Page 47 of Prince of Demons
He tilted his head, his gaze turning sharper. “They will. And I cut the heads off many a man to get my brother on the throne. Power is… a double-edged sword. A necessary evil, if you will. Even you, little mouse… You strive for power over me, with your bargains and your gentle touches. Hoping to influence me to give you agency. You don’t have the strength to physically subjugate me, so you use other means. Your touch. Your scent. Even the timbre of your voice.
“We all need power, and we all have to face the consequences once we get it. For me, it’s the responsibility of the lives lost to this war. For you… Well, let’s hope you don’t succeed in your quest for power, little Breeder. For both our sakes.”
There was no mistaking the smolder in his black eyes.
Georgia grimaced and quickly lowered her gaze to his chest, refocusing on scrubbing the blood off his scaled skin. The blood and dirt were thick in the water, and she reached down to pull out the plug, making sure not to look further down as the tub emptied.
Power. If he thought servicing a male strong enough to crush her with a flex of his hands, while hoping he wouldn’t lose control and brutally rape her to death was power, then he really didn’t understand what it was like to be small and helpless. Not that he would. No. Someone as strong and physically dominant as the demon prince would never know what it was like to be truly powerless.
She refilled the tub, then dipped the sponge to his abs. They tensed under her touch.
“Does it not feel good here?” she asked, darting a look up at his face.
The intensified smolder in his eyes when she caught his gaze was all the answer he gave her, but it was plenty.
“Oh…” She cleared her throat, wishing she couldn’t feel the blood pool hotly in her cheeks. “Sorry.” She made to pull her hand away, to move on to washing his legs instead, but a large, clawed hand grabbed her by the wrist before she could clear the waterline. Keeping her gaze locked in his, the demon pulled her hand lower down, until the sponge made contact with something rigid and huge.
“You missed a spot.”
The growl in his voice made something clench low in her gut. Terror. Had to be terror.
“I…” She trailed off, biting her lip. She’d known what she was offering when she made her bargain for Suzanne. That he had a horrifying dick didn’t change what he valued in her.
Wordlessly, she relaxed her arm and let him guide the sponge down the full length of him.
He shuddered at the caress, another low growl escaping his throat before he released her wrist and leaned back. Black eyes still locked in hers.
Slowly, she rubbed the sponge back up the length of his cock, then down again, moving around the thick column of flesh to wash every part.
He shuddered in response, clawed hands tightening around the rim of the tub. When she gave the head a gentle stroke of the sponge, he bit his bottom lip and tilted his head back, a soft groan rumbling through his massive body.
Power.
The word rang through her mind again as she looked up at the monster so entirely enthralled by her touch, even muted by the sponge. Perhaps…. Perhaps he hadn’t been entirely wrong, after all. There was a strange rush of power at having this hulking monster of a male trembling with a simple touch. A dark dichotomy between her life ending in his hands if she broke through his ability to control himself, and the knowledge that perhaps she could push the Prince of Demons to his breaking point. She had that power.
Slowly, carefully, she rubbed the sponge along his cock—up and down, up and down. He hissed every time she brushed against those scary-looking ridges along the rim of the head, as if they were so sensitive he could barely stand it.
Curiosity finally won out. Georgia dipped her gaze to the thick column of flesh rising from between his powerful thighs. It was an angry red, aggressively textured, and just… absurd. Gently, she traced a finger along the coronal ridges, drawing a full-body tremble from the demon.
“They’re… softer than I thought they’d be,” she murmured, emboldened by finally having some semblance of control. “Cartilage? Not bone.”
“Yes.” His voice was a low, raspy rumble. “It’s for dominance, not injury.”
“But you would still kill me if we…?” She put the sponge aside and pressed a fingertip into the valley between two ridges, testing the flexibility in the tissue. Despite the uneven texture of his skin, it was still silky soft under her touch.
Kesh growled at the pressure, eyes narrowing—but he didn’t stop her from continuing. “Yes. I would. But not because of the ridges. I’m a lord. My magic is… potent. When I couple with a female, I can’t hold it back, and a human woman can’t withstand its untempered touch within her. You would rip apart from the inside, leaving nothing but a pile of guts and ashes.”
Georgia froze, her attention shifting abruptly to his face at the mention of ‘guts and ashes’. “Um… How do you…? Has that… happened before?”
“It has.” His lip quirked at the look of horror spreading across her face. “Barbaric, isn’t it? Tell me, Breeder, what are you imagining right now? My roar of pleasure as my unwilling victim dies beneath me? The terror and agony for her before I finally snuffed her life?”
That was exactly what she was picturing. Suddenly having zero interest in touching his dick, she pulled her hand away. “Is that not… accurate?”
“Does it matter? You’re a Breeder—no matter how many times you sell your body to me, I’ll never desecrate it. You’re too valuable to end your life screaming on my cock.”
“Of course it matters.” Despite the terror clenching her esophagus, a spark of anger rose at the thought of what he’d done. “You seem incapable of understanding that I care about other people. And… and if you did that… if you…”
“If I raped someone? Multiple someones? Would that be worse than what you already know me to be? You’ve been on your knees before, begging me to spare a woman’s life.” He stared her down, something almost like accusation in his black eyes. As if her horror… offended him.
