Demon Slave (4 page)

“
And I’m sure the smell
would grow on me eventually. How you match her radiance, lady, the
two of you must be sisters.”

Her posture straightened. “What a tongue you
have.”

“
Oh, you have no idea what
my tongue can do.” Marik smiled as he sensed her unease. His
teasing backfired and he inconspicuously shifted in his
pants.

“
Maybe we’ll see what it
can do once I’ve ripped it from your head, hmm.”

“
You’ll need to put your
finger in my mouth first.” Marik flashed a fanged grin. Her blue
eyes flared with disdain, which only worked to encourage him. “Tell
me, do all the females dress like you and Eddie here? It must be
hard for the men to decipher between the two. I can imagine the
awkward morning when they’ve found they’d been fucking the wrong
species.”

After casting him a look of unmitigated
hatred that seemed out of place in those blue depths, the woman
rode away.

* * *

Nadua mentally scolded herself for letting
him get to her so easily. The lying bastard was her prisoner, yet
he was the one having fun. He must expect that his friends will
come back for him. And perhaps they would, but her people would be
ready. They were but two days from home.

“
Your Highness,” a voice
called. Nadua slowed her speed to let Tamir catch up with her. “One
of our sentries has spotted a rebel, just south of us.”

Nadua pulled back on the lead and Sweetie
obediently stopped. The rest of the party did as well. “I want to
find the rebels too, but don’t you think the threat of a demon
invasion is more important right now?”

Tamir bowed his head. “Of course, Your
Highness, whatever you think is best, but this could be our last
chance to find the rebels. Surely they will move again with us
being so close. And the demon is secure for the moment. I hardly
think an extra day would hurt. Plus, I have already sent a
messenger to the castle. They should already be prepared by the
time we arrive.”

Nadua supposed he was right. Wren would have
everything taken care of before they even set foot into town. “How
many were spotted?”

“
Just one, but he could be
a scout, not too far from the others.”

Nadua’s eyes followed the horizon. It was
already midday. With a sigh, she pointed to a high bluff. “We’ll
make camp there. After everything is set up, I’ll take half the men
with me to search while the other half stays with our
prisoner.”

“
I’ll go with you, Your
Highness.”

“
No, I’ll need a leader to
stay behind, in case the rebels attack.”

“
Of course. I’ll relay your
wishes to the others.” Tamir bowed and rode ahead.

It took about an hour to reach the high
ground. While Tamir supervised construction, Nadua gathered her
group and headed out in search of the rebel outpost.

Silently, she prayed for Lidian’s
safety.

Nadua sat in her warm tent waiting for a pot
of ice chunks and packed snow to melt over the hot coals so she
could wash away the grime from the day’s journey.

The firelight illuminated her red locks,
staining them gold. If she were home at the castle, Ava would be
fawning over it while they sipped warm tea. As with Ava, Cyrellians
only had hair as pale as the world around them.

Nadua could relate to Ava’s envy. Back on
Evlon, any gathering, no matter how minuscule, was always a
spectacular feast for the eyes. Back then, she often thought her
color dull and her curls wildly out of control compared to the
elegant hairdos of the noblewomen.

Now, after four hundred years on Undewla, it
was disconcerting every time she walked into a ballroom and her
fiery curls stood out in a crowd of a thousand shades of white. By
coincidence, Nadua’s eyes were the only aspect she shared with the
Cyrellians. Icy blue. But Ava would still comment on their
uniqueness.

The expedition had turned up nothing. If
there had been rebels nearby, they were certainly gone now.

Nadua sighed heavily. They were no closer to
finding Lidian, and she was battling a strong sense of failure.
Once they returned to the palace, she would send Wren to continue
the search. The only redeeming factor about the trip so far was the
discovery of the demon presence. But she hadn’t been able to
procure much information from their tight-lipped captive.

She knew he held important information about
the coming invasion. And because of this, she was about to do
something that would cause her great embarrassment—unless her plan
worked.

The stubborn demon may not submit to
questioning, but his earlier behavior suggested he could be tempted
by other means. If she failed tonight, she would be forced to hand
him over to her warden. And she didn’t want to think of all the
ways Renzo got his prisoners to talk.

Choosing her outfit carefully Nadua tried to
dress as nicely as possible. With a slight tremble, she slipped on
her finest fur cloak, which spanned the length of her body and
cinched at the waist. A small train brushed the floor.

The robe fell open in the front, and she
usually wore her riding clothes under it. Not tonight. Tonight it
would serve as a dress of sorts. Holding the bottom of the fabric
up she glanced down at her bare legs. It was surprisingly elegant.
She blushed and let the material fall back into place.

Was she really going to go through with
this?

Accessories were scarce, of
course. While packing for this trip, she hadn’t realized she’d be
in need of finer adornments—who would pack for a fight and
think,
where’s that necklace I
love?
So she was stuck with a clean pair of
gloves, and boots with laces to match.

It didn’t matter what her hair or face
looked like, for it would remain covered, as usual, to protect her
from the cold. Besides, it shouldn’t be her face the demon would be
looking at.

A mirror wasn’t necessary for her to realize
this was a lackluster attempt at dressing for seduction. Everything
she wore was made, in some part, from edisdon fur—it was the only
material that could keep her warm—and he’d already expressed his
distaste for it. But it would have to do.

