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“You’re a brave boy. But my mark is on you, and you’ll do what I say. Your mother made sure of that. You belong to me, Sebastian Force. You have belonged to me since your conception.”
That was a bold claim, but devils were notorious liars.
“I don’t believe you. My mother had no intention of giving the fate of the crown prince over to a devil. She would never have done that. She despised magic of all kinds and kept it far from the castle.”
Kinsey chuckled, letting his human glamour once more take over, so he appeared the handsome, rakish bandit and not the terrifying devil. “I knew her before you did, little prince. You see, before you were born, the lack of an heir was becoming a matter of urgency in the court. Your dear mother was desperate to have a son. Her failure to have a baby was unforgivable in the eyes of the state. Your existence was very precious to her, politically as well as personally. So, she made a deal with me.”
“What?” Sebastian looked at Lucan with alarm. “Could this be true?”
“Tell us of this deal, devil,” Lucan growled.
“I don’t believe it,” Sebastian said. “My mother would never have promised me to a man.”
“Your father wouldn’t mate her, you see. He was more interested in bucks than does. But there’s ways to get seed from a stone. I did my work. I delivered his essence to her sweet womb, and in return she promised me the soul and flesh of her firstborn. You, Sebastian. You belong to me.” Kinsey’s eyes flashed with triumph. “And that is why I had to claim you from the forest before the Death King took you. I keep what is mine safe, unlike your somnolent knight.”
Sebastian drew himself erect. He had so rarely had the opportunity to be rebellious in Castle Force, but he was now discovering that it suited him rather well.
“I don’t care what she promised you. I’m my own person. I don’t belong to anybody.”
Kinsey’s eyes flickered against the dark wastes. “You can believe that all you like, boy, but it is not true. I own the core of you, and I’ll see you do as you are told, whether that be plunging to the depths of this abyss or sitting on the throne of Force and doing as I tell you.”
“I’d rather sit on the throne,” Sebastian said.
The bandit-devil laughed. “I like your sass. I like to think you got some of that from me.”
“From you? Are you now saying Thadecus wasn’t my father?”
“Oh, I used his seed, but it was I who mated your mother,” Kinsey smirked. “Ravenous woman, absolutely cock-deprived.”
“Don’t you dare speak of her that way! I will strike you down!”
That outburst brought a round of laughter from Kinsey and his demons. “You couldn’t strike a gnat down, boy. You are weak. You have no allies and you are being hunted by a man who wants you dead at all costs. You have a sleepy knight who cannot possibly protect you on his own. Think about it, Sebastian. You need me tonight just as much as your fertile mother needed me one night some nearly twenty-two years ago. In some small way, you are the closest thing I have to a son.”
“I’d be careful if I were you,” Sebastian said dryly. “Bad things have been happening to my parents lately.”
Kinsey laughed once more. “I’m not as vulnerable as your mortal parents were, my prince. I can lend you resources. Men, so you do not sleep unguarded in the night.”
“And in return?” It was Lucan who asked the question.
“And in return, I take a second soul.” Kinsey turned his gaze on Lucan. “The soul of a brave knight that might serve me well into eternity. Or perhaps his body.
What a body.”
“No.” Sebastian said firmly. “We have only just begun this journey. We cannot go around selling our souls to the first devil we meet. That’s silly.”
“Silly, boy?” Kinsey’s expression was rough. He was clearly unimpressed at Sebastian’s choice of words. He had demonstrated great power, and Seb had turned around and called the whole thing silly.
Sebastian could tell he was more than testing the devil’s patience. He intended to continue to do so. It seemed to him that Kinsey would not have intervened if he did not intend to help. The matter of soul ownership was irrelevant to Sebastian. He wasn’t entirely sure he had one, or that if he would miss it if he did.
Kinsey felt he had claim and control, and that was something Sebastian was very used to navigating. His entire life had been comprised of powerful people trying to get him to do what they wanted, people who thought they were entitled to anything they wanted.
“Give me the men.” Sebastian pushed his luck.
