Page 59 of The Crown of Nyx

A need to destroy something.

The elemental mage opened his mouth; he smelled like rain, so that gave me a pretty good indication of his power. The other smelled…stale. Like he’d refused to shower before coming here.

My nose crinkled as I raised my hand. “Choose.”

Their eyes flickered up to Damon; I mean, I thought I was a pretty imposing person, but the demon had them palling with fear.

“He’s not here,” the elemental said, voice stammering. “He left. Decided it wasn’t worth it.”

Damon growled, and I felt it against my back, his anger palpable.

The elemental mage gulped. “He left us here to keep an eye on things. Said he has what he needs to keep going.”

I frowned. “And what does he have?”

Those wide eyes flickered between me and the demon behind me. “A fraction of your magic. I think. We don’t know much, we promise. We?—”

The mirror mage struck the elemental with a dagger before we could do anything. The blade went into the elemental’s heart, and the male fell in a heap. The moaning and cries of pleasure ceased for only a moment.

“Fuck you, bitch,” the mirror mage spat, before pulling something from his pocket.

I tried to grab his hand, but he tossed the small pill into his mouth and swallowed it with clear pride.

It didn’t take long for it to work. His dark eyes rolled back, and he slumped sideways into the demon beside him, who had been so busy watching the stage, that he hadn’t been paying attention to what was going on beside him.

Damon yanked me away from the bodies, but I felt cold. No, annoyed. Frustrated. Because two more were dead thanks to Dante and his manipulations, and they hadn’t revealed anything I didn’t already know.

Except for the power thing. That was something I didn’t understand, but I tucked it away.

The giant demon didn’t care. Shadows enveloped the pair until there was nothing left of them, no sign they’d even been there. Even their magical signatures dimmed with their deaths and departures.

“What are you doing?” I asked, as he drew me towards our booth. Eyes turned to us, tension thickening the air.

Damon grunted as he resumed his earlier position, but he didn’t give me much choice as he drew me onto his lap again.

“Now, we wait for it to end,” he replied, hands on my hips, bulge against my core.

Anger flared deep in my stomach; a burning inferno that made me pause. Did this male even want to escape? He knew who I was, so what did he get out of this situation?

I moved in closer until our chests touched. Damon’s nostrils flared, pupil’s dilating. Heart pounding, I brought my hands around his thick neck; the tendons strained as he watched every move I made.

“I’m done playing games, Damon,” I hissed, lips close to his ear. The brief touch sparked electricity that rolleddown my spine, and I sucked in a breath at the familiarity of the feeling. “I’d wager that the Mistress won’t hurt my mates—she won’t risk it. The last time anyone tried to harm them, they died. And my magic will protect them.”

The hands at my hips brought me flush against him. I grunted at the feel of him; of the hard lines of his chest, the ridges in his pants. The snake on my wrist wound up my forearm so its head rested against the top of my hand, its tail on my elbow.

Something else slithered up my leg where the silk dress had risen, but I forced myself not to look down. “Why are you here, Damon?”

I wasn’t sure what it was about this question—a question I’d asked so many times already—that finally made him consider answering. His eyes didn’t leave mine, but he pursed his lips as he thought. It took all my power not to strangle him with my bare hands—or with my power. Maeve’s claws, or Elias’s strength, could have helped me get the point across, but I doubted either would give me the results I desperately wanted.

“You have one mate not bonded to you, and another weak connection,” he said finally, the amusement completely slipping from his face. My heart dropped into the pit of my stomach. Before I could utter a response, his arm curled around my waist, the other under my ass, and he rose with me clutched to his chest.

“What are you?—”

“Close your eyes, my Queen. You won’t want to see this,” he growled.

For some reason, I obeyed, and my eyes closed as a weightlessness filled me. I sucked in a sharp breath and buried my face in Damon’s shoulder. The feeling disappeared just as fast as it came, and when thedemon’s arms loosened around me, I lifted my face from his warm skin.

“Put me down.”

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