Page 15 of Prince of Demons
Heat enveloped her from all sides, seeping through her clothes and sinking into her skin, making her panicked heartbeat stutter even as she pushed at his impossibly hard chest to escape the uninvited closeness to the monster. “Let me go!”
“Stop. Please, stop.” The pleading note to his voice was wholly unexpected, as was the hesitant way his large hands brushed down her back, almost as if he was fighting some insurmountable compulsion to try to soothe her.
Georgia blinked, her hands stilling against his chest from pure shock. Was he… trying to comfort her?
She looked up at him through the blurry haze of tears—at his massive horns, his black eyes and monstrous face—and saw anguish on those terrifying features.
The prince exhaled a shaky breath, his dark gaze darting over her as if to ensure she was physically unharmed. “Don’t cry. You’re safe. I promise, little one. You won’t be hurt. Please don’t cry.”
He was. For whatever unfathomable reason, the giant, horned monster was kneeling on the stained carpet of his own throne room, holding her like a child in an attempt to comfort her.
Her pain shouldn’t have mattered to him. Heck, he was a demon—he should have delighted in it. But as she stared at him through snot and tears, it was obvious that he, at the very least, desperately wanted her to stop crying. Why, she couldn’t fathom, but the reluctance painted all over his demonic features as he tried to soothe her made it clear this wasn’t a manipulation. No one was that good an actor—not even a demon prince.
Irral’s words came back to her on a wave of desperation. He was the Prince of Demons. The strongest of his kind in the area—but a demon. She could attempt the bargain that had started her journey into this nightmare again.
“My brother is dying.” The horrible words tumbled out of her mouth on a bubble of saliva, pulling a fresh wave of tears with them.
The demon blinked in what looked like a moment’s confusion, but his face immediately broke in dismay at her renewed sobbing.
“Humans die all the time. It’s nothing to be upset about,” he said. Judging from the softness of his voice, she assumed he was still trying to soothe her, but the cruelty in those words did nothing to calm her anguish.
“He’s nineteen! He’s not supposed to die, not yet!” She hadn’t meant to yell, but fury at the injustice of Larry’s illness ignited at the demon’s callousness. “You can save him. Can’t you? You’re a prince. You’re strong enough?”
He stared at her for a long moment, his hands stilling their stroking movements against her back as his features smoothed into stony blankness.
“If you want me to stop crying, if you… If you want me to accept this, you have to save him. I can’t… I can’t live if he dies.” She set her wobbly chin and held his dark gaze, trying to force enough calm through her lungs to stop the grief still making her shake. “You have to.”
The prince let out a slow breath, not breaking her stare. “I have to?”
Where softness had painted his deep voice before, ice had taken its place. Ice, and darkness.
Georgia only barely managed not to shrink away as a new wave of fear washed through her. Whatever mimic of empathy had been present in him before, it was gone now.
“Please,” she croaked. “What you want from me… Companionship. I’ll give it willingly, if you just… Save him.”
“You’re attempting a bargain with the Prince of Demons?” he said softly. “After I have offered you safe haven? My protection?”
“Isn’t that what you do?” There was most definitely an unspoken warning in his silken voice, but for Larry… The prince was terrifying, but if he truly was as reluctant to harm her as he seemed, he was a better fate than the whorehouse. And he was right—if she fled his protection, she would only end up in the hands of Jimmy or someone like him. No matter what she did, she would end up as a companion. If she could save Larry by doing so, she might as well surrender voluntarily.
The demon gave her a hard look. Then he pushed her off his lap and rose up to his full height in an agile move, leaving her huddled alone at his feet and unexpectedly cold without the warmth of his embrace. “I rarely have the need to strike bargains with humans. What I want, I take.”
She swallowed at the implication and silently prayed that his discomfort at her tears meant what she hoped it did. “If you want my compliance, you will save my brother. Do that… and I won’t fight you. Just… don’t hurt me. Please.”
He was silent for a long moment. Then, finally, with a pull of his mouth, he nodded. “Fine. If that is your wish, then you shall have your bargain. I will not harm you, and I will save your brother. In return, you will submit yourself to whatever I require without a fight.”
It sounded better than any deal she could have hoped for, but the dark look in those void-like eyes made her shudder. He looked… angry.
Not that his mood mattered. He would save Larry, and all she had to give up in return was her resistance to a fate she wouldn’t be able to escape, regardless.
Gathering her leftover scraps of strength, she returned his dark gaze. “Then I, Georgia Moore, agree to your bargain, Prince of Demons.”
8
Kesh
The sun had crested the horizon when he drove them through the city in the quiet hours. Soon, the streets would once again be busy with humans going about their daily drum, oblivious to the creatures who ruled at night. This was the only time the city knew true quiet, once the drunks and thugs had gone home, and the ordinary citizens were only just starting to wake.
It was also the best time to avoid drawing attention from his own kind—something he desired even more than usual, considering the passenger he was carrying on the back of his bike.
