Page 4 of Demonic Prince

He’s frowning at me. Am I worrying him? Why?

“Can you walk?” he asks.

“Yes,” I say, but that turns out to be a lie.

I fall to my knees, willing myself not to vomit. Soon the nausea fades. He’s still holding me by the elbow.

What a fucking gentleman.

“Just kill me if you want to kill me,” I growl, already sick of him.

“I need you alive.”

I peer at him through my tumbling hair. “Why?”

“Because I need a dragon shifter.”

God, why is he so hard to read?

“Take off the aellurium,” I demand. “I can fly you where you need to go. I won’t even try to bite off your head.”

The corner of his mouth twitches. “I have a horse.”

“Of course, you have a horse.”

After sheathing his fallen dagger, he hauls me upright and starts walking. My toes scatter gold coins. I stare at my collection of jewels. Longing cuts through me like a knife.

“Take my treasure with you,” I say.

He snorts. “You want me to steal it?”

“Better you than some filthy robbers who will sell it piece by piece. I worked so hard on this hoard!”

He shakes his head. “You’re more valuable.”

“Loot it,” I say, stumbling over my own feet. “Please.”

“You’re delirious. Your body should accept the aellurium soon.”

Accept.As if I have a choice. He forced me to shift into a woman against my will. He defeated me when no other man could.

My captor leads me into the twilight, abandoning my cave full of treasure. My home. I’m not delirious, just foggy-headed from the aellurium and furious at this violation. The burning in my eyes threatens to overflow into tears, but I refuse to cry in front of him. It’s doubtful he would give the slightest fuck. He’s a demon, after all.

“Half?” I ask.

He furrows his brow. “What?”

“Half-demon?”

He grunts, which I take as a yes, before he shouts, “Bolt!”

I wonder if a bolt is a particular kind of demon. But then a sturdy black mare trots out of the forest, chewing on a mouthful of weeds. She has a white blaze on her muzzle shaped like a streak of lightning.

“Your horse,” I say.

The mare chuffs and sniffs me hopefully, as if I’m not a prisoner and I might feed her.

“Bolt.” The man sighs. “She’s a dragon. Dragons eat horses.”

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