Page 19 of The Demon Prince's Accidental Mate
Nothing happened, though her fear did begin to subside once more.
“It’s the symbol of my line,” I told her. “You may think of it like a coat of arms.”
Lilith examined the crossed staves ringed by thorny vine, set against a background of bat-like wings.
“It doesn’t hurt,” she said, rubbing the area as I let her go. “It’s not coming off.”
“It won’t,” I informed her. “Not until the bond is broken.”
She eyed it. “I always did want a tattoo, I guess,” she said. “Not quite what or where I had in mind.”
“You’re taking this awfully well,” I growled, my suspicion about her growing. “All of this. A normal human would be freaking out still. Losing their mind.”
Lilith looked up at me, her amber eyes flashing with determination. “A normal human wouldn’t have had exposure to magic before.”
There was something extremely hot about the defiance that lived inside the woman. Against me, against the world as a whole. She strived to let none of it control her.
“Maybe,” I agreed.
“You looked into my mind. You know I’m not hiding anything, Belial.”
“I saw some of you,” I admitted. “But perhaps you were able to hide it from me.”
“Hide what?”
“Your truth. Perhaps this was all a lie. You wanted to bring me here, to bind yourself to me.”
She crossed her arms. “I’m not lying. You can feel that.”
Baring my teeth in irritation, I turned away. She was telling the truth. A mage, even a weak one, would be able to pour enough magic into their recipes to make them more appealing to the masses. Or to find ways to make items more efficiently. Something that would ensure they were more successful than that place.
And if she hadn’t bound us together willfully, that meant fate was intervening in my life, sinking its claws into me and steering my course where it wanted.
Damn the fickle bitch.
“How did this happen, Belial?” Lilith asked.
I snarled, not at her directly, but at everything, and stormed out of the back of the bakery and into the night, leaving Lilith behind.
Distance. I needed to put some distance between us until I could think clearly, without her emotions clouding my brain. There had to be a way to undo it. A way to separate my mind from the human’s.
I couldn’t stay that way. If anyone found out that I, Belial, demon prince, was bound to ahuman, I would never live it down. I would be the laughingstock of the Underworld. My reputation would be severely damaged. Others would try to move in on my territory, thinking me weak and vulnerable.
No, I had to undo it, and now. There had to be a way. It was far too permanent. Besides, how was I supposed to destroy Lilith by bringing her bakery to failure and laughing as her dreams went up in smoke? If I tortured her like that, I would suffer her pain. I would feel her despair.
Not to mention that Dannorax will be expecting me before long. If I don’t either bring her back or bring back evidence of proper punishment, he’ll come for me. Either that, or he’ll go to the Gates of the Underworld and find someone to hunt me.
I grimaced at that. It would probably be Astaroth. The Inquisitor.
Finding out how to break the damn bond was priority number one, and I had to get working on it right away before Dannorax followed up on his word.
Because older brothers were the worst.
Chapter Eleven
Lily
Sweat dripped down the back of my neck, following the slick strands of hair now matted to my skin. Oven one churned away, the smell of freshly baked bread beginning to fill the air as loaves of plain white bread baked. Oven two was heating as I worked away at kneading the dough in front of me.
