Page 18 of Demon Bound

He unwrapped his heavy arms from her, freeing her.

“How long have you been awake?” she asked.

“I did not sleep.”

“Don’t you need to?”

“No.”

Demons didn’t sleep. Of course. That would be too simple.

Azreth stood up and stretched, lifting his arms high over his head—and like when he’d bathed, Raiya was struck by what a strangely human gesture it was. In the morning light, she could see him much better than before. She realized his skin had a faintly iridescent quality to it, subtly changing tone dependingon where the light hit it. The color gradually darkened near his hands and feet.

The demon looked down at her, and she realized she’d been staring.

“I must feed now,” he said.

Raiya tensed. “Oh. Give me a minute.” She went to the creek to complete her morning ablutions. She rebraided her hair and scrubbed her face until all the makeup from last night came off, which took some time, but Azreth didn’t interrupt her.

When she returned to him, he frowned at her. “You’re injured.”

She remembered the bruise around her eye. It was old enough that she couldn’t feel it anymore. “It’s nothing. I can perform just fine, I promise.”

He hesitated. “Did I do that to you when they put you in my cage?”

“You don’t remember?”

He frowned at her and said nothing.

Had he been so unwell, so out of his mind with hunger, that he couldn’t remember what had happened that night?

“No. This was my husband.”

His hand went to her throat, lightly touching the old scrapes there. He pulled her collar down to follow the marks to her collarbone. Those ones were indeed from Azreth, as were the scratches on her ankle, which were hidden by her robe and trousers. Raiya just watched him defiantly.

He put her collar back into place. “I have heard that humans only take willing mates.”

“Usually.”

“Did your husband force you into marriage?”

She felt an ashamed flush climbing up her neck. “No, he didn’t force me.”

One of his eyebrows arched slightly. “So you formed an alliance with him, agreed to be equals, and now you have betrayed him.”

She frowned at him, fully understanding his implication that she was untrustworthy. “Yes, I suppose I have.”

Azreth waited for further argument, and she gave none. “I must feed,” he repeated.

“What do I need to do?”

“Arouse yourself.”

Raiya scoffed a little. Did he really expect that she would be excited about this? Or that she could excite herself on command? “I can’t,” she said shortly, partly because she was frustrated by the path of the previous conversation. “Just… just do what you want with me.”

Azreth hesitated, then reached for her, putting an enormous hand on her jaw. She saw interest flare in his eyes.

Her heart beat faster. “Remember our agreement,” she said, knowing perfectly well that she had no way of enforcing it.

---