Chapter 28 #2
“I grow weary of your excuses,” said Semphrys. “Which is why I have decided to relieve you of your duties. Clearly, securing the witch has proven too burdensome a task.”
My skin prickled, stomach tightening at the disgust dripping from his voice.
He wasn’t letting Kaden off the hook. The prince had failed to bring Semphrys his prize, and something told me whatever the king had planned would be a fitting punishment.
“Amalgamott has volunteered to take up this mantle,” said Semphrys. The back of my neck prickled in warning, and I turned to find Fleshtalker standing behind us, blocking the door .
“If I am to rule over these realms,” Semphrys continued, “then I shall require an heir who is obedient to his king.”
“Do you have another heir I am not aware of?” Kaden asked drily, revealing a flicker of that sarcastic wit.
The demon king’s eyes narrowed on his son. “If only.”
For a moment, they just stared at one another, and unease crept down my spine. We’d come here to provide a distraction, but what if the demon king wasn’t the one being played?
A muscle in Semphrys’s jaw tightened, and he gave an impatient flick of his wrist. “It’s occurred to me that I may not have given you adequate incentive to act as a crown prince should .”
With his back to me, I couldn’t see Kaden’s face, but I didn’t need to. Even with his shields in place, the cold horror radiating from him was palpable.
“I have been a merciful king, a tolerant king, allowing you to sequester that Euroshean bitch safely on the Isle of Cragsmuir.”
Kaden’s back stiffened, wings drawing in tight.
Semphrys folded in his fingers, frowning down at his filthy nails. “Perhaps I should bring her here and let my army have their way with her until I am convinced of your loyalty.”
At his words, the temperature in the room plummeted, and the raw terror emanating from Kaden crystallized into an icy rage. A surge of dark power swept across the chamber,his shadows colliding with his father’s and making the torches sputter.
“She is not a part of this,” said Kaden, his voice deadly calm despite the darkness swirling around us.
“Perhaps that has been my error all along,” Semphrys continued, speaking as if he hadn’t heard Kaden.
“We are family , after all. I should like to keep her close.” He nodded at Fleshtalker.
“Amalgamott will fetch that pretty little sister of yours before resuming his search. You are to remain here until you have soothed my doubts.”
A muscle fluttered in Kaden's jaw, but he said nothing. Maybe he knew that any show of emotion would only make things worse. Or perhaps he thought we could retrieve what we’d come for and get to Cragsmuir before Semphrys could put his sick plan into motion.
Footsteps sounded behind me, and my spine locked as I felt Fleshtalker’s warm breath on my neck.
“Do not despair, my prince,” the demon simpered. “I shall collect your sister and locate this witch who evades you. You’ll be free to remain here and . . . enjoy yourself.”
Everything inside me recoiled at the demon’s proximity and the innuendo dripping from his voice. The huntress in me couldn’t stand having him at my back any longer, but before I could put some distance between us, cold fingers gripped my arm.
I sucked in a gasp as Kaden whirled on the demon.
One moment, those icy fingers were locked around my arm. The next, Fleshtalker lay flat on his back with Kaden’s sword at his throat.
The prince’s eyes were no longer silver or even that stormy gray. They were black.
When he spoke, his voice was laced with the chilling promise of death.
“Touch what is mine again, and I will use my dullest blade to carve the flesh from your bones. I will pluck out your eyes and use them to garnish the drinks of our most honored guests. Then I will lower you by your entrails into the burning lava, hauling you back up just so that I can do it again. ”
My chest seized at the force of that ominous power pulsing from Kaden. It rivaled the magic of a thousand stolen souls — the power that lapped around the demon king and made my stomach curdle.
Any sane male would have wet himself at the sight of Kaden looming over them. But instead of terror, a slow, wicked smile spread across Amalgamott’s face.
“Curious, the memories the flesh holds,” he murmured, the bob of his Adam’s apple just enough to bring his flesh into contact with the prince’s blade.
Kaden’s arm twitched as though he meant to slice the demon’s throat, but Fleshtalker’s form wavered as he evaporated in a dark mist, rematerializing beside the prince. “They are not the memories of a common whore.”
“What did you see?” Semphrys demanded, his shadows thickening around us until only his face was visible through the gloom.
Though the pathway in my mind was obscured by thorny brambles, I felt Kaden’s intention pulse down the bond as clearly as if he’d spoken aloud.
He was going to run Fleshtalker through with his sword, consequences be damned.
But before he could turn his blade on the demon once more, long tendrils of shadow shot out, encircling Kaden’s wrists and ankles.
I sucked in a gasp as those manacles tightened, dragging him backward and slamming him to the floor.
Kaden released the end of the chain that was attached to my collar, but the second he hit the polished obsidian, Fleshtalker snapped up the leash. The golden band cut into my neck as the demon dragged me toward him .
I dug in my heels, trying to resist, but it was no use without my hunter strength.
“What did you see?” Semphrys demanded, his gaze snapping to me.
My skin crawled under the demon king’s scrutiny, and I could feel him peeling the glamour away, trying to see what lay beneath.
Up close, Fleshtalker’s skin was unnaturally smooth. His eyes writhed like beetles as they drank me in, roving over every inch of exposed flesh.
A depraved sort of excitement flashed across his face, as though he couldn’t decide where to touch first to steal the memories locked in my body.
I shuddered as one cold, clammy hand caressed the blade of my jaw before sliding down the column of my throat and over the swell of my breast.
An eerie sense of déjà vu took hold as he traced the same path Kaden’s lips had taken only a few nights before, and I hurriedly checked my mental shields.
Could he see the memory of what we’d done?
Then, without warning, his hand snatched up one of mine, turning it palm up as he explored my flesh with the pads of his fingers.
I had to give Kaden credit for his detailed glamour. Though my own palms were scarred and calloused from years of wielding a blade, the hand I beheld was smooth and delicate — flesh that had never known violence.
But Fleshtalker’s disquieting ability seemed to strip me bare, shields or no, and a cruel smile twisted his unnatural features.
“My, what a violent little thing you are,” he purred. “And rather skilled with a blade for a whore. ”
Horror clanged through me, and I ripped my hand away, but the damage was already done.
The demon’s jet-black eyes danced with glee as he turned his gaze to Semphrys. “I believe the prince found himself a huntress, Majesty.”