Chapter 17 #2
What was more… he knew that. Carmine was using his biggest bargaining chip, and he knew that I could still sever the mating.
This was all Carmine had. He hoped that I would feel too much or be too afraid to sever things later.
Perhaps I’d like my new power. Perhaps Carmine hoped to find another way to control me by then.
“Yes,” he said. “That is what I want. That is what I have wanted since I met you.”
I snorted and shook my head.
“Amused, enamai?”
“More than a little.”
Carmine sipped again. “Unexpected. I’d expected to enjoy your rage all night with you in that dress.”
“And Tygrio’s blood all over me?”
His lips curved. “That too.”
I lifted a shoulder. “I’m surprised that you’re only asking for this.”
Carmine’s smirk widened. He was too clever not to sense the lure of my words. “Shall I play along, my queen? Maybe I shall. Why are you surprised?”
I met his gaze. “Because whatever mating we share, no matter if it’s three rituals strong or seven, it is temporary.”
Carmine lost his smile. “Our deal would of course be for a permanent arrangement.”
I picked up his smile and let it curve my lips. “Of course, enamai. Okay, I agree. Let’s get started.”
Four more rounds remained—intention, scales, iron heart, and smoke. I said, “Intention is next. Our wedding day—sorry, that’s not what you call it here. I used to dream of our union. Of course, your mother is away, but that works for me too. Let’s elope.”
He contemplated me over his whiskey. “You would join with me for immortality?”
“Immortality? Mother be, Carmine. I told you this was temporary. I’m not ecstatic about faking my way through our mating ritual, but this is something I’ll agree to.”
Carmine wasn’t fooled for a second. But he was intrigued because the weakness in his bargaining was clear to both of us. “Tell me, then, Syera. You are so eager to do so. What would you like to bargain?”
He’d given me the answer already. “You’ve seemed a little out of sorts lately,” I said, then stage whispered, “With the gates. Things aren’t going so well?
Those magus barriers are something. They’re creative too.
There really is very little that a group of magus in a coven can’t achieve.
And then there are all the other covens that they’re connected to. ”
Carmine’s gaze grew icy.
I dipped my head. “Oh good. I’m talking to the stronger one again.”
He leaned back. “Make your offer.”
I peered at the painting over the empty fireplace. “You have studied each species, and you likely know a lot of Vissimo and Luthers, but magus are notoriously secretive.”
“We captured a magus for a time,” Carmine replied. “He was a grimoire. We learned much from him.”
Doubtful. If they’d caught a grimoire, then that magus would have learned far more from them. “Did you release the grimoire?”
A pause. “He escaped during your father’s reign.”
I chuckled. “Oops. He would’ve taken everything he learned straight back to the coven.”
Carmine’s ire was rising.
I looked at him. “You are interested in my unique brand of power. My value to you is not just in being your mate, but in what I know as a person raised magus. What I know of covens, magus magic, each affinity, barriers, curses, charms. Magus weaknesses and strengths. That is invaluable to demon kind in whatever war you’re starting.
You have known me since sixteen, Carmine, and so you have irrefutable proof that I think differently from you.
I may have learned to get by in this realm by unlocking the instincts of my demon nature, but always in me, there is magus too.
A magus who lives by a different code and set of rules.
I understand other supernaturals—and have personally interacted with most races in my childhood.
Understanding these intricacies took you years of close contact with me, and still, all those intricacies are not your first thoughts when forming an attack or defense.
That innate way of thinking is hard to come by.
What is my value? What makes me priceless to this realm?
My difference. That is something we can bargain for that I cannot retract. ”
Carmine’s face was carved from stone. He eventually said, “You could easily mislead demons if you chose.”
“It would not be easy to mislead you. As for the rest… if they have a weakness, it is not my duty to cater to it.”
How very demon of me.
“You expect me to believe that you would give your full aid to demons on this matter?”
