Page 27 of The Demon Court

And yet, there was nowhere safe for her to do so. He’d put her room too close to his. She’d have to wait for him to go down to the great hall, or even better, out of the castle.

Oh, she was so screwed. He’d send her packing back to the Tower once he knew she didn’t actually have any special abilities to avoid his advances. But he hadn’t even been using his power on her when she was in his bedroom. And he’d seemed unaffected other than the slight surprise that she’d stripped without arguing.

Then he’d dressed her and...

A low moan escaped her lips before she could catch it. The demon had been right. Dressing her was somehow more intimate than undressing. She’d felt more bare in this dress than she had in her woolen skirts.

Although she was much cooler. Her flushed skin at least could thank him for that.

Sighing, she glanced at her bedroom door again. He’d said he would invite everyone who was anyone to the castle for the evening. Of course, she’d thought it was impossible to plan a party this late, but he had insisted it was the easiest way to do it. And from the sounds in front of the castle, everyone had arrived, even after such a late invitation.

Lust had claimed it was up to her, whether she wanted to meet his people or not. She’d prefer not. The nobility in this kingdom were less nobles in the common sense and more the favored beautiful ones who surrounded Lust. They did nothing. They had no responsibilities or jobs; they were just pretty, so they were well kept.

Selene understood why so many people in the towns stayed in their homes. Moving between kingdoms was costly. They had to remain or lose their life savings. But these nobles? They chose to be here.

She’d rather have nothing to do with them if they wanted to be around Lust more than they were forced to be around him.

“Are you not going?” a soft voice whispered from the doorway.

But... no one was there.

Tilting her head to the side, Selene tried to see through the veil of magic as her sisters had taught her. No magic obscured someone in the doorway, nor had the door opened. Instead, all she saw was a faint mist that pooled underneath the gap between the door and the floor.

“Hello?” she asked hesitantly.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt your thoughts, but there’s a whole party downstairs dedicated to you.” The mist seemed to congeal on the floor, gathering up into what looked like a blob of... fog. Kind of.

Selene had no idea what she was looking at. “What are you?”

“A spirit.”

“Like a ghost?”

“Oh no, entirely different from that.” The mass of mist or smoke gathered itself up a little more and then two eyes blinked open from the center. Not physical eyes. Selene didn’t think she’d be able to touch them, and she could see straight through them. But they were there. “Is that better?”

“Not particularly.” Selene slid off the chair in front of her vanity and sat down on the floor so she could get a better look at the creature. “You said you were a spirit?”

It bobbed up and down. “I am.”

“But not a mortal spirit.”

“No.” She swore there was confusion on its face before it pooled closer to her and whispered, “I’m a spirit of affection.”

Confused even more, Selene asked, “What is that?”

“What is that, she asks!” The little spirit bobbed again. Apparently the movement was one of anger. Or perhaps disbelief. “She’s a sorceress, and she knows nothing about spirits. What are you doing here, then?”

“I... don’t really know.” Was she supposed to learn about spirits? Selene had heard of them before. Ghosts that lingered after someone’s death. But this clearly wasn’t what she’d come to think of in relation to hauntings.

The mist rolled closer to her and then an icy touch pressed against her hand. “Oh,” it squeaked. “You have quite a lot of affection in you.”

Selene furrowed her brows, too stunned to speak for a few moments. “How do you know that?”

“I can feel it.” The spirit patted her hand with a tendril that felt a little more solid than a few moments ago. “Spirits are all around us, all the time. Some of us want to take more physical forms, most never even think beyond their own emotion. But I am a spirit of affection and I can only feel that.”

This was so confusing.

“Are you saying you’re a spirit of an emotion?” she asked.

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