Page 14 of The Demon Prince's Accidental Mate
Punish you.
The words wouldn’t come out. I thought about that, about what it must mean that I couldn’t speak the truth about what she deserved.
Maybe I have it wrong. Perhaps she deserves a different form of punishment.
That bore thinking on.
“Silence,” I growled, seeing her mouth open again to speak.
For a human who was as terrified as her, Lilith certainly seemed inclined to speak up rather often. There must be a backbone in there somewhere, then. More courage than smarts, perhaps. I wasn’t sure.
That was it.
I wasn’t sure. I didn’t know what meant the most to Lilith. When I’d looked into her mind, the first thing I did was to search outwhoshe was so that I could locate her and show her the error of her ways. But our connection had been broken before I could delve deeper and discover what she feared the most, what I could truly do to torture her.
Well, that was simple enough to solve. I needed more time, then. Time to learn about her, to figure out her weakness and where she needed to be properly … punished.
But how?
“If you want the money, I don’t have much,” Lilith said, pointing nervously at the register. “But please, just take it and go.”
Money.
No, that wasn’t it, but it did give me an idea. I smiled at her, and she recoiled.
“I have an offer for you,” I said. “One I don’t think you can refuse.”
Lilith’s eyes blinked large and yellow, filling with uncertainty, and the thing I knew I would crush the most. Hope. She had no idea what she would get herself into by accepting my offer.
Then she would be mine.
Yes, it was for the best. I would spend time with her. Learn who she was. Then, when the time was right, I would torture her with the knowledge I’d acquired.
Knowledge that would let me destroy her.
Chapter Eight
Lily
“An offer?” I asked, stifling the urge to relax as the violence I sensed in the giant seemed to subside. “I don’t want your offer. Not after you barged in like this, scaring the living daylights out of me.”
The big man reared back, surprise flickering in the backs of his eyes. Probably wasn’t used to being talked to like that, but I didn’t care. After watching a Fae beast powder, knead, roll, and quite literally bake my father to death, it would take a bit more than snarls and growls to have me quaking in my boots.
I resolutely ignored the fact that my legs were trembling. Calling myself a liar didn’t seem necessary at that point in time. Besides, he was gorgeous as hell, even all riled up. My legs could be shaking for multiple reasons.
“You won’t turn down this offer,” he rumbled. “In fact, you can’t.”
“You’d be surprised what I can turn down. Especially when I don’t even know someone’s name.”
Now, therewassurprise. “You touched my mind, but you don’t know who I am?”
“How many times do I have to tell you that I didn’t mean to? It was an accident, sheesh. Do your ears not work?”
He snorted in anger. “Very well. My name is Belial.”
“Belial,” I said, repeating the word, watching him twitch as I said it. Had I butchered the pronunciation? “Was that right?”
“Yes,” he ground out, looking away briefly.
