Page 104 of Demon Food

“I know. Lucc came to me in a panic—no surprise there—but he interrupted me while I was feeding.”

I pursed my lips.

“So, now I hate him even more.”

I glanced at the series of arched windows into the palace to make sure none of the guards were watching too closely. It wasn’t uncommon to encounter other vultae while praying, but she and I had a budding reputation for trouble. It was all the maps we’d stolen from the clergy. All the eavesdropping we did on palace politics.

“Surely, you’ve heard about the human in my chambers,” I said.

“Heard of him? He’s all I’ve heard about. The talk of the palace is what he is.”

I blinked vacantly at the roots of the tree. “What are they saying?”

“Well, Lucc says he’s impossibly sexy.”

I snorted. “I’m surprised Lucc was able to get a sense of what he looked like through all the trembling.”

“But everyone else is convinced that he is going to be the one to finally break Prince Alek the Unbreakable.”

My eyes flared wide for a second. That was the problem, wasn’t it? Something had to break.

“How are you managing locked up with him?”

“I don’t know how to answer that,” I said, scratching the back of my head. “On one hand, it’s been fucking torture—he is impossibly sexy. On the other hand, it’s been incredible, Amara. Incredible.”

“In what way?”

“In every way. He knows.”

Her silence was lengthy. “Knows…?”

“About me. About the doctor. About my plans. I told him everything.”

“Fucking what? Prince, why? You barely know him, and not to mention, he’s a human. How do you know he can be trusted?”

“I don’t,” I said, shaking my head at the roots. “But I don’t care. Let him sell me out if he wants. I wanted him to know about me. I wanted to share myself with him. He deserves that much.”

“Does he? Lucc said he stabbed you.”

I chuckled.

“That’s funny?”

I rubbed my nose. No. And yes. “You had to be there.”

“I thought he was a concubine. Concubines aren’t typically violent creatures.”

My blood boiled at the word, such that I had to tamp down the snarl that wanted to lash from me. “He was a concubine. He’s not anymore.”

“Pardon?”

“He’s not anymore,” I repeated a little too loudly. “He will no longer serve as one, because I am not joking when I say I will burn the kingdom to ashes if anyone else touches him.”

She was quiet for a long time.

So long that I snuck a glance to find her squinting at me. “Do not give me that look.”

“You were shaken, I fear,” she said. “Shaken as a babe.”