Page 7 of The Demon Court

Frowning, he pointed at the fabric imperiously.

His footman gulped and turned the piece over his hand. “It’s, um... Looks like it has the mark of the Tower, sir.”

“Silver Thread?” he asked, groaning. “Of course it would be Silver Thread. Ready my horses.”

“But, the festival... my lord?” he said the last bit in a question.

“I know there’s a fucking festival, Jeremiah.” He pulled at his hair, hating that he had to choose between duty and his own curiosity.

But he already knew which one was going to win.

Lust turned on his heel and stalked back toward the festival. “Are you coming or not?”

“Yes, my lord.” His footman bowed, but not before he heard, “Though it’s Jason, not Jeremiah.”

ChapterThree

“You’ve done well, daughter. Very well.”

It didn’t feel like that.

Selene could still feel his hands on her. How he’d carelessly held her shoulder, as though he didn’t think for a second that she’d try to slip away from him. The confidence in that grip, the strength, had frightened her.

More so, she’d felt him use that power of his. The one that made both men and women fall onto their knees and lose all sense. She’d watched over his shoulder as the woman behind the demon had been affected. The woman’s pupils dilated, and she’d grabbed at her own breast. The villager had been standing there, watching them with amusement just two seconds before all sense had fled her.

And if Selene hadn’t been able to hold on to her own emotions, what then? What would she have done?

Even melting that frozen wasteland inside of her held the lingering effects of his power. As though his magic never quite dispelled once it touched her. It waited for her to thaw just a little so she could feel him again.

Shivering, she shook her head to clear it of the thoughts and then nodded at her mother’s image in the small crystal ball she held. “I think a few more times for him to see me might do the trick.”

“You don’t think he’s interested in you already?”

How was she to know? Selene had never attempted to woo a man, or captivate them, or whatever it was she was doing here.

She chewed on her bottom lip, casting her eyes out over the buildings below her. “I’m not sure. I’d rather be certain that he needs to find me. That he’s compelled to come to the Tower…”

She didn’t finish, but she didn’t have to. The High Sorceress spoke over her. “Rather than wait for the temptation to draw him, you want him to hunt you down. Ever the intelligent one, aren’t you, my dear?”

A feeling deep inside her bones suggested she needed to talk to him more. That he’d been interested in her only because, for a split second, she was different. And for a being who had lived a thousand years, different wasn’t something he saw every day.

She wasn’t all that different, though. His powers didn’t work on her, no, but surely he’d met someone like that before. In his vast years and knowledge, there had to be someone who had been born with the same power as she.

Or maybe not. Maybe she was the first, and that was a problem.

Oh, by the seven kingdoms, if she was the first person with this power, then that would be a real problem.

“Keep doing what you’re doing,” her mother said, interrupting her thoughts. “Bring him here, child. Then let me handle the rest.”

Selene hadn’t asked what the “rest” was, nor did she want to know what would happen next. Her job would be complete the moment he walked into the Tower. “Understood.”

“Goodbye, child.”

Her mother’s face disappeared and Selene pocketed the crystal. She thought maybe Ursula had made it, but... it was hard to know. Her sisters were all so talented, and they studied so many books on sorcery. They knew more about the magical arts than she could ever dream of. Because Selene had been born for... this. So she had to wait until her first purpose was over with before she could become a sorceress like them.

Grumbling under her breath, she tugged on her extra set of travel clothes. She preferred to be clean, and this tavern hadn’t given her an opportunity for any bath last night.

She’d snuck in behind a couple who she was quite certain were actually having sex against the door, bartered with the innkeep who had asked her multiple times if she wanted to pay in “favors”, and then tried not to hate herself for being here. The room was dirty. The sheets were unwashed. And she’d had to wedge a chair underneath the door in fear someone would barge through it.

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