“Why not? Unless you are keeping my mother and grandmother in the dungeon, too, then there is nothing more important to me in any realm than my sister. I was not raised in the coven, and though I would not choose to hurt them of my own volition, their survival is in their own hands, not mine. Yes, I would serve the realm fully in this matter and not withhold what I knew or discovered through exploring my power.”
“Your aid must be limited by your lack of familiarity with a coven,” he said.
“A coven is a group of magus. I grew up in a small coven, but a coven nevertheless. The only affinity that my family did not possess was grimoire, which by your admission, is covered by the magus you captured.”
Carmine’s focus hadn’t left me and it didn’t now as silence filled the space between us. “You bargain passionately for this, and I begin to think there is more merit in the mating ritual that you strongly avoid.”
“Carmine, I hate you,” I told him. “In comparison to you, I am very young. But believe me when I tell you that I hate you more than any person or thing or idea I have ever come into contact with. I think you are the most vile, depraved, and repulsive animal in existence. That is why I do not wish to further the mating ritual. To share scale and soul and smoke with you? The idea makes me want to vomit all over this leather sofa. Yes, I am strongly avoiding that fate. If you valued your sofa, you would too.”
Carmine’s chest rose and fell, but he otherwise didn’t show any sign that my words affected him.
He said, “If I am to entertain your proposal, then you would need to sweeten it. The realm is my largest consideration. What you offer, if upheld in the way you describe, is valuable. Though you have grossly underestimated our knowledge of other races. I also seek personal gratification in this deal.”
My insides chilled.
He leaned forward, gaze roaming over my body. “You expect me to demand what, Syera? For you to suck my cock with those luscious lips of yours? Or to get on all fours and accept whatever I give you?”
“Neither would surprise me.”
A chuckle rumbled in his chest. “Deep down perhaps you want me to. I can smell your lust at my words.”
“That lust has nothing to do with me,” I replied.
Carmine set his glass down, then settled his entire attention on me.
He was about to test me. “The deal is this: You will take your position in my army and supply everything you know—and all you are yet to know as you discover it—to me and my war council. You will be expected to train with demons using your magus power so that they might learn to kill your kind. You will also complete the next ritual with me as a… gesture.”
His focus intensified, and I gathered that this was the test. He didn’t believe that me turning down the mating ritual was just about hate.
And it wasn’t. I doubted myself too. Part of me that feared the inability to return to myself if I went through more of the ritual. “Why should I do that?”
“Because I have the magus in my dungeon. And because this is not solely a realm matter for me.”
The magus. That’s my fucking sister, you monster. “I’ll consider it.”
“This is the best deal you’ll get, enamai. I suggest you take it.” The ice was gone from his eyes.
Union with the demon king. Marriage. Joining. Whatever everyone wished to call it.
I blanched at just imagining the ceremony. Afterward, our magic would tie together more. Carmine had been open about the ins and outs of mating rituals and provided me books on the topic. After the next ritual, he would be able to feel my location.
That came with its own… impossibilities. “You’ll release my sister immediately.”
Carmine leaned back and closed his eyes. “I think not, Syera. I am not so convinced that you intend to commit to your duties. Show me you are, and I will release her.”
“Or you could put her back in the dungeon if I lapse in my duties,” I snapped.
He smiled, eyes still closed. “I like my way better. You have a week to prove yourself.”
I stood, and Carmine cracked open an eye. “Do we have a deal, my queen?”
This was a better deal than I could have hoped for. But it came with an enormous price tag. “We have a deal, Carmine. I’ll prove myself, and when you uphold your end of the deal, then I’ll uphold the rest of my deal. There will be no intention ritual until Tempest is released from your dungeon.”
My rebellion didn’t bother him.
“A deal then,” he murmured, closing his eyes again.
I wanted out of this monster’s company. I strode for the door, and of course he wasn’t done having the last word. That would be too much to ask.
“Make your preparations, Syera,” said the demon king from where he lazed on the couch. “The times of you leaving this fortress will soon come to a close.”