Page 14 of Demonchild

“Then I’ll bring a painting to show you,” said the queen, striding around the circle to the place where she’d left her magic book. “There’s not enough time for me to fetch it from the castle tonight. I’ll have to come back tomorrow…”

She pressed her lips together, and Beliath sensed she was about to utter the word of banishment.

“Wait!”

She did.

Beliath felt his rage boiling inside him. This was unacceptable. He was a prince of hell. He would not let himself be treated like some lowly page expected to answer to this mortal woman’s beck and call. Even the priestesses of old had treated him with more respect than that.

He needed to put this haughty little queen in her place.

“This goes beyond our previous arrangement,” he said, keeping his voice level and cool. “I agreed to give you a boy, and I even agreed to speed up the gestation so that he will be born at the appropriate time. But if you want him to look like the king’s own son, well… I shall require anadditionalpayment.”

“An additional payment on top of your freedom?” the queen asked. “What more could you possibly want?”

“Oh, nothing much. A mere pittance, really. But you must give it to me tonight before you send me back to the realm of darkness.”

The queen thought for a moment. Then she tossed her head back and glared in his direction.

“Name your price, demon.”

Beliath smiled.

“A kiss.”

CHAPTER 9

“Akiss?” Malissa gasped.

“A kiss,” said the demon, “and nothing more.”

Malissa shivered, though the night was not cold. Neither was her body. On the contrary, her skin was feverishly hot, and it seemed to be growing hotter with every moment she spent in Beliath’s presence. With every syllable he uttered in that smooth, deep voice. With every touch of his unseen eyes. Behind the cover of her arm, her bare nipples were as hard as a pair of pearls, and down between her legs, hidden by her hand, her naked sex was weeping with arousal.

Was the demon equally aroused? Malissa wondered.

She could not see him. Between the stone pillars and glowing candles of the darkstone ring, her eyes found only empty air. Perhaps the demon didn’t even have a body at all, but Malissa thought he did. If she looked directly at him, she saw nothing, but when she looked away, she sensed a shadowy figure moving in the corner of her eye—a tall, winged form with long horns and gleaming orange eyes.

“This is a trick,” she said, her voice trembling. “You’re trying to trick me.”

The demon purred in amusement.

“Trick you how?”

“As soon as I step into the circle with you… you’ll kill me.”

“Now that would be foolish. If I kill you, how would you ever free me from my imprisonment?”

“You’ll rape me, then. You’ll hold me down and have your way with me.”

“Why would I rape you when I can have you willingly tomorrow night?”

“Maybe you think I won’t come back tomorrow night. Maybe you think I’ll change my mind.”

When the demon spoke again, his voice was closer. Just on the other side of the invisible barrier. The sound of it sent goosepimples racing over Malissa’s skin.

“My little queen,” Beliath whispered. “After you taste my kiss, I am certain you will return for more.”

The demon’s cocksure tone made Malissa surge with a combination of anger and arousal. Her body throbbed in all the right and wrong places.

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