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I’m not the type of woman who knows how to wheedle, or how to dance around the subject so that I can manipulate someone else into doing what I want them to. This is like Jake all over again. Before I knew that I was meant for a shadow demon, anyone with a dick was looking good to me. I still wanted to sleep with someone I knew, someone I was attracted to, and someone that was interested in me, too, but I didn’t coyly try to get Jake to ask me out again, hoping the night would end with us in bed.
Oh, no. I askedhimto dinner, then invited him back to my house, making it pretty fucking clear that—if it wasn’t for my stomach turning against me—I would’ve invited him up to my bedroom next.
So, staring up at the intimidating duke, I’m not trying to come up with a plan. I wish I could, but the only thing I do is blurt out, “I’m here to bring Sammael back. He’s supposed to be my mate and I want him.”
It’s the truth. No matter what, if I was impulsive and reckless or if this is the first ‘right’ thing I’ve done in my adult life, I don’t care… I kinda understood what I was getting into when I mated him. When I bonded myself to him. The promise was a little sketchy since I didn’t understand Sombran yet, but I think of that as my demon wedding.
I made my vows. For good or for bad, I’m going to stand by them.
It’s all because of the acorns, I think with sudden clarity as the demon duke looks down at me without saying a damn word. For weeks, Sammael left acorns in front of my door, trying to show me affection while I had no idea he was even there.
That’s not all he did, either. He put my keys on their ring, using more energy than he should to take care of me. He made sure my slippers were always together. Little things that he could pull off while he was still a ghost, he did it all for me because—even before I knew he was real, he thought of me as his.
Now it’s my turn to treat him like he’smine.
Finally, Duke Haures asks, “How far are you willing to go to earn his freedom?”
“Freedom?”Freedom? “Hang on… where is Sammael? Where did you put him?”
“In my dungeons.”
What?
“He’s my prisoner. He stole from me.” Then, as though he wants to really rub the salt in my sudden wound there, he adds, “He stole the book that called you to him.”
So?
“Yeah? I’m sorry, but I don’t really care how I found out we were meant for each other. But if you, like, arrested him because of the book, I can go back home and get it. Take it. Just let me have Sammael back.”
“You’d do that?”
I nod decisively. “Yes.”
His eyes light up. “And I’ll ask you again, female: what will do you to earn his freedom?”
Impulsive, frantic Hope strikes again as I promise the duke, “Anything.”
“Very well. Then I would have you enter the shadows at the end of Sombra and bring me back an ashbalm flower.”
Behind me, Loki lets out a rush of air. A sigh almost, or maybe a sound of resignation. I’m not sure, but before I can ask why the duke seems so triumphant and the other mage so defeated, a soft, lilting voice carries through the throne room.
“Haures, my love. What is going on here?”
There is a door along the wall to my left that I didn’t notice before. It’s open now, revealing a garden and a pond, everything tinged with blue, almost sparkling from this distance.
Silhouetted against the lovely backdrop are two figures. One of them is a shadow demon all in black with a pair of fierce red eyes peering into the throne room. He has horns that twist on the end before jutting straight up toward the ceiling, though the rest are his features are more nondescript since he’s far enough away that the shadows hide them.
Standing a good head shorter than the demon is another human woman. She has long, wavy dark hair with skin that seems so much tanner compared to Duke Haures’s pure white color. Her dress flows like silk; it matches the demon duke’s blue eyes exactly. She’s slender, yet tall, with an almost ageless beauty.
The brunette looks at me, a shocked expression twisting her pretty face. “Who is this? And why are you asking her to retrieve ashbalm for you?”
I thought I was being reckless, daringly mouthing off to the duke. This woman addresses him pretty boldly, not even using his title or anything.
“Dagon,” Duke Haures says, purposely not answering her question, “please bring my mate back to her quarters.”
Ah, well. That’ll do it.
Huh. Did Sammael know that the duke had a human mate of his own? I wouldn’t have been so damn scared of him if I knew that myself, but I guess this is another one of those ‘don’t ask, don’t know’ situations where I can’t find the answer in his download if I don’t know to ask the question in the first place.
