Chapter 6
TAUREN
This is a mistake. My enchantment must’ve backfired.
I stare down at the girl on the floor – the same girl who’s been haunting my dreams every night for the past week.
Even dressed in a torn red dance gown, she’s just as pretty as she was the night of the ball.
Her sleek hair pours like poison down her back.
Her lips look as soft as when I had her pinned against the wall, tasting the moans on her tongue, dragging my hand up her soft thigh…
I force the memories away. Not important right now.
“Sire, what’s happened?” Kennix approaches my side. He’s not hiding his demonic features like he was at the ball. Two sharp ram-like horns twist through his hair, their gold sheen glinting in the light of the throne room.
It’s then I notice that no one here aside from me is hiding their true forms. The nobility of the demon court seem to be enjoying scaring the poor girl. They show off grins with their too-sharp teeth as her panicked gaze flicks between them.
“Hide your true forms,” I snarl. “I will not have you frightening our guest.”
Their grins vanish, along with their horns, wings, or anything inhuman. A very confused but now human-looking court blinks back at me.
“Sire?” Kennix presses. “What is going on?”
“I could ask the same question…” I scowl. My mind must’ve wandered while we were conjuring the lure for Elheart’s bride. There’s no way that she’s the princess he paid for. It’s not possible.
“What is your name, girl?” I call out to her.
“I’m not a girl, I’m a princess.” She stands up, straightening her skirt.
“And my name is Dahlia. But surely you knew that already, just like you know my father King Sol will be furious to hear that I’ve been kidnapped by a bunch of…
” she shudders, glancing around, “beasts! And if you don’t let me go right now, you’ll all be dead this time tomorrow. ”
My court buzzes with laughter. I hold up my palm to silence them. It’s almost cute the way her lower lip trembles. She’s terrified, but thinks she can hide it if she puffs out her chest and raises her voice. Oh, sweetheart.
A smile edges over my jaw. “You’re lying to me.” I step closer until she has to tip her head back to meet my gaze. “You’re no princess. Definitely not one of Sol’s.”
I’ve heard the stories of Sol’s twelve virgin daughters, and of course I remember the ball. The princesses were all dressed in matching gold modest gowns. The gown this woman was wearing was far from modest. And the way she kissed me was far from virginal.
“I am a princess,” she snarls. “And my name is Dahlia.”
“We’ll see,” I murmur. Magic curls up my throat as my court whispers in anticipation. “Kneel.”
The girl drops to the floor. “What is this?” she squeaks, her legs locked in a kneeling position beneath her.
“Compulsion.” I grin. “My magic allows me to control lesser beings such as yourself.”
She scowls. “You’re an ars—”
“Silence,” I say. Her lips snap shut, and her pretty face flushes with anger. It’s so sweet I almost forget why we’re here. Almost.
“Now.” I stroke her cheek, tipping her face up.
She winces, but can’t flinch away under the spell of my compulsion.
“Tell me your real name, and perhaps we can begin to enjoy our night together. I can find you a nice suite to rest in, fresh clothes to replace your gown. I can even bring you a hot meal if you’re hungry.
” Once this is all sorted and I have Elheart’s real bride on her way, I’ll still keep this one to play with for a while.
Liar or not, she started something at the ball.
Something I’m not ready to finish just yet.
“I told you already. My name is Princess Dahlia.” The woman frowns. “And my family will come for me.”
“Speak the truth,” I compel her, gripping her jaw. “What is your name?”
“Princess Dahlia.”
My chest constricts. She’s one of the twelve? Taking a breath, I steady myself. “You’re Lord Elheart’s bride?”
“Supposed to be,” she grumbles. “But I was handling the situation, and I was very close to escaping! Until you came along and brought me here… That horse was a nasty trick! You made him look just like one of mine.”
“It was an enchantment,” I tell her, anger simmering inside me. “It was conjured to look like whatever would get you out of the inn.”
Of all the women at the ball, he had to choose this one…
“We should alert the advisers of her arrival,” Kennix says over my shoulder.
“Yes.” Stepping back, I remove the compulsion holding the woman in place – holding Princess Dahlia in place. How Sol was able to produce a creature so beautiful is beyond me.
“Escort her to my chambers,” I bark at my guards. “Ensure she is unharmed and that there are guards posted outside.”
“Is it wise for her to stay with you?” Kennix’s voice buzzes in my ear. “Elheart may be more likely to cooperate if he knows she is untouched. As a princess, her virtue is valuable, and there are many free cells in the dungeon—”
“Until Elheart delivers on his end of the bargain, his bride belongs to me.” I turn to Kennix, ignoring Dahlia’s shocked gaze. “If he believes I am ruining her then perhaps he will act more quickly, and I intend to ruin her.”
“You will do no such thing!” she shouts at me.
Before my guards close in on her, I raise my palm to stop them.
“Sweet princess,” I pace towards her, “you are a captive in my court. Therefore, if I would like to strip you naked and hang you by your pretty wrists then I shall take pleasure in doing so.”
My court buzzes with laughter. She glances at them nervously.
Crouching down, I lower my voice so only she can hear. “This does not have to go so terribly for you. Behave, play your part, and I will treat you kindly. You will not be here long.” Hopefully long enough to get her out of my system at least.
