Page 49 of Demonic Division

The thing in my chest aches as I slide my palms up her arms, skimming over the tattered remains of her dermalsuit. I’m not sure where all my irritation went—but it’s been replaced with a deep, thrumming need. A desire to touch her. To devour.

Dagny’s breath catches in her throat as my clawed fingers slide beneath her collar, pulling the suit down her shoulders and torso. I breathe a sigh as her breasts fall free, my pulse hammering against her back.

With a deep groan, I fold my forearm across her chest, holding her flush against my bare skin while I palm her breast. Dagny bites her lip as her nipples harden, arching into my touch. A choked noise falls from my lips, and my claws pierce her sensitive skin.

Careful, little one,I growl, my voice a deadly promise in her mind.Be still, and let me clean you.

A helpless whimper pours from her lips as I rip the suit from her with one powerful movement. I lower my face to her neck, breathing in deeply as my fingers toy with her nipple.

My tongue lashes out at the same time I lower us into the bath, and Dagny’s squeal is cut off as her head is dragged beneath the surface of the water.

I hold her down, letting the water peel the dirt and blood from her skin. When she struggles against me, I propel us toward the surface, the tapered shape of my wings acting like a torpedo.

Dagny takes deep, gulping lungfuls of air while l hold her, my chest shaking with silent laughter. As soon as she catches her breath, she whips toward me with a mighty glare, her little fists clenching. “I’m glad the sight of me drowning is amusing to you.”

My lips tip upward.It’s just a bath, little one. There’s no need to be dramatic.

“Well, where I come from, baths are usually a relaxingexperience,” she huffs, squirming as my grip tightens. “And they usually involve soap.”

The properties of this water will clean you better than any “soap.”My nose scrunches up.It’s from the same well the Welwigs drink from and holds traces of their magic.

“I’ll take your word for it,” she murmurs. “So if I’m all nice and clean… Can we get out?”

My jaw clenches, all traces of amusement draining from my veins.Not until you tell me why you were running away.

Her muscles tense. “I just got scared…”

Scared?I tilt my head.Of what?

She bites her lip, looking anywhere but at me. “I know you’re going to kill me,” she whispers. “I saw it in your journal… that it was the only way to break the bond. I ran because I just wanted a chance. I wanted tolive.” She shakes her head, her words filling with bitterness. “This is all so fucked up. Here you are, giving me a bath—taking care of me—when in the end, you’re just going to snap your fingers and kill me. Because it’s the only way to get what you want.”

Those notes you saw didn’t even belong to me?—

“Does it matter?” She finally meets my eyes, and I nearly crumble at the hatred swimming there. “Whether they’re yours or Lir’s or even M’s… you’re still going to use them. That’s why they were there. Isn’t that right,Jealousy?”

I jerk back, shock causing my lips to part.What did you just call me?

She scoffs. “What? Shocked that I learned your deep, dark secret? I know more about you than you think,Lord Kaebl,” she says, the last two words a mocking sneer. “You don’t have to pretend anymore.”

Whoever told you that islying,Dagny. I’m not jealousy. I’m?—

“Save it for someone who cares,” she interrupts, her eyes hardening to steel. “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter. Because I know exactlywhatyou are—amonster.”

My jaw clenches, canines lengthening and piercing my lower lip as a deep growl rumbles in my chest. If that’s what she thinks I am, then there’s no reason to pretend otherwise. I stand, gripping her forearm and hauling her from the water as my rage shakes the very air.

You are right, little one. Iama monster. Your monster.

28

Dagny

My mind reelsas Kaebl drags me up the stairs and back down that long hallway, tracking water across the dark stone without care.What does that even mean—my monster?

I don’t have long to think about it. Kaebl stops in front of one of the doors, shoving it open with enough force to shatter the walls. Without pause, he tugs me toward a large bed of furs in the corner of the room, plopping down in the middle and pulling me onto his lap.

Goose bumps rise as the water evaporates from my skin, leaving me chilled to the bone. In response, Kaebl wraps his forearm around my chest in the same way as earlier, the fissures crawling along his skin glowing molten as he palms my breast.

A deep rumble echoes in his chest as he runs his other hand up the length of my thigh, warming my chilled flesh and sending a pulse of desire to my core.

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