Glaine juts out his chin. “I’m only upholding my end of the deal I made with Duke Haures.”

What? “You made a deal with the devil? When?”

Behind me, I hear more than a few people suck in a breath, muttering under the next after they blow it back out again. Right. Probably not the best idea to refer to the ruler of his world as the devil, but come on. If Sombra is a Hell knock-off, that makes Haures the white-skinned version of Satan—especially if he sent another of his guards to take Glaine back to Mavro in chains.

My demon mate doesn’t answer me. That’s fine. I’ve gotten to know Glaine well enough to know that, while he’s proud, he’s also protective. He might have let me yank him back from the portal, but especially after the way I insulted the duke in front of the rest of the village, he’ll stay quiet if he thinks he’s doing it for me.

Luckily for me, I have his essence.

I don’t use it enough. It never sat right with me. Blame it on spending all those years in the tabloids, but even after I purposely stepped out of the limelight, it always irked me how people thought they knew me based on what they read online or printed in a magazine. People rarely got to know me, and that sore spot kept me from fully accepting the essence of who Glaine is because it seemed like… cheating, I guess.

The more time I’ve spent in Sombra, the more I’ve realized that I had let my own hang-ups twist something sacred to Glaine and his fellow demons. By giving me his essence, it was inviting me into his soul, giving me a front-row seat to everything Glaine. I’m not the one who stubbornly refused it for reasons that started to seem silly a few weeks ago.

So, though my first instinct isn’t to tap into Glaine’s essence and learn the answer for myself, there are times when I do and it’s almost a natural reaction. If it saves me from being blindsided like when I learned he thought Lilith might be his fated mate, it’s worth it.

I screw up my face. Through the whisper-thin bond that sprang up between us from the first time I accepted that he might just be my mate, Glaine sends a jolt of pure love and undeniable panic toward me. His face gives nothing away, grumpy as ever, but his emotions are as clear as the memory of Glaine agreeing to return to the dungeons in my stead if I ever chose to return to the human realm without him.

Because that’s how Haures enforces the penalties of breaking the first law. Humans aren’t allowed to know that Sombra or its inhabitants exist. The only exception, of course, is when a human female accepts that she is a Sombra demon’s one true mate. Once the pair is bonded, they’re both tasked with keeping Sombra a secret if they choose to exist together in the human world, like some of the mixed mated pairs have. But they have to be bonded—and while I haven’t spent a night out of Glaine’s bed since we left the bathtub together and tumbled into it, we’re not bonded.

Well, that’s about to change.

Even before he knew anything about me, he knew I was his mate. That’s why he stayed behind in the throne room with Duke Haures while I was brought down to the dungeon that first night. Because he bartered with the duke—and Glaine’s imprisonment is more because he thought I was leaving than because it’s taken us this long to fulfill our bond.

I get the feeling that these rules of Duke Haures’s… they’re not laws. At the very least, they’re not set in stone. As the ruler of Sombra, he can pick and choose who has to follow them, and what the outcome from not following them is.

Then again, if he’s only here because he thought I was leaving, then once I prove to him I plan on staying, there’s no reason for the duke to keep him down here.

That’s a problem.

Solution: prove with actions more than words that I mean it when I say I’m not going.

Here goes nothing.

CHAPTER 21

PROBLEM SOLVER

BILLIE

When it became obvious that I wouldn’t be leaving the village for a while—if ever—Glaine went and spoke to the clan seamstress, Raiga. He offered to use coin to buy a few dresses that would fit me. Most of the demons and demonesses who live in Nuit don’t use money, not like they do in the capital city. She didn’t want his coin, and when he said he would find something to barter, she refused that, too. As a soldier, he left Nuit to keep Sombra safe—and, to the smaller clans that are often the first targets when demons rise up against Duke Haures, his lifelong service was more than often to earn him three woven dresses to replace that red one I spent my first week in Sombra wearing.

I slip one side of the sleeveless dress I have on off of my shoulder. There goes the next. With a little hip wiggle, the dress shimmies down, pooling on the dungeon floor.

There isn’t underwear in Sombra. The next time Sierra pops in, I’m getting all of my lingerie from the apartment, but for now… the dress is off and I’m completely naked.

Glaine rumbles under his breath. “You are uncovered, my mate.”

I cup my breasts, rolling my nipples between my fingers. A teasing smile plays on my lips as I have his enraptured attention. “I’m naked, Glaine.”

He shudders. “You are the most beautiful creature I’ve ever laid eyes on. But, I must confess, Billie… if any other demon spies you like this, I don’t think I will be able to stop myself from reaching for my sword.”

My smile widens. “And remind the duke that you have it? You’re not a guard anymore. He might take the sword back.”

“Let him.” His voice is ragged as he watches me push my tits together, highlighting my cleavage. “I’ve given centuries of service to him. All I ever wanted was my mate. The sword… the prestige… my command. My freedom, even. I’d sacrifice it all for her.” He swallows roughly, and I can’t tell if it’s emotional—or if the way I’m skimming my hands down my sides before settling on my bare hips is arousing him beyond belief.

“Oh? And what would you do if she was right here in front of you?” Keeping one hand on my hip, the other dips between my legs. I finger a golden curl, showing him how damp it is. My pussy? It’s soaked. Just watching him devour my naked body with his gaze has me turned on.

And, okay, maybe it’s the chance that we could have a visitor any second now. Luckily, that’s easily remedied…