Page 50 of A Study of Blood and Ichor

“A necessary precaution,” he said. “But I need your permission, as it goes against the terms of our deal.”

“Are you asking me to let you hurt me?”

Vain let the question hang longer than was comfortable. “It will be a little more than a scratch. It is to keep you safe more than anything. Do you trust me?”

“Not in the slightest.” I kept my focus on his eyes. They were so black I could almost see myself reflected back in them. “Do it,” I said.

I hissed in a sharp breath through my teeth as the blade made a shallow slice across my bare skin in a V shape. The throb of pain ebbed quickly after.

Vain drew back, smiling softly. “And now, everyone will know that I own you too.”

I should have yelled at him. Fought back or screamed obscenities until I was blue in the face. But the thought of being considered his shook me to my core, and a slow heat flooded my lower belly.

“It won’t scar, I promise,” he said, resecuring the knife up his sleeve before straightening the material back down.

“Are you arming yourself for a fight tonight?”

Vain’s smile was deadly. “Darling, I always come prepared for war.”

My focus flitted again to the V on Rory’s neck. His was bold and dark in contrast to mine which I could feel was nothing more than a thin sharp line of red. A trickle of blood ghosted down my throat, and Vain swept it away with the pad of his thumb with a tenderness I did not expect from a demon. He drew the digit into his mouth, sucking it clean before reaching into my hair. He repinned my strands to one side so the mark he’d placed on my neck would remain on full display throughout the night.

“Now, when I show you off tonight in front of all the demons, they will see that you are mine—wholly and unequivocally mine—and none of them will dare lay a finger on you. Because they all know that no one touches Vain’s property and lives.”

“I am not your property.”

“You will be,” Vain said, “for tonight. I told you there would be rules. So, if you want any chance of leaving a demon nest unharmed, then you will do exactly as I say and play this role.”

Vain’s attention roamed down over other parts of me that should have left me feeling dirty and humiliated, but the shame never surfaced. “One more gift. And this one isn’t nearly as unpleasant.” He drew a thick chain of glittering diamonds from his pocket.

“Left hand, please,” Vain requested as he held his own out toward me. The bracelet melted around my wrist, encircling my mark and hiding it from view.

“Don’t pout,” he said. “You should be grateful I didn’t decide to leash you to me instead. Though, I admit, a collar of diamonds wrapped around your pretty little neck would look divine.”

My lips curled into a snarl. “You disgust me.”

“You never cease to enrapture me with your lies, mellilla.”

I looked down at the upturned palm of Vain’s gloved hand as he offered it to me.

“Come. We’re fashionably late as it is.”

FOURTEEN

Ava

Ihated how used to shifting I had become. This time when Vain landed us on an empty street along the riverside, I didn’t find the aftermath of it as jarring as the other times before. My feet felt steady underneath me, even in the high heels, and my stomach hadn’t pitched like I expected it to.

A long row of townhouses stood eerily quiet and dark, except for one, opposite the river. A soft light burned in each window and faint music came from inside. Strings of lush, green ivy laced with soft, purple wisteria blooms crawled up along the white painted brick exterior.

I had imagined a demon nest to be in some crumbling, derelict warehouse they had claimed and turned rancid with their filth. But this house was the image of affluence, fit for an unholy prince and their minions.

Vain released me to shrug his jacket on before he slipped his hand back into mine, anchoring me to him as he faced me.

“I’m giving you one last chance to back out.” He tugged down the edge of his glove, exposing the mark.

“Not going to happen.”

Vain exhaled through his nose and yanked the glove back up, his gaze hardening. “In that case, you must do exactly as I say from here on out.”

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