* * *

Marik leaned back against the familiar
stake, hands behind him once more, with the same flimsy rope in
place. A soldier entered, carrying a stool and set it down next to
the dimming fire pit. With shaky hands, he added a few logs and
then rushed away, sparing Marik an uneasy look as he went.

The day had been fairly productive—as
productive as a day in captivity could be, anyway. He’d been able
to learn quite a bit of the language by the simple act of observing
those around him. Not enough to decipher complete sentences yet,
but he could at least gather the gist of a conversation. It was
sure to be useful, since no one spoke any other language that he
could understand. Except that woman, of course.

She had proven distracting while she was
near him, though. Even while they were silent he was too focused on
her, rather than keeping to his task.

His curiosity had driven him mad. What was
her name? Why does she speak a language of the stars when no one
else could? What the hell was under that cloak?

Getting rid of her had been easy enough, but
then keeping her in his sights had been a full time occupation. He
didn’t know why, but if she disappeared from view—which she managed
often—Marik couldn’t concentrate till he knew where she was in the
group. To keep tabs on his enemy, he reminded himself. Not because
he feared for her life. The two guards had also been out of sight
most of the day.

After his crude remarks to her earlier,
Marik was genuinely surprised when the woman entered his tent.
Oddly, something in the pit of his stomach relaxed at the sight of
her.

She was still covered from head to toe in
that fluff, but something was different: her outfit was tighter,
revealing her figure and giving him an even better idea of what her
body might look like under that damn fur.

Tempting.

A thick scarf tucked into her hood and hid
her features. Her lovely eyes glimmered in the glow of the flames
as she sauntered to the fire.

A chair had been placed close to the flames
and he expected her to take it immediately, but she remained
standing. She looked a bit uneasy. By her swift glances to the
exit, he had the feeling she was contemplating leaving without a
word, and the thought bothered him.

“
Are you here to continue
our conversation about how talented my tongue can be? I assure you
it...” Marik trailed off as she finally sat. The fabric of her
outfit parted around long shapely legs, coming together again just
below the apex of her thighs.

His cock jerked at the sight and he wished
she’d move this way a bit, only an inch more. She crossed her legs
with a deliberate motion, causing the fabric to fold elegantly
closed, but one slender thigh was revealed instead. Marik’s mouth
went dry, while other parts of him sprang to life.

Her eyes gleamed with amusement and that
alone gave her away.

Saucy
chit
.

Marik composed himself and tried to keep his
eyes off her succulent pale skin.

Pale?

“
Your skin isn’t blue, like
your male counterparts.” He shrugged and gave her a leering smile.
“Not that I’m complaining. I’m not really partial to
blue.”

* * *

“
How convenient for you.”
Nadua had been nervous when she’d first walked in into the demon’s
tent. So much so that she hadn’t been able to speak at
first.

How could she have thought this was a good
idea?

She felt like a fool coming here. It was
unlikely the demon would be tempted by her. And this jaunt could
end up being incredibly embarrassing if any of the guards
discovered her plan. Doubts continued to swirl in her head and she
had almost left without a word.

Then she’d seen lust in the demons eyes and
knew she could pull this off.

“
Is that why you females
need to cover your bodies? You haven’t adapted to your environment
properly?”

Ass
.

“
Oh th...we’ve adapted just
fine.” She tried to make her voice sensual, but feared she was
doing a poor job of it. “Why don’t you tell me a little about
yourself?” She rubbed her crossed legs together for
effect.

With alarming intensity, his gaze went
directly to where she intended it to.

“
Well, let me think,” he
began. “You already know I’m a demon, and I’m sure you’ve heard of
the dangers of teasing one such as I.”

Nadua swallowed, but kept her back straight
and suppressed her rising alarm. She could do this.

He continued. “I’m a great warrior...and a
genius when it comes to preparing food. My favorite color is clear.
And I love your legs. Why don’t you come closer so I can sink my
teeth into them.”

Irritation flashed though her, but she
tamped it down. “You are a very good fighter. My men can attests to
that. You’ve been trained, obviously. I find that attractive.”
Nadua was surprised at how steady her voice was as well as the
accuracy of the statement. She rubbed the back of her fingers over
her thigh. “I find myself wanting to know more about you. Perhaps
we can...chat a little?”

He gave a slight nod, eyes riveted to her
caressing movement. She could see by the bulge in his pants that
her actions were inspiring the exact response she was going
for.

Easy
.

“
Can you tell me about the
craft that brought you here?”

“
A shuttle’s a shuttle.
What else do you need to know? It gets you where you’re going, and
in many cases back again.”

“
And why did it bring you
here?”

“
Look, I know what you’re
doing.” His voice went guttural. “And you have no idea what you’re
tempting here.”

“
Don’t I?” She was growing
warm from the anxious rushing of her blood, induced by the
knowledge of what she was about to do next. Somehow, she needed to
calm herself down, but she was making progress with the demon.
Stopping now was not an option.

She began removing her gloves, pulling at
each finger and making sure he was watching as they slipped down
her arm. Next came the shawl pelt that covered her shoulders and
hid the deep V-neck of her outfit.

“
That’s better. You were
saying?”