Page 74 of Their Demon

Most of them are exactly like him, Lillian. They want to see you die an agonizing death. They get off on this sort of thing. You can’t let it affect you. Stay strong and show all these assholes they’ve messed with the wrong woman.

Keir’s words gave me the strength to stand taller as we reached the platform, and I looked their father right in his stupid, beady, red eyes. This fucker was going to pay for putting me through this shit. I curled my lip at him, narrowing my glare. He actually fucking smiled at me.

He looked over the crowd. “A guard will accompany this human woman to the mouth of the cave, where he will open the door and let her in. He will stand at the opening and wait for her to come out…” He paused and looked at me with another sneer. “Or for her pitiful screams of death,” he said, as though he could taste my blood already.

Keir’s grip on my hand tightened, all three brothers stiffening, making their father's smile grow.

“Are you ready, human?”

All heads turned in my direction in a wave, and I tried to swallow my nerves. I lifted my chin, refusing to be intimidated. “I’m ready.”

He turned to the guard beside him and whispered something, the action instantly putting me on edge as the guard stared me down the entire time. When the guard nodded, their father pulled away and handed him something small that the guard pocketed before he walked off the platform in my direction.

“This way,human,” he spat, as though I disgusted him.

“We go with her,” Aiden told him, gesturing to his brothers.

Their father laughed. “You really think I would let you three up there with her? What’s your plan here, sons? Storm in there and help her? Kill my pet before he gets to have his fun with yours?”

He looked out at the crowd, and they chuckled alongside him before he turned back to us with a snarl. “Youwill notinterfere with my games. She doesn’t get any help. She does this alone.” He lifted a finger. “But, in the spirit of being merciful, I’ll allowoneof you up with her. The guard ought to be able to handle one of my sons should they decide to defy the rules.” He gestured at us with his hands. “Pick now before I change my mind.”

The brothers all turned to me, and I shot them wide-eyed looks. “What? I can’t choose. Don’t make me choose.”

“She’s right. She has enough to deal with,” Nicholas said quietly. “It should be me. I’ve been training with the jewels withher. Maybe my presence, no matter how far away, can help calm her nerves. Make her feel more at ease.”

“What? It should be m—”

“He’s right,” Keir interrupted Aiden. “Consistency. It makes the most sense.” He grabbed one of Nicholas’s shoulders. “Don’t let anything happen to her.”

Nicholas nodded, his face solemn. “Of course.”

Aiden pulled me from Keir’s hand and hugged me tightly, giving me a chaste kiss before whispering, “You got this, little one. I can’t wait to celebrate your win tonight.” He bit my earlobe, sending jabs of electricity through my body.

I may have been facing a challenge, one that could possibly kill me, but clearly, my pussy didn’t get the life-or-death memo as she pulsed for this man.

Keir wrenched me from Aiden’s embrace, pulled my face to his chest, and placed a kiss on the top of my head. He let me go, his hands remaining in mine until Nicholas pulled us apart, the impatient guard barking at us.

“Come back to me, princess,” was the last thing Keir said before I turned around to face the path.

“I’m so glad he came to his senses,” Nicholas told me as he interlaced his fingers with mine. “Granted, the ‘no sex’ rule was broken by the one who set it, but I’m still glad.”

I chuckled. “He didn’t technically break it.”

He gave me a confused look.

“We didn’t have sex last night. He… uh… helped me get off.” A blush crept up to my cheeks.

“Was it good?” he asked me, making my jaw drop. “What? I’m just curious,” he said with a shrug, as though that was the most ordinary question ever.

I laughed and nodded to answer him, my cheeks heating at the topic, but I was happy for the distracting conversation as we trekked up the trail.

Luckily, our conversation turned to other things, like wanting an honest opinion about the breakfast he’d made and asking how Mavis was. It felt like forever, but we eventually reached what I assumed was our destination.

The “door” wasmassive. I could have stacked twenty of me and still not reached the top of it. It was a circle with intricate designs of stone and gold carved into it. Symbols adorned the outer edge, looking like some sort of ancient script.

The flat area we stood on overlooked the land. We were so high up, I could barely see the crowd below us. I wondered where Keir and Aiden stood. Could they even see anything from down there?

The guard pulled a vial of red liquid from his pocket and shook it around.

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