Page 69 of The Demon Prince's Accidental Mate
“What are you doing?” Lily hissed as I then draped myself over a chair.
“Acting normal,” I said. “Do the same.”
She eased herself into another chair, trying to sit back in comfort, but only partially succeeding. Her nerves were betraying her. I could only hope the Furies wouldn’t notice or would assume it was because she was nervous about being gifted to a demon prince.
It took several minutes, but then the door opened, and the Fury who’d gone to organize my demands came barging into the room.
I shot to my feet, anger darkening my face. “Howdareyou barge in unannounced!” I bellowed, the force of my voice rocking the woman back on her heels, throwing her off stride mentally and physically. “Do you know who I am?”
The Fury was made of sterner stuff, however, and she recovered quickly. “What happened to the guards?” she demanded.
I made a show of peering past her at the door. “I don’t know.” I went to the door and stuck my head out, looking left and right. “They aren’t there.”
The Fury snarled at my statement of the obvious and stormed out of the room. I waited until she was at her closest, and then I struck. My arm came up, wrapping around her throat from the front as I yanked her head back.
Her neck snapped with an audiblecrack, and the body went limp.
“Come on,” I said, setting the corpse down and gesturing for Lily to follow me outside. “Let’s go.”
“There are more of them,” she pointed out, but she was already moving.
“I know. But they’re spread out. Just play along.”
“Isn’t that what I’ve been doing?”
“So, keep it up. We’ll be okay.”
“If you could deal with them this easily, why didn’t you just handle them all when they appeared?” Lily asked as we walked up to the first intersection where I expected to be spotted.
“Too exposed,” I said. “Couldn’t risk them hurting you.”
I stepped into the junction and looked around. We technically weren’t confined to rooms, so I didn’t expect to be accosted with weapons simply upon being spotted. As long as I kept up appearances.
“You there!” I called, pointing to a pair of red-armored guards who blocked the main stairway. “What is going on here? I was assured that we would be well taken care of.”
The Furies shifted, glancing slightly at one another, and I could all but hear their confusion.
“First, I am confined,me, Belial, fifth son, and now this? I demanded food, drink, and entertainment. None have been brought. On top of that, no guards are left around. I am forced to come and find you.”
I let some of my rage peek through, from the flames in my eyes to the heating of the air around me.
“Fix this,” I ordered angrily. “Now.”
It almost worked. One of the Furies started to go but was stilled by a hand from the other. I tried not to outwardly tense as she leaned in, sniffing the air. “You smell of blood.”
The short pikes came down in a flash.
“Damn.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Lily
The Furies were onto us, and they came at Belial in a flash. My heart stopped as razor-sharp blades sliced in at his head. Then suddenly, I was moving, pushed to the side by his tail. I tripped and went down but found myself rolling and coming up into a crouch.
One of the winged women looked at me, her ruby armor flashing in the light, and I cringed away from her. She snorted in contempt, dismissing me as a threat, and advanced on Belial from the rear.
That look and sound awoke something in me. I didn’t want to be looked at with such disdain. Like I wasn’t even worthy of living. Sure, maybe I wasn’t tall, carved of muscle, and beautiful like she was. No, I didn’t have wings that could lift me high into the sky. None of that was mine.
