A Kingdom of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 3)

He paused and turned to look at me, assessing me like any guest or “tame” shifter might. He waved his hand in front of his nose and screwed up his face in disgust.

“We don’t have time to waste on questions like that, dove,” he told me, his tone not at all matching his actions and body language. “We need to get you in a room with the indigo-eyed faerie and the alpha wolf. They’ve been collecting information for years. Years and years. But they don’t have the power to break out or the knowledge to operate the boats. They need the way cleared, essentially. They need the dragons.”

“They’ll have the dragons. We just need a way to get out of the dungeons.”

He nodded and turned again as the lady demon wandered over to him.

“The faerie thinks you can help her with that,” he murmured, so low I barely heard. He rose his voice as the demon took his arm. “Do you know what?” He turned my way. “She is a vision. I think she’d be a great show for Tessau while you pleasure him, don’t you? Or I can pleasure him—or you! If she were a little removed, we wouldn’t be troubled by the smell.”

The demon’s beige-eyed gaze traveled over me, hesitating on my cleavage and roaming my face.

“I like the smell,” she purred, tracing fingers across Hadriel’s bare arm. “Maybe she could pleasure me while you pleasure Tessau.” Her lips curled into a sultry smile. “He is ever so confused by how much he likes it.”

“Yes, but then he turns violent. That’s a job for the end of the night. Instead…what if you pleasure her while he fucks you?” He moaned softly and nuzzled her neck. “Now that sounds hot.”

She continued to assess me as a somewhat short but broad demon walked our way. He spotted Hadriel and the demon before shifting his attention to me. Appreciation filled his eyes until he got a little closer, then a spark of confusion eclipsed it, followed by aggression.

“Tessau.” The lady demon turned to him, letting go of Hadriel. “Our new pet has the most interesting idea. Me licking the pussy of this divine-smelling shifter while you take me from behind.”

The guy demon looked over me again, his expression shifting between arousal and wariness. He was trying to come to terms with the smell, I guessed. I hadn’t realized females would enjoy it, though it stood to reason. Nyfain was power and dominance and strength, and anyone who liked those characteristics would probably appreciate his scent. When I wasn’t adding my own “fuck off” flair to it, at any rate.

“Maybe,” Tessau said, taking her arm and steering her away. “Or maybe I will take her myself.”

As they wandered away, I clenched my teeth and refused to let anger show in my face or bearing. I might let a woman go down on me—it wasn’t an unpleasant experience, something I’d learned in my experimental days—but I would not allow that wank-hammer to fuck me. He’d die first.

As if hearing my thoughts, Hadriel paused before following them. “Don’t worry, love,” he whispered. “A lot of these demons are in the impressionable stages of debauchery. I can talk them into and out of almost anything. That male demon is bi—he just doesn’t quite realize it—so I can lean on his confusion if I need to. You might need to do some sex acts, but we’ll try to limit that to your own digits, yes?”

I took a deep breath but didn’t respond.

He nodded. “I have to go. Leave it to me, though. I know all the right people, and most of them think I’m ridiculous.”

“How is that helpful?”

He frowned at me. “Because they aren’t threatened by me, which means I get to move around pretty freely. The lessons in the master’s castle are really coming in handy. Be thinking about your part—we need the dragons to get us through the castle and out. Where is Hannon, speaking of? He’s our expert on those boats.”

“He won’t be coming to these parties. I made sure of it.”

Hadriel glanced at my face with confusion before nodding and hurrying off.

“He’s a valuable asset,” Micah said after he left.

“Yes, and if you’d told him that a few months ago, he would have laughed in your face.”

“Incoming,” Micah said, moving to the other side of his cage as Dolion stepped out of the crowd and walked directly toward me. No one hovered around him this time. And as he distanced himself from those mingling on the outskirts of the party, his flat expression fell away, exposing the rage beneath.

“I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how you did this,” he seethed, his tone low and vicious. It was clear he was talking about the drastic change in the crowd. “Is it that little shifter man-whore who came with you? I thought he was firmly in hand. More fool me, maybe. Not to worry—he’s been returned to the dungeons. To you.”