands off their opponents to win. No doubt some blood would be spilled, but this would be a delightful and humorous affair.
I shook my head.
Tygrio strutted forward and bowed low. “I will fight first, my king.” His gaze landed on me, and he smiled widely. “And I would ask a kiss from your future queen as my prize.”
Oh, shit.
I really hoped my swallow wasn’t as audible as it had felt.
“Indeed,” Carmine replied. “And what would my mate-intended say to that?”
Tygrio was going to die. And maybe he should. The absolute idiot was trying to humiliate the demon king. Why the hell was he pushing this hard? I mean, not to undersell my physical attributes, but I didn’t expect they were enough to make Tygrio choose suicide after a handful of conversations.
I replied, “She would say that kissing a boy is not her idea of fun.”
The other royals laughed, and Tygrio clutched his chest in mock pain. I met Carmine’s glittering gaze and immediately knew that I’d made a mistake.
I’d downplayed the interaction, and he saw that I’d done so to save Tygrio.
“She accepts,” Carmine said in a silken voice.
And then he walked to join Tygrio in the fighting area. My heart sank, and I imagined Tygrio’s must have too. Did he know that his death was minutes away?
Carmine unbuttoned his tunic, drew it overhead, and tossed it to the ground.
The inky designs of our mating covered his hard and muscled torso, and I couldn’t be sure if the women were gasping over the king fighting or his body.
Dressed in the loose pants, gathered at the waist and ankle, that he favored, Carmine was something of myth and legend.
Tygrio forced a smile, then bowed in Carmine’s direction again. “My king, it is my honor to fight you, though I fear the audience will find the match one-sided.”
Carmine tilted his head. “So it will always be between a king and a boy.” He dipped his head in my direction. “Enamai.”
To Tygrio, he then said, “Begin.”
I’d been on the receiving end of his speed, but as Tygrio blurred forward, Carmine merely stepped aside as if the attack wasn’t one of near-untraceable speed.
“You toy with me, my king.” The demon bowed again.
Too late to save yourself with words.
Tygrio initiated another attack, this time portaling behind Carmine. I gasped with everyone else as Carmine slammed his fist through the portal and punched Tygrio back through the other side.
Ouch.
I wasn’t the only one checking the reactions of Tygrio’s family. His father was stony-faced. His mother’s gaze was set on the wall of weapons. They had no other child.
Carmine, what are you doing?
But anything I did now would only seal Tygrio’s fate, so the best thing I could do was nothing.
Carmine kicked Tygrio, who rolled to a stop at my feet.
The demon groaned and rolled onto all fours. He lifted his head and grinned, blood dribbling from the corner of his mouth. “Worth it.”
“A kiss from me?” I let sadness fill my gaze. “Tygrio…”
A dull acceptance of impending doom filled his eyes. Carmine’s rushing attack filled my ears as Tygrio’s head was ripped back, the scales and skin of his neck exposed.
Tygrio’s whispered words filled my ears, too, a moment before his crimson blood sprayed a stinging trail across my face.
“Urz srtet n eti gneofvo.”
I stared as Tygrio’s head bounced and rolled across the floor, and the screams of his mother echoed through the hall.
Urz srtet n eti gneofvo.
Your sister is in the dungeon.