“Being stripped and hung by my wrists doesn’t sound like being treated kindly.” She glares at me.
“You asked me to be rough with you, remember? At the party?” I tip up her chin to meet my smirk. “You seemed to have no objection to me pushing up your skirt and fingering your tight cunt outside the ballroom.”
“Don’t you dare talk about that.” She tries to push my hand away, but I snatch her wrist.
“You’re misbehaving, sweetheart.” I tug her closer to me. “Keep that up and I’ll start assuming you want me to punish you.”
Her lips clamp shut, but her bratty glare remains. If she were a whore, I’d collar her naked to my throne and compel her to touch herself until she remembers her place. But she’s not a whore. And despite the painfully-hard mass below my belt, I have no desire to use her like one.
“Sire, the advisers,” Kennix reminds me.
Scowling, I drop her wrist and rise to my full height.
Panic flares in her gaze, but I ignore her protests as my guards swoop in on her. “You can’t just keep me here!” She writhes against them. “My father will not accept this! My father—”
“Is the one who sold you off in the first place,” I say under my breath before she’s dragged kicking and screaming through the small archway that leads deeper into my castle.
Kennix follows me into my private meeting chamber, swinging the heavy door shut behind him. A round table sits in the centre of the room, surrounded by half a dozen stern-looking demons.
My inner circle. Or castle advisers as they’re more formally called.
Not that they’ve ever given me any good advice. Still, the laws of this court that have been upheld for thousands of years state that every lord must have advisers. So I let them advise.
But right now, listening to several hundred-year-old demons discuss how I should deal with the feisty human woman trapped in my bedchamber is the last thing I want to do.
Especially with the painful tightening at my hips that only grows more painful every time I remember her plump, pouting lips. As if I haven’t been tortured enough by thoughts of her this entire fucking week.
“Has Elheart’s bride been captured?” Thobas croaks as I take my place at the head of the table. “Are we ready to send the messenger?” He’s about as old as the castle and he looks it, with his wispy hair and cracked horns.
“There’s been a slight complication,” Kennix sighs. He pushes past the demon to my left to stand at my side.
“Complication?” Thobas rasps. The other advisers mutter in confusion.
“There is no complication.” I frown. There isn’t.
Not really. The fact that Dahlia and I met prior to Elheart selecting her as his bride means nothing.
I’ve bedded plenty of women in the past. What we did outside the ballroom was nothing more than lust paired with too much wine.
For all I know, she could’ve done the exact same with Elheart minutes after I left and that’s why he chose her as his bride.
Something prickles inside me at the thought. Him pushing her against that same wall. His slimy fingers running through her hair. His hand dragging up her—
I scrub my fingers over my face, pushing the thoughts away. “There is no complication,” I growl again. “Sir Kennix is referring to the fact that Princess Dahlia and I had a brief interaction at the ball last week. This changes nothing.”
Kennix gives me a look, but I ignore him. After the ball, I’d asked him to bring me information about the woman I’d kissed. A name. The kingdom she’d visited from. Anything. But his search had found nothing.
Aside from the twelve princesses who, according to the invitation we’d intercepted on the way to Elheart’s palace, would be dressed in gold, the only other female guests at the ball were either far too old or far too young to be her.
Not that it matters now.
Clearing my throat, I return my focus to the table.
“Dispatch a rider to Elheart’s palace tonight and inform him of our offer.
If he wants his bride delivered safely to his palace then he will return what he stole from me.
If not, Princess Dahlia will become property of the demon court. Permanently."
My advisers nod, scribbling notes onto their parchments and speaking to each other in hushed tones.
“May I have a word, Tauren?” Kennix mutters. “Alone.”
I scowl at the demon. With a swish of my wrist, my advisers file out, leaving us alone with only the flickering candles.
“What is it, Kennix?” I sigh.
“If I may speak plainly.” His voice is measured.
“After watching you with the princess, it seems you have some sort of attachment to her.” Before I can object, he continues, “And while I’d never be foolish enough to tell you not to pursue a romantic connection, I’d like to remind you what’s at stake here. ”
“The rider is being dispatched as we speak,” I reply gruffly.
“There is no need to remind me of anything. I haven’t forgotten what Elheart has done.
” How could I? It’s been years since he stole my little sister from me.
Kidnapped in the middle of the night, leaving nothing more than a letter telling me she’d be staying with him in his palace.
He’d built a salt barrier into his palace walls before I could rescue her.
There’s no way for anyone of our kind to ever go in.
Or out.
I missed my chance to apprehend him at the ball last week, to give him the choice to either give my sister back or bleed out on the golden dance floor. I won’t miss my chance again.
“Maeve will be returned to us,” I tell Kennix.
“Elheart won’t be able to stand the thought of me keeping his bride as my plaything, and considering she’s one of the precious twelve, he won’t want to risk starting a war when he has to tell King Sol that one of his daughters was captured by demons while under his protection.
Maeve will be home within the week, and in the meantime, I will enjoy Princess Dahlia until I am tired of her. ”
Kennix nods, seemingly satisfied with my answer. He summons the advisers back inside to begin drafting the letter.
But it is not my little sister that I think of as his quill sweeps across the parchment, the ink reminding me of long, sleek hair and eyes so dark even a demon could get lost in them.