Page 119 of Their Demon

“We would be wasting valuable time fighting this.” I gave him a small nod, hoping to silence his fears. We had no choice. His game, his rules.

“Smart girl you have there,sons.” Their father was watching with impatience. “I suggest you listen to her. Either she’s searched, or she admits defeat and we can all go home after I remove her head from her body. I might even bag it up for you so you have something to remember her by.”

His crowd snickered.

“I’d never let you touch her,” Keir gritted out.

“Neither would we,” Nicholas and Aiden followed up together.

Their father snarled. “I’ve taught you three better than this. Defying your father, King of Hell? No doubt this whole thing is your stupidest stunt to date.” He stood and walked to the edge of his stage, asserting his clear dominance. “Either my guardsearches her, or I do.” His eyes flicked to me, looking at me like I was a gross piece of bubble gum he found on the bottom of his shoe. “And if I search her, I won’t be touching her. She’ll be required to strip right here in front of the crowd.”

“Fuck you,” Aiden yelled at his father, who barely gave him any notice.

Before the princes could make things worse for us, I pushed my way between Nicholas and Keir, putting myself in front of the guard.

“Search me and get this over with so I can go home.” I huffed and kept my eyes on their father the entire time, not the guard about to put his hands on my body.

If he hurts you, I’ll kill him.

I tried my best to not react to Keir’s protectiveness, but a smirk crept up anyway. I just hoped it added to the unintimidated image I was portraying, and it must have, because their father’s blood-red eyes were glowing with an even greater fury than before.

I’m okay, but you three need to keep your shit together before you get me killed. They’re his rules here. He’s only doing this because he’s intimidated. He’s scared, even if he doesn’t quite know it yet.

I heard Keir snort behind me.The thought of our girl, our little ole humanpet,being the one our father fears kind of turns me on, princess.

The guard started with my legs first, patting up the right one, then the left. I tensed as he got to my hips, his hands moving to reach behind me, right where the dagger was hidden. He touched the small of my back, slowing down when he reachedthe outline of the dagger. The designs stopped the outline from showing, but there wasn’t much they could do to hide the hardness of the handle and blade.

“Bring him to his knees,” the guard whispered to me before moving his hands back around my ribs and finishing his search around my shoulders.

I was stunned and tried to remain still and unaffected by his words.

What the fuck did he just say to you? Did he threaten you? Did he feel the dagger? Does he know it's there?

He knows I have it; he felt it. He said ‘bring him to his knees’.

The guard turned around and shook his head at their father, who frowned deeply. He’d obviously been expecting to find something. He narrowed his eyes at me, like he was trying to read me, but I just matched his glower, fighting the urge to throw my middle finger in the air.

Satan stood and faced the crowd. “The human is ready to begin the second trial. She will use that rowboat,” he pointed at a small wooden boat with two wooden oars, “to paddle to the middle of the lake, where she will dive down and attempt to steal a hippocampus egg.” He eyed us before saying, “Anyonefound to be helping the human cheat will be punished to the most extreme degree possible.”

I saw Ida in the crowd, my eyes immediately drawn to the woman who’d been my saving grace even before her help with the trials. She didn’t even spare a glance in my direction, her eyes trained on the king.

“Let the trial begin,” Satan announced, making the crowd noisy with whispers of predictions of what was to come.

The guard who’d patted me down gestured in front of him for me to go. I turned to give the princes one last smile before walking down to the boat sitting on the edge of the lake. The water was glistening, but it was dark, like the evil it housed under its surface. The worst part was the boat wasn’t sitting in the water; it was up on the rocky shore.

I turned around to see the king himself looking on with a pleased expression.

Fuck. You, I muttered to myself.

Focus. Be safe, princess. We are watching.

I smiled at Keir, who was watching me with an expressionless mask, trying to hide his worry, trying to be strong for me.

I’ll be okay. See you soon.

I grabbed the bow of the boat and began dragging it along. It was heavy, but I was stronger now than I had been weeks ago, thanks to Aiden. I pulled with all my might, my back to the shore, until my feet hit the water.

I froze.

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