Page 35 of The Demon Court

He didn’t need her at all. But right now, she’d caught his attention, and that was exactly what she was supposed to do.

So even though it made her skin crawl to touch him, she slid her hand into his and nodded. “Fine. But not for long.”

“You have appointments, I take it?” He grinned and that damned expression made a shiver travel down her spine.

Not a bad shiver, either. Angry at herself, she snarled, “No, I just don’t want to spend much time with you.”

“Ah, the sorceresses sent me a snarling wolverine for a bride. And here I was thinking your mother sent you to me planning to seduce the demon king.” He tucked his finger underneath her chin and forced her to look at him. “Is that what you’re trying to do, little moon?”

“Seduce you?” she snorted. “That’s the last thing I want.”

Confusion rippled through those expressive eyes. “That’s what I thought you’d say. How strange. Never you mind, though. I would like to spend time with you, and the idea of seducing you is rather abhorrent to me as well. Follow me, and I promise to keep my hands to myself. Unless you ask me to touch you.”

“Not going to happen.”

“Never say never, darling.” He winked at her again, only to then drag her through the halls.

He said nothing after that, and Selene had to rush to keep up with his long legs, so she was rather quickly out of breath. They raced through the castle like someone was chasing them. She couldn’t understand why, but it made the entire situation feel rather uninhibited.

No, that was wrong. He made it feel like they were breaking the rules, and her heart raced at the thought.

What was he doing to her?

She kept her mouth shut until they left the castle and approached the edge of the kingdom. She’d known that it existed near his castle, but she hadn’t thought it was this close.

The edge of their home plummeted into the darkness. Into nothing. She could feel that oppressive madness that lingered beneath. That feeling was the reason so few people ever got close to the edge. A part of their brain knew something existed deep in those shadows that wanted to devour them.

And Lust was continuing closer and closer.

She couldn’t take it anymore. Selene tugged hard on his hand, and her fingers slipped through his grip. She immediately took five enormous steps away from the devouring darkness. “Are you going to throw me off the edge? Is that your idea of an afternoon well spent?”

He looked back at her. The smile that split his face didn’t make her feel any better. “While I’ll admit, throwing you off the edge would end my problems, that was not my plan for today.”

“I have no interest in getting closer. I know what waits at the bottom.”

“Do you?” He arched his brow. “I was under the impression only my brother knew the answer to that. So go on then. What do the sorceresses know is at the bottom?”

Her heart pounded in her throat, panic clawing its way up her throat. “Darkness. Madness. It has many names. But it is hungry, always hungry.”

Lust almost looked disappointed. “Ah, so the same old rumors everyone else knows. I’ll admit to being as curious as the next about what is actually down there. And Wrath is so tight lipped, he’d never tell me. He barely wants to share how his kingdom is doing, let alone the secrets of the realm.”

It was the first time she’d heard him speak of his counterparts. She realized this was her moment. If she could keep him talking, then maybe he would reveal some innate weakness. All it would take was for her to poke at this moment and see just how much he’d reveal.

“Wrath?” she asked. “Is he your older brother?”

“Older?” Lust’s chest puffed up at the question. “We’re all the same age. You mortals are so obsessed with years, but after a thousand of them, they stop mattering so much. We came into our physical forms at the same time. Five seconds doesn’t matter.”

She bit her lip to stop her smile. “So you are younger than him.”

“Five seconds,” he snapped. “It’s not enough to make him older than me.”

Oh, she couldn’t help herself. Selene tilted her head back and laughed. The idea was so ridiculous that he’d argue when it shouldn’t matter at all. He and his brothers were hundreds of years old and they somehow still argued about who was older?

And when she stopped laughing, she saw he had the strangest look on his face. It had softened him. His eyes slightly crinkled at the corners, his lips parted, his gaze looking at her not with hunger but with something else entirely.

“What?” she asked, breathless from her laughter.

“It’s just...” He shook his head. “Nothing.”

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