Page 76 of Their Offering

Nicholas untied her arms, and I released her legs. She couldn’t hold herself up, so my brother carried her into the bathroom to clean her up.

I cleaned up our mess and changed the bed. She would have a clean, warm bed to crawl into tonight. She had been such a good girl for us.

As I finished making the bed, Nicholas returned to the bedroom with a clean, dry Lilly. He laid down behind her, pulling her body to his. She was already asleep by the time I pulled the covers over them. I laid down on her other side, and her body shifted. I held my breath until she settled, ensuring she stayed asleep. I wrapped my arm just under her breasts, pressing my body to hers. I fell asleep quickly, the day's activities having worn me out.

I couldn't have been happier.

Chapter 35

Keir

Lilly had only been in Hell for a month, but the change her presence had was hard to miss.

The mornings were always the hardest part of the day, even worse when I stayed for breakfast. It was a battle to leave the house—to leave her.

Most mornings, Lillian let me be, but sometimes, she’d ask to leave the flat with the twins or come to work with me. I had to turn her down every time, no matter how badly I wanted to make her happy and give her what she wanted.

A few times, she’d asked me about self-defense training. Before we’d left her mother’s house for the portal, she’d insisted she needed to know how to protect herself. I’d agreed to it at the time, understanding where she was coming from. She’d been jumped by awful men, touched by an evil man from her past.

I was thankful we’d been there. I was happy I’d been the one to kill him, to avenge her. He paid for his sins, and his soul would pay even more in Hell. I’d understood then. She was full of rage. She felt weak. She wanted to be able to take care of things herself.

Now, though? She didn’t need to learn how to protect herself. I was here. The twins were here. We’d take care of her. We’d protect her. I’d never admit it out loud, but a part of me didn’t want her to take care of herself. As long as she couldn’t protect herself, she’d need me.

I walked out of my bedroom, my heart racing, expecting to run into everyone. I was running late this morning. The dreams of Lillian were getting more intense, and I’d slept through my alarm.

As I made my way down the hall, I noticed Lillian’s door still shut. I stopped and leaned in, listening.

The sound of skin on skin immediately hit my ears, and I stiffened. Of course they’d fill their mornings with sex. The twins had nothing better to do. They didn’t have the weight of being the future king on their shoulders, on top of hiding the biggest secret ever from our father and worrying about the fate of their ‘little offering’.

“Please,” Lillian begged one of them, or maybe both. Her moans grew louder.

I could only imagine what she looked like right now. Naked. Her skin glistened with sweat. Her perfect, round ass just begging to be smacked. Her delicious, perky tits bouncing.

Shit.

Late with a boner. Wonderful.

I stormed down the hall and waited for the elevator to open. I didn’t even stop to greet Ida before I left. She was used to my asshole-ness, though, so I didn’t feel guilty.

At the office, a stack of papers sat on my desk, all requests from citizens of the realm. My job was to sort through the paperwork, trash the ridiculous ones, handle the reasonable ones, and send the more important, larger requests to my father.

The first one was a request for the Royal Guard to deal with some rogue demons in a small farming town in the Realm of Curses. Apparently, multiple homes had been ransacked, along with a few farm plots.

Given the evidence, the request was more than reasonable, so I signed it and put it in the approved stack someone else would pick up later in the day.

The next few requests were denied: the first asked for a ridiculous amount of money to recruit a town army, another for a special visit from the King, which would never happen, and then one asked to approve breeding of Hell Dragons. My father prided himself on having the only breeding pair, and he’d never let anyone else have that privilege.

I’d worked through over half of the requests by the time lunch rolled around. One of the office assistants––I think Halle was her name––came in with lunch.

“I can stay if you’d like,” she said as she placed my lunch on my desk, batting her eyelashes.

“Why would I want that?” I spoke gruffly.

“Just to keep you company. No one likes to eat lunch alone.”

Maybe she was just being sweet, or maybe she was trying to get in her boss’s pants. Either way, I didn’t plan on letting her stick around.

“I do.” I picked up my fork, ready to dig into the baked chicken. “Leave me.”

---