Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
T he smell of it hit me first — the stench of carrion and charred flesh.
The rancid odor wafted from the enormous winged beast splayed in the middle of the long table, which stood in the center of the hall.
Rib bones the size of my leg protruded from the carcass, which had already been picked clean.
Gold platters were piled around the beast’s remnants, along with carafes of what looked like blood.
Great columns of hellfire stretched all the way to the ceiling, licking the obsidian walls and warming my bare skin. The flames reflected in the gold beads dangling from my midriff-baring top, adding a dramatic flair to the ensemble.
Demons filled the cavernous hall, cackling, gyrating, and fornicating on every available surface. Horns clashed. Tails intertwined. Shrill shrieks of either pain or ecstasy echoed off the walls.
A hush fell as Kaden entered the chamber, and all the demons froze. One by one, they dropped their gazes as he strode toward the raised dais at the far end of the hall, where a carved obsidian throne gleamed.
I trailed after him, chain clanking, trying to ignore the eyes of his court on me. Ignore how their gazes skimmed over every inch of exposed skin. And, most of all, how vulnerable — how mortal — I felt.
This was the role I had to play, I told myself. I needed to know what I was up against if I was to kill the demon king, and for that, I could be the prince’s whore.
This wasn’t me. It wasn’t even my body. And yet I still had the horrible sense of being stripped bare as Kaden paraded me in front of his court.
We reached the steps of the dais, and the demons nearest the prince threw themselves to the floor. I stepped around them, my stomach roiling as I felt the brush of a claw against my backside.
Throat tight, I whipped around to face the creature that had groped me.
The demon was small in stature, with a stooped posture, wasted flesh, and three horns protruding from his head. He leered at me, black eyes narrowed in satisfaction. But then Kaden’s footsteps halted.
The prince didn’t turn around, but something about the stiff set of his shoulders made the hairs along the back of my neck stand on end.
Kaden’s shadows seemed to swell, billowing across the floor and surging around me like a protective shield. “You dare touch what is mine?”
A look of raw terror swept across the demon’s features, and the silence in the hall became deafening.
Before the creature could move, those shadows coalesced into twin plumes of darkness that twisted and coiled to form thick black chains.
They shot for the demon who’d touched me, twining around his emaciated wrists. They yanked him backward, taking his feet out from under him, and I heard the telltale pop of his shoulders dislocating.
The demon’s head whipped back, striking the obsidian wall opposite the dais. The creature howled as the chains stretched his arms wide — so wide I feared the force of it might rip his limbs from his body.
I looked to Kaden, who was smiling placidly, as if the demon’s cries of agony were music to his ears.
Then the columns of hellfire roared, the flames surging into an inferno. The twin pillars of fire grew and grew until they consumed the demon, the flames glowing brilliantly in the dim hall.
My stomach clenched as the demon’s shrieks grew more high-pitched and the scent of charred flesh became unbearable. Bile burned the back of my throat, but I couldn’t bring myself to look away, even as the demon’s flesh began to peel from his body.
Finally, I ripped my gaze away and turned to Kaden, who looked dreadfully bored. His steps were unhurried as he crossed to the throne, turning to survey his subjects. “Anyone care to join him? The hall could use redecorating.”
The prince’s eyes narrowed in a silent challenge, but the other demons kept their gazes trained on the floor.
“No?” Kaden gave a clipped harrumph and flopped down onto the throne.
The moment he was seated, a small demon scurried forward with a tray of refreshments, dropping into a low bow before offering it to the prince .
Kaden took up a large golden chalice, swirling the contents and sniffing imperiously before taking a careful sip.
He caught my eye over the rim of the cup. Something in my expression must have amused him, because a wicked smirk twisted his features, and he gave the leash a gentle tug.
I shuffled forward as he gathered the chain, positioning me between his legs and nodding to the floor.
Fury hummed in my bones as I held his stare, hoping the stranger’s eyes he’d glamoured for me conveyed the depth of my hatred.
Slowly, I obeyed his silent command and sank down onto the cold obsidian. His gaze heated as I knelt before him, and I stiffened as he reached out to trail a finger down my cheek.
It was a subtle but possessive gesture that made me want to upend the goblet in his lap, even as my skin tingled.
Pressing the chalice into my hands, he helped lift the rim to my lips. The metal was cold beneath my fingers, the wine fruity and decadent.
Kaden's eyes dropped to my mouth, and when he pulled the goblet back, his other hand encircled my arm, tugging me into his lap.
White-hot rage simmered in my veins. But when his warm hand came to rest along my hip, a different kind of heat bloomed between my thighs.
That angered me more than anything.
Kaden shifted in his seat, throwing me off balance so that my back slammed against his chest and my legs spread wide.
That intoxicating leather-and-night scent wrapped around me, and Kaden’s muscular thigh pressed between my legs, the heat of his body warming my skin everywhere we touched.
Gripping the cold arms of the throne, I tried to shift into a less intimate position, but the prince curled an arm around my bare waist, his thumb brushing the underside of my breast.
Asshole .
