Page 84 of The Demon Court

Selene hated how twisted her heart was now. She wanted to let go and allow him to... what? To enjoy her body the way she wished him to? That was silly. She didn’t have it in her to give in to a man she had assumed was a demon her entire life.

And there was the added layer of her family to add to this mix. They thought him demonic as well, as they had sent her here to betray him.

Surely she couldn’t ignore all that? Years and years of living with them, owing them her life, knowing that her sisters and her mother were the only people there for her. Even the townsfolk wanted nothing to do with sorceresses. That was why they left their children on the front steps year after year.

Just like Minerva said. Sorceresses were the forgotten, the unwanted, and the powerful. Their parents had good reason to leave them on the steps of the Tower. They were too dangerous to be with the others, no matter how small their magic was. And the people would never accept them for who they were.

If Selene had stayed with her parents, she likely wouldn’t even be alive.

She paused by a dahlia and traced her finger over the many petals. She’d lived her entire life knowing that her own parents feared her. That the minor act of conjuring light was enough for them to think she was too dangerous to raise on their own.

That guilt had walked beside her for her entire life. And Minerva had never let her forget it. Her sisters hadn’t either. They all lived with the knowledge that they were unwanted, impossible to love, and that all they had was each other.

But what if all that was wrong? Lust had made it seem like he wanted her last night. He’d touched her like a man who desired a woman, and the look in his eyes had been more than just physical desire.

He’d made her feel wanted, and that was the cruelest part of all this. What if he really did want her? What if he wanted to know more about her, and to have her trust him because he was interested in her and no one else?

She’d give him anything if that was true. Even her soul.

The thought terrified her. She didn’t know how to act around someone who could take so much from her with only a simple request. If she wasn’t careful, she’d end up like all the others. Nothing more than a slave at his feet, begging for attention that he couldn’t deign to give her.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Affection’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

Selene glanced up with a bright smile. “I haven’t visited the gardens yet. There aren’t any in the Tower. We get our food from the villages, so I never got to see plants like this unless we were traveling.”

“And I take it you don’t travel very often.”

The little spirit was larger yet again, but this time, she didn’t mention it. Instead, she crouched down and met its gaze eye to eye. “No, we did not travel very often.”

“Lust would travel with you if you’d like. He enjoys going throughout the kingdom to all the villages.”

A small spark of jealousy churned in her belly. Oh, she knew how much he enjoyed going out into the kingdom. He’d become a legend year after year for indulging himself in every pretty woman or man that the town threw at him. In fact, she was quite certain that he’d done exactly that even after they met.

Selene had no right to be jealous. He was a god to many of the people who lived here, and their king. If he wanted to go out and find whatever pleasure he wanted in the bodies of countless women, then there was nothing she could say to stop him. Nor should she. It wasn’t her place.

A nasty voice whispered in her mind, “You aren’t his queen.”

Because she wasn’t. He’d never intended to make her so and honestly, she’d never thought he would either. Lust had a kingdom all of his own, and no reason to add a queen to that. Not in the slightest.

Sighing, she trailed her fingers through her hair and tried to not pull the locks out by the root. She turned and started down the nearest garden row. Perhaps the repetitive motion of her feet would help the strange emotions that threatened to swell over her head. Or maybe the feeling of the plants trailing along her sides would distract her. Unfortunately, it was rather hard to find that distraction when a certain spirit didn’t want to let it go.

“Why did that make you sad?”

“I thought you were affection only? Shouldn’t you be more attuned to that emotion rather than sadness?”

“I still know what you’re feeling,” the spirit grumbled. “Traveling is something you love. You have a lot of fond memories about travel and how many people you’d met during those adventures. So why does the thought of going with Lust make you sad?”

She had no intention of answering that question. She opened her mouth to say just that before they were both interrupted by a voice overhead. “Yes, Selene. Why does the thought of traveling with me turn your stomach?”

She looked up and found Lust leaning much too far over a railing above her head. The light glittered through his hair and turned his lovely features into melted gold. Even his horns were sparkling this morning and she didn’t remember him putting glitter on them.

Sighing, she waved a hand in the air. “What are you doing up there?”

“Spying.”

“Why?”

He lifted a shoulder. “I thought you might pour out your heart to your dear friend Affection and I might overhear how you feel about me.”

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