Chapter Five #3
“So give it your fucking worst.” She slammed her hands down on either side of me, glaring into my eyes. “You won’t break me.”
Looking into that chipmunk face, I burst out laughing. “Oh, gods, thank you so much for saying that. It makes this part so much sweeter.”
“This part?” She inched back. “What do you—?”
I snapped my fingers, and the door flung open.
Standing on the other side, bored and slouching like they were waiting for their cue, were Kazuya, Bruno, and Pravat.
Charlotte’s hand slipped off the chair arm, nearly dropping her on the floor. “But— But you— I s-saw—”
“The sister’s all yours,” I stated.
“What?!”
“She’s in the other room. Take her.”
“Yes, boss,” they replied.
“Boss?!” Charlotte whipped between the four of us. “Wha—? No!”
The three feline demons barreled into the room, mowing down a protesting Charlotte like they batted aside a gnat.
“Stop!” she shrieked, flinging herself on Bruno. She slipped down his body and hung off his leg.
He dragged her along without breaking his stride for a moment.
“It wouldn’t be wise for you to kill Lucifer’s daughter.” I inspected something under my fingernails, letting Charlotte’s bleating wash over me. “But have all the fun with her that you want. Especially because in this state, Adora Lightbringer can’t fight back.”
“Leave her alone!”
Kazuya threw open the door so hard, the knob punched a hole in the wall.
The precious sister jolted up out of bed. “Christina, is that you?” Just her voice spiked a terrible fear in Charlotte, and that fear spread like tantalizing ecstasy through the bond.
“Mmh. I should’ve done this sub bond thing sooner.”
“What’s going on?” Lightbringer asked as they shoved into her room, dragging a screaming Charlotte along with them. “Do I know you guys?”
“Incredible,” I mused, seeing Lightbringer’s clueless expression as she beheld the men who assaulted her only an hour before.
The spell wiped them from her memory to prevent even a niggle of resentment, dislike, or a thirst for vengeance taking root. No wonder not even my father could feign disinterest in this spell.
What fearsome magic.
“Stop! Get away from her!” Charlotte cried. “Ronin, stop them! Call them off!”
“Why would I need to do that?” I snapped my fingers, turning the heat up in the fireplace. What a pleasant day this was shaping up to be. “You don’t need me to stop them. After all, there’s nothing those three could do to your precious sister that would break you.”
The three of them grabbed Lightbringer by the arms and leg, dragging her bodily from the bed.
Charlotte’s desperate kicks and punches had no effect. “Stop this! You said you wouldn’t do this! You said you don’t use violence or force on women!”
“I don’t,” I confessed—my voice light as a breeze. “But I can’t say the same for my subordinates.”
“You said you’d protect us!” Charlotte jumped on Pravat’s back, her fists pummeling his head, neck, and shoulders.
Why she thought she could stop them now when she couldn’t stop them before, I had no idea, but this mortal was a mystery I intended to unwrap.
“I said I’d protect you,” I corrected. “As Hades is my witness, neither I nor anyone in this realm with lay a rough finger on you and live, but that only applies to you, my pet. I couldn’t care less what happens to your sister. Her only use to me is”—I smirked—“her hold over you.”
Hefting Lightbringer overhead, they carried her out of her room, through mine, and out the door—
“I— I was wrong!” Charlotte screamed, slipping off his back. “I’m sorry, Ronin! I’m sorry! I’ll do whatever you say, I promise, please.” Tears soaked her face. “Just tell them to let her g-go, p-please,” she sobbed.
I held up a finger, stopping Bruno, Pravat, and Kazuya in their tracks. “Whatever I say?”
She nodded so hard it was amazing her head didn’t fly off. “Whatever you... say.”
“All right.” My gaze hardened. “Prove it.”
It took her a second to recall. She flicked to the audience in the hallway. “But—”
I heaved a sigh. “Talking back already? Shows how much your promises are worth.” I flapped a hand at Kazuya. “Take her.”
“No!” Moving fast, Charlotte snatched the hem of her dress and pulled it up to her chin—quickly obeying my order to disrobe.
I snapped my fingers before it was up and off, returning Lightbringer to her bed with an “oomphf,” and slamming the door in Kazuya’s, Bruno’s, and Pravat’s faces.
This show was just for me.
I give her credit for holding out longer than anyone else has against me. I stopped breathing, fist shaking as every perfect, unblemished inch of her revealed bare and lovely before my eyes.
But in the end, everyone falls the same way—
“On your knees.”
Charlotte dropped to her knees, but she was no longer crying. Fury burned in her blood-black eyes.
I grinned right back. “See? Isn’t this better? Life—after or otherwise—is so much better when we’re all in our rightful place.”
She raised her chin, fists curling on the carpet. “What do you want from me?”
My grin didn’t fade... but something did rise as I drank in every perfect, scrumptious inch of her. “You’re a smart little mortal, Charlotte Hunter.
“Guess.”