I tried to pull away again, but a low chuckle rumbled through his chest. “Careful,” he warned, his voice a silky caress. “You keep squirming like that, and I don’t know that I’ll be able to prevent myself from enjoying this.”
“Pig,” I muttered, just loud enough for him to hear.
I gasped when the metal edge of the collar cut into my windpipe, forcing my head back as he tugged.
“For you —” Kaden nipped at the shell of my ear, and I had to stifle a yelp. “— I’d be something much worse.”
Goosebumps prickled along my skin at the threat, and I tried to ignore the light, teasing strokes of his thumb along the sensitive skin of my breast.
Heat surged between my legs, and my breaths became ragged and shallow.
Slowly, Kaden released the collar, and I settled into a more comfortable position.
To my relief, he returned his attention to his court and began calling demons forward to address him. One after another approached the dais, careful to keep their eyes off me as they groveled and simpered at the prince’s feet.
Kaden, for his part, appeared bored and a little annoyed by it all. After a while, it seemed he’d had his fill, because he shoved me off his lap, rose to his feet, and started striding toward the door.
I followed at a near jog, keeping pace with his long strides to avoid a painful tug on the collar. I kept my gaze fixed on Kaden’s back, not daring to glance at the scorched demon still writhing in hellfire along the wall .
The moment we reached the antechamber, my shoulders sagged in relief. I’d seen enough of Dorthus, even without laying eyes on the Dark King himself. If the demons in his court were even half as terrifying —
“Leaving so soon?” came a voice from behind us.
A chill shot down my spine.
I’d been so focused on getting out of there that I hadn’t noticed the slimy courtier from before lurking in the shadows.
Kaden didn’t spare so much as a glance in his direction. He just kept striding toward the obsidian walkway, as if the male was not worthy of his time or attention. “I have other matters to attend to.”
“ Yes ,” Xadorsch drawled. “Heavy is the head that wears the crown.”
I could practically hear the condescension dripping from his voice, and my muscles tensed as I waited for Kaden’s reaction.
“Though for all of your business elsewhere,” Xadorsch continued, “the king is still starved for souls. The meager offerings you deign to bring are not enough to sate his hunger, and you have still not produced the witch.”
A cold fist clenched around my heart.
Offerings? Is that where Kaden had gone the week before? Was he stealing souls to bring back to his father?
“Your displeasure is noted,” the prince said coolly. “Though you would do well to remember your place.”
“My place is here, Your Highness. Between my king and his half-blood son.”
At those words, Kaden stiffened, and the back of my neck prickled with unease.
“If one did not know better,” Xadorsch continued, “one might question whether your loyalties lie with this court or with the court of your birth. The court your mother did so love.”
With the disdainful emphasis he put on “mother,” I was amazed that Kaden did not incinerate the courtier where he stood. Insulting the dead queen was surely a greater offense than groping the prince’s plaything.
Kaden kept his back to me, but I knew I wasn’t imagining the ominous wave of power rolling off him.
“It is a good thing, then, that you do know better,” Kaden replied. “Because if I were not loyal to the crown of Dorthus, I might not have use for a courtier such as yourself, Xadorsch. And I promptly dispose of things for which I have no use.”
Silence seemed to swallow us whole, and Kaden strode on, pulling me out of the antechamber with its walls of lava and onto that floating walkway.
This time, I didn’t cringe as he scooped me into his arms and alighted. I clung to him as we began our climb, the Dark Kingdom falling away.
Gliding over the rim of the volcano, Kaden shot us down the side, past the river of lava and the decimated village below.
He didn’t stop until we reached the Barrens on the opposite side of the volcano, and nothing but cinders and ash stretched as far as I could see.
He set me down, and the gold collar vanished, along with the apokropos stone at my belt and the beaded ensemble. I nearly cried with relief as the glamour lifted, soft leather encasing my skin and the weight of my short swords and daggers sinking onto my frame.
It was then that Xadorsch’s words came floating back and everything that had happened in Dorthus hit me at once .
Fresh, hot fury churned in my stomach, and I whipped around to face Kaden.
“You were bringing him souls ,” I spat. “That’s what you were doing the week you were gone. You say you want to kill your father — that you want to weaken his power and stop the scourge on Anvalyn, and yet you continue to feed him the souls of innocents! Souls that will never find rest.”
“To keep him fed,” Kaden bit out, his expression cold as he rounded on me. “To keep him so drunk on power that he wouldn’t bother stripping you of your glamour and tearing down your shields so that he could ransack your mind.”
Kaden’s nostrils flared as he looked at me, his eyes flashing like chips of silver. “I may be a monster, but I am not as depraved as you seem to believe.”
I flinched at the waves of darkness pouring off him but forced myself to meet his gaze. I wanted to murder him — to drive my blade through his chest and carve out his heart to see if it was as black and twisted as I imagined.
But then I thought of the demon who’d grabbed for me and Kaden’s wrath as he bound the creature in chains of shadow and burned him alive in the great hall.
I didn’t know how to respond, so I said nothing.
“Come,” Kaden growled, turning his back on the kingdom of Dorthus and stomping through the cinders. “We have a lot of ground to cover.”