Page 34 of Of Spindles and Nightfall
“Are you surprised? You think vampires are more cultured than demons? We technically are demons. Real attachment isn’t something either of our kind is capable of. Love is secondary to self-interest.”
His head tilted as he regarded her. “Love is weak. Yes, I heard that in your thoughts.” The ring in his irises flashed in thought. “I make deals with demons all the time. In our harsh, unforgiving world, the vast majority of deals I make are always about someone else. Someone they hope to protect, someone they long to please, someone they yearn to find happiness. And you should see their desperation. How badly they will doanythingfor those they love. Love is weak among our kind? No, Princess, love is not weak. Love is weakness.”
Something twisted in her stomach at his confession, like a cold, sharp knot tightening deep within her. “A weakness that you exploit.”
“Sometimes exploit. Sometimes it is a wound I ease.”
Whatever altruistic role he pretended to play, it was obvious he’d go to his gravebefore he allowed himself to be caught loving someone. That was why they were here in this room of sex and pleasure, because it served as a bandage for what he’d never allow himself to experience. The demon king would never allow himself to feel genuine love.
“Now that you are refreshed, we need to complete an additional task,” he said.
“What is that?”
“I agreed to pay my potions dealer—who helped me with your escape—in golden thread. So we must spin one more time.”
Aryana frowned. “That wasn’t part of my agreement.”
“No, but it was a part of mine, and if you don’t follow through, then I am afraid that I will lose my power and if I do, then fulfilling your end goal of protecting the humans will be next to impossible.”
She released a prolonged breath as he disappeared inside the bathing area and came back wearing his cloak. That was true. If Zarathos lost his powers now, she’d be free of him, but she wasn’t naïve enough to expect that he‘d permit her to live long enough to grasp his throne. And the humans most definitely wouldn’t be protected.
But she didn’t want to put her finger to the needle and see another horrible moment from her past. “That’s going to be difficult, as there is no spinning wheel present in this room.”
He gave her a triumphant look and then walked over to the wall next to his bed. Reaching up, he traced a seam and pried open a secret door. “I invite you, Vampress, into my hidden tower.”
She followed him up a dark, twisted flight of stairs. They entered a circular room with windows up high tolet in the light, though it was night time, so she didn’t need to worry. She looked up at the stars that twinkled at her.
The space was lit by several lanterns. Shelves, mostly bare, but with a few threads and a decent amount of straw and flax, lined the walls. And at the room’s heart was a spinning wheel. This one looked better maintained than the one that King Salen kept on hand.
“Do you spin for fun?” she asked sardonically.
“It’s soothing… when I’m not being dragged into someone else’s emotional wasteland.” He took the same metal contraption he’d attached to the wheel in King Salen’s prison out of his cloak. Carefully, he added it to the spinning wheel.
She stiffened. “I’m sorry if my trauma isn’t to your satisfaction.”
He grabbed the straw and set it next to the wheel. A small sense of relief gripped her to see it was much less than King Salen had demanded of her on either night. She may not even need to drink blood to replenish herself.
“Yes,” Zarathos responded. “I enjoy your emotionally charged memories being shoved down my throat. You’re so emotional I’d almost have mistaken you for a human.”
She knew from the disdain laced in every word that he didn’t mean it as a compliment. Humans were probably the lowest of the low for him. She raised an eyebrow. “Does experiencing the pain of having your emotions manipulated and used against you bother you, oh great bargain master?”
He emitted a soft hiss. With a whoosh of his cloak, he sat. “I find it odd that you desire so desperately to protect humans when it was a human you were so intent on killing the night I found you.”
“The night you stole me,” she snarled.
“Hmm, still. I saw the way you appeared regretful after you killed him.” He shook his head. “Those who don’t know how to play the game wind up having their corpses trampled over on another’s journey to power.”
“Perhaps I’d rather end up dead than be a heartless opportunist.”
He spread his arms, giving her a slow, superior smile. “Here I am. The heartless opportunist, keeping the traumatized, emotional vampire princess alive.”
She stepped toward him, her fists clenched at her sides. “Don’t act as if you’re doing it for my well-being.”
“Oh, I won’t. But bargains can be helpful or they can be hurtful. It’s all perspective. For example, I know for a fact that if I hadn’t struck the bargain with King Salen to capture you, there would’ve been many demons lining up for the honor. No hidden agendas, no personal investments, and definitely no plans of keeping you living.”
She sucked in a breath.
He watched her, his expression haughty, arrogant. “If one of them had snatched you up…” He shrugged, his cruel smile splitting wider. “Well, your pretty little skeleton would be in a sack, arriving at your uncle’s right about now.”
