Page 140 of Stalked By Seduction and Shadows

There were so many questions, too many inconsistencies and things that didn’t align. At first, I thought her true nature was what made everything finally make sense. Why I’d been drawn to her, why I’d grown so maddeningly obsessed, why we’d been thrust together in such serendipitous ways. But the more I picked her actions apart, the less sense any of it made. How did the shifter boy fit into all of this? Why had they been planning on traveling Valentin together if she knew what she was and what she’d been sent to do? When I’d been watching her without her knowledge, I’d seen with my own eyes how she reacted to the scouts encouraging her to come to Aristelle. I’d also watched her be attacked, as if she had no idea why it had happened, like she had no control over any of it.

Fuck. I still couldn’t make sense of these past few months. Not yet, not before I made Scarlett sing in an entirely different way than I’d once imagined. All I knew was that she was a succubus, and she’d at least known it when I last spoke to her.

When she’d turned against me was still in question, but her true nature couldn’t be explained away. As much as I wanted it to be. Though I would never voice such things out loud. Never again. She was nothing. I would live as if she were dead to me until I truly believed it. Until her spell finally wore off now that she wasn’t feeding off me like the soulless leech that she was.

Uriah entered, his face stony. I prepared for the worst.

“Durian has demanded our presence retreat from the born districts, as well as from the border in Talomon and Kell. Any non-compliance will be seen as a threat and met with force by the born.”

I laughed coldly, my shadows billowing in dark smoke.

“And so it begins,” I said. “Pull all of ours back from their districts to Talomon and Kell. Maintain the border. We will give all born civilians living in the city two days to cross the line. Kill any of his that step foot into our land. And there will be no grace period for anyone our eyes have associated with Durian and his inner circle, or any acts of violence and destruction. We will not give them a chance to flee. Liza, for example, was still seen roaming around Nyx as recently as four hours ago. Find her.”

Uriah groaned, his eyes lighting up. “Torturing her and sending her across the border in pieces would be exactly the morale boost we need.” He nodded. “So it begins.”

“Still no word from the kingdom?” I asked. I was long past concerned.

At first, we’d been attempting to avoid conflict in Aristelle before the arrival of King Earle’s dignitaries. But, now that it was unavoidable, we would have to move forward with our plans to gain allyship in broader Ravenia. While forces were gathering against the kingdom, they were nowhere near the might of Earle and the born. I hoped to the gods that Ravenia’s impending conflict would hold until after Valentin’s had been resolved. If we could gain the kingdom’s support in squashing the born and finally eradicating them from the island, all of our problems would be solved. We could continue exporting to Ravenia and the kingdom could leave us alone. They wouldn’t want any weaponry and magickal goods shortages with their own battles looming.

Uriah shook his head.

I made no reaction. My clan would never see me falter, would never see me express doubt or concern. My mask hardened, strengthened into its impenetrable wartime façade.

“I am making a quick trip to Sadie. I’ll be back in four hours, tops.”

I paused, remembering the conversation I’d had with my turned and mortal eyes in the born districts early this morning. They were awaiting my orders to raid Evangeline’s home and rescue the slaves she was holding there. It was just one small aspect of a much grander network, but they still mattered. I heard Scarlett’s voice in my mind, reminding me that these humans weren’t mere pawns on my board.

I stopped Uriah. “Wait.”

He turned.

“Now that the war has begun, we have no reason for de-escalation. Our remaining forces will raid Evangeline’s trafficking cell on their way out. I will personally spearhead the operation once I am back, and we will obliterate anyone who stands in our way. Then we will publicize the event to remind everyone exactly who the born are. Who we are. And why we will need all of Valentin mortals’ full cooperation, now more than ever.”

“It’s a good play,” Uriah said. Then, he lifted a brow, a hint of hesitation in his eyes.

“Out with it.”

“Do you think the sister is a succubus too?”

I shook my head. “No. She’s far too insufferable.” I sighed. “But the born’s cruelty is not a fate any human deserves. She will need to be questioned eventually, but for now, she will be kept with the rest of the rescued mortals at one of our care centers under careful watch. I will visit her after she’s been attended to by our trauma specialists.”

Unspoken words hung in the air between us. Uriah opened his mouth and then closed it before heading toward the door.

Before he exited, he said without turning, “This wasn’t the outcome I’d hoped for. You give all of yourself to the clan. To Aristelle and Valentin, too. We wanted to protect you, but I personally wanted you to have this. To have her. I saw a fire in you I haven’t seen in decades, and it brought me no pleasure to watch those flames die out.”

Just as I’d worried, the flight to Sadie’s was the perfect opportunity for my mind to torture itself endlessly. Busying myself in work had been the only way I could keep sane.

Because though I’d wanted Scarlett to feel as though her magick had died the moment I’d discovered her succubus nature, that was far from the truth. My anger had been very real. It was still potent, a poison that churned inside my veins and bled into my shadows. But the obsession was rooted deep. Her spoken words and written messages were imprinted in my mind. No matter how many times I turned them over and peered at them from every angle, I still struggled to reconcile the woman I loved with the demon who’d ensnared me. Her words were a plague. The smell of her on my sheets and in my room broke the last remnants of my humanity into shards. She’d wanted me powerless. All along, she’d weakened me as she grew ever stronger.

Yet I couldn’t eradicate the sound of her angelic voice echoing against my mental walls, still able to crumble them from memory alone. The truth had done nothing to rip out my preoccupation with her body and mind, my addiction to both her soft affection and her wicked ire. Scarlett had embedded herself deep, and I had never before wanted to cling so desperately to an illusion.

I’d had to feed before I left. That had broken me more than all the ruminations and the impulses—to go to her, to write to her, to rage and defend and reach. The thought of feeding from anyone else’s skin made me lose my appetite for blood entirely. I didn’t even want to look at the human who had offered their blood. I’d had an attendant bring me a chalice, and I’d forced it down my throat for sustenance alone. It had been merely fuel; there was no pleasure in the act.

Compared to Scarlett’s blood, it had tasted like muddy water. And I cursed the demoness for stealing one of life’s simplest pleasures, for who knew how long. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’d die hating the taste of all blood but hers.

I knew this would happen. That was one of the many reasons I’d claimed her. She’d been mine, and I’d been hers, for the briefest span of time—before I’d looked behind me at her dagger in my back.

Millie landed with a ferocious roar on Sadie’s estate, nearly making the anxious, mousy stable girl jump out of her skin.

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