Chapter 13 A Devil’s Love #2
As soon as I emerged, Torin fell into step beside me without being summoned, his instincts as sharp as ever.
He had worked for me long enough to know when silence was required and when he could drop the lord shit.
We moved away from the public floor and past the outer ring of observers before we stepped into a corridor.
One where the weight of my authority eased just enough to allow something closer to candor.
I slowed, then stopped entirely to inform him,
“I’ve found my Siren.”
Torin’s steps faltered, just slightly, the smallest break in his composure betraying the impact of it. He was a beast, built for intimidation alone, his towering frame nothing but raw, brutal strength.
His unyielding features made him the ideal gatekeeper to my domain.
Thick, jagged red tattoos carved their way across his face, running through both eyes and down his cheeks and neck in perfect mirrored symmetry.
Painted skin broken only by the long white scar that split straight down the center of his face, when some fucker with a death wish had once tried to carve him in two and naturally failed.
The markings reacted before he could fully rein himself in, the red lines along his skin giving a faint, restless shiver, glowing just enough to betray agitation beneath his discipline.
His light blue eyes, stark against the ink and the darkness of his tactical attire, lifted to mine, intense and searching.
Torin recovered quickly, as he always did, his posture snapping back into place, but the air between us had already shifted.
He looked at me then, truly looked, studying my expression for something he rarely saw reflected there.
“Are you sure?” he asked, not doubting, but understanding the gravity of the claim well enough to be cautious.
“I am,” I replied without hesitation.
“Well, shit me, Wye, I didn’t expect that.
” Torin exhaled slowly, the tension he had been holding since the disturbance on the floor easing into something more complicated.
Relief, perhaps. Or disbelief. Or the quiet acknowledgement that nothing about this night would remain contained.
Or that nothing past it would ever be the same again.
“Then… gods help us,” he added with an amused mutter, no doubt wondering how the fuck I was going to handle this one. Death and punishment came naturally to me, but love… Gods help us indeed.
I almost smiled.
“She is called Eliza.”
“And does she come with a last name?” The question sounded simple enough, but as of yet, she had only granted me her first name.
“I believe it to be Shadowmere,” I continued, the name settling into me with a weight that felt unfamiliar yet undeniable.
“But?” Torin pressed, being as perceptive as always. I released a sigh before admitting,
“I am not yet certain. Regardless, I want everything you can find. Where she lives. Who she speaks to. Every pattern, every habit.”
Torin nodded, already cataloguing the task.
“And her job?” he asked as he already guessed that I knew this.
“She works for an agency in the city, Total Point Media.”
He raised a brow, knowing what that meant, seeing as he knew my schedule just as all my council did.
“Fuck of a coincidence,” he commented, and I gritted out a single,
“Indeed.”
“I can have a full profile within the hour,” he assured me, and I wasn’t surprised by the speed. Not when he knew how this would take precedence over everything else.
“Yes, but I want it done quietly,” I informed him, stern enough for him to understand that I wasn’t fucking around with this.
“Of course.”
“When is Iridessa due back?” I asked, aware that my second in command would need to be informed, just as Vor would, the three of them standing at the highest tier of my authority.
“As far as I am aware, she is still gathering information at King Street station after the shoot-out, as it seems as though Ryker Greed has been in Seattle for a while now, chasing down his own Siren.” Yes, that was what I had heard as well.
“Have her come to me at once the second she is back.”
He bowed his head at this, acknowledging the order, before his gaze shifted back toward where we had just come from.
“And now?” I knew what he truly asked, no doubt wanting to know what the fuck I was doing wasting time out here when my Siren was locked away in my private space. I nearly wondered the same thing when I remembered why I left in the first place.
“I have someone to hunt,” I informed him, making him smirk, as this was definitely more his style. Hell, but it was more mine as well. Dealing with a rogue or someone to punish was far more familiar territory to navigate than capturing my Siren and trying to make her fall in love with me.
Fuck… but was that what this would turn into… Love?
I wasn’t a creature capable of such things.
The Gods surely knew that she deserved better… but if that was the case, then why was she fated to a devil like me?
I resumed walking, purpose crystallizing as the path ahead narrowed.
There were still questions unanswered, still threats to identify and remove, but one truth now sat immovable at the center of it all.
Regardless of what came next. Regardless of what personal obstacles I would face… Regardless of it all…
I had found her.
And the weight of that knowledge pressed down on me with a force I had not yet decided how to bear.
“Bring me the footage of the girl.” The order was given without anger, but Torin stiffened all the same. He knew that tone. It was the sound of a decision already made, one that did not require discussion or delay.
“From where?” he asked, already reaching for the tablet clipped to his side.
“From the moment she reached the front door,” I replied.
“I want everything.”
We stopped in a small observation alcove overlooking the lower level, the vantage point shielded from sight by layered wards. Torin activated the feed, and the screen bloomed to life in his hand, casting pale light across the stone.
There she was.
She seemed smaller than she had been when she stood before my throne.
More vulnerable standing alone at the threshold of my domain with nothing but stubborn resolve holding her upright.
I watched her speak to Torin, saw the way she gestured, the way her hands clenched and unclenched as frustration bled through whatever composure she tried to maintain.
She should have left.
Any sensible mortal would have.
She did not.
And thank fuck that she hadn’t.
My jaw tightened as the footage continued.
I saw the way she was dismissed, redirected, and brushed off.
I saw her refuse to be intimidated, saw her stand her ground far longer than reason dictated.
The way she had slipped past Vor, my attention narrowing with every step she took deeper into the club.
“She was… persistent.” Torin huffed a short breath.
That was one word for it.
The camera followed her movements through the main passageway toward the club’s entrance. My fingers curled slowly, pressure building as I watched her hesitate, then continue anyway. It was reckless. Foolish. And yet, something in the way she carried herself spoke of necessity rather than bravado.
She wasn’t there out of curiosity.
She was desperate.
And then I saw it.
The pause.
The way her head tilted slightly, her gaze tracking something that wasn’t there. She spoke again. Words lost to the absence of audio. Her expression shifted as though she were engaged in conversation with empty air.
I leaned closer.
“Stop it,” I said.
Torin froze the feed.
She stood alone in the frame, one hand lifted as if gesturing toward nothing, her mouth mid-word, eyes focused on a presence the cameras could not perceive.
“What is she speaking to?” Torin murmured.
“Something that doesn’t want to be seen,” I replied.
The goblin did not appear on any feed. No distortion. No shadow. No sign of supernatural interference at all. And yet her reactions were unmistakable. Whatever accompanied her had been careful.
Careful to hide from me.
But whoever it was, there was one thing for certain…
Its days with my Siren were numbered.