Page 112 of The Demon Court

“By becoming my own woman, yes.”

“By going against everything you promised me you would do. By falling in love with a demon and selling your soul to him. You want me to believe you are more than a foundling? Then prove it. Give me something to use against him, Selene. Or you will never return to this place as my daughter.”

The words stung. But not as much as they might have months ago.

Selene tilted her chin up and met her mother’s triumphant gaze. “Then I will not return.”

Silence stretched between them. Stunning and dark, as magic crackled between them.

“Selene,” Ursula whispered. “You don’t mean that.”

“I will renounce this family if I must. You were not a good mother. You are not a good High Sorceress either. Everything you’ve done has been for yourself and I see that now. I see right through the lies and the torture and the torment. Nothing that you made me endure turned me into a better person.” Selene clenched her hands into fists. “That took a demon to show me. And I’m ashamed to admit that I wouldn’t have seen it on my own.”

The air popped. Minerva’s magic gathered at her fingertips and Selene knew that she only had a few moments to run. She’d seen what Minerva could do to those she had no use for. She knew exactly how much it would hurt, too. It was hard to forget the sizzle of lightning as it rocked through her body.

The spell that fell from Minerva’s lips was not that, however. It was much darker.

Selene didn’t quite recognize the words, but she heard Ursula’s gasp as her sister threw herself at their mother. It was like time slowed. Ursula’s frantic movement couldn’t stop Minerva from whispering whatever curse flew from her lips.

Selene felt it strike her. The words opened up some darkness that they’d placed inside her. It spread inside her like wide wings, burning at the base of her neck as she realized why Minerva had painted the mark.

“What have you done?” she whispered before the doors to the Tower blasted open.

She thought she’d felt dark magic in that moment when her mother unleashed her curse? She’d been very wrong.

Evil walked into the Tower. It simmered below her feet and stretched up in dark tendrils of shadows that left dark stains in their wake. And then evil was given a voice that rumbled the very stones that held up the Tower.

“Selene.” The voice called for her, and she felt it in her bones. “Where are you?”

Minerva glared at her, then gestured with an arm for her to go. “He calls for you, foundling. Your demon awaits.”

And that was when it hurt. She’d given up her family, her people, all for him. For the beast who stood at the door and couldn’t even give her time to make amends for what she’d done.

Panic swelled as the realization of what she’d done really settled in. Maybe she should try to fix things with her mother. At the very least, she should say goodbye to Ursula. Maybe Bathilda as well. She needed a few more days to make amends with the little girl in her chest that didn’t want to leave.

Selene had a right to all that. She needed to take that time for herself and yet he was stealing that by being here too early. He hadn’t given her time to heal.

Then another traitorous part of her felt vindicated. Because she’d missed him.

And even if her mother didn’t want her, nor her sisters who had largely ignored her since she’d gotten back, it didn’t matter. None of it mattered because he was here. For her.

Minerva read those thoughts in her mind as though she’d said them out loud. Her mother leaned closer and hissed, “You’re nothing more than property to him. He’s here to take back what is his, but that doesn’t mean he cares for you. He’s a demon, Selene. Don’t forget that he has no ability to feel anything other than lust.”

“Maybe that’s all I need,” she whispered. Then turned to make her way to the front of the Tower. She couldn’t deny his order any more than her body could deny the flare of heat and the rush of wetness between her thighs as a low growl filled the tower.

“There you are,” he growled. “Selene, I can taste you.”

Her cheeks burned bright red, but she held her head high. She stepped around the center staircase and there he was.

Lust stood in all his glory, just as he had all those months ago. The corset around his chest was too tight, and his eyes blazed with heat. The horns on his head were larger. She had no question about that, and somehow he seemed even bigger. Which wasn’t possible. Was it?

“Lust,” she whispered, and his eyes locked on her. There was something in his gaze that unsettled her.

As though he were frantic to see her. As though part of him didn’t think he’d ever see her again.

Why?

Ursula raced up behind her and grabbed onto her arm. “Wait, Selene, you can’t go with him.”

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