A Kingdom of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales Book 3)(9)

“He’d need brains to be an expert on anything,” Govam murmured.

The first officer’s smile stretched wider as he took Govam in. “I noticed you are not in charge for once, captain. Instead, this fool of a guard is taking the lead. Interesting.” His voice took on a boyishness that was off-putting in such a foul-looking creature. “What did you do to deserve this level of punishment? Not a large crime. No, no, not a large crime. That would get you in my stocks or licked by my whips. This is just a grievance, nothing more. An infraction.” His wide-set yellow-green eyes slid to Denski. “And your second-in-command is with you. Hmm. I am dying with curiosity. Pay attention, Ressfu—the captain here spends nearly as much quality time with dragons as I do shifters in general. Maybe it is him the king should be asking for advice.”

The first officer was obviously trying to get a rise out of Govam, but no such luck. Govam looked on placidly, ignoring him as he did me. As he did almost everyone, it seemed.

“Yes, well.” The first officer motioned for Jedrek to be brought forward and set on the ground.

“Remember, he’s a pet.” Ressfu pointed at the unconscious body. “Don’t drag him on his face or anything. I’m going to put in my report that I dropped him off in perfect health.”

“You dropped him off unconscious and with a bruised face.” The first officer entwined his spindly fingers and rested them on his protruding girth. “I know how to do my job. Do you?”

Ressfu scowled. “C’mon,” he said to the room at large, turning. “We’re done here.”

The demons peeled away, Govam with one last glance at me before he left. As they moved back the way they’d come, one demon was left standing her ground, looking at me. She wore her human glamor, a beautiful redhead with full red lips and a little dot of a nose. A sparkling pink dress hugged her generous curves and accentuated her perfect display of cleavage.

She didn’t utter a word. Just winked, turned, and sauntered away.

The sass conveyed by those few simple movements curled under my clothes and crawled across my skin. A succubus—she had to be. I wondered what she wanted with me.

The first officer watched her leave. Afterward, he regarded me with a slightly quizzical look that quickly turned to deviousness and menace.

“Welcome, dragon. Your captors have been fooled, haven’t they? That potent scent isn’t from the alpha alone. It is your power mixed together.” He closed his eyes and smiled serenely. “It will be so sweet to taste. And what a delicious irony. I will use your pain and suffering to fuel my creatures and send them against your dragon prince. I’ll be using his mate’s own power against him, as it were.”

So these were the demons that made the twisted creatures in the wood. Since they looked like the kind of thing you’d find in the back of an ice chest after two years of moldering, it fit.

When his eyes opened, he beheld me again. “You are quite young. Prettier than most. Softer. I’ll have to be a bit more delicate with you so it lasts longer.”

The first officer made a signal with his hand and turned, walking toward the far wall.

Four red-robed minions who hadn’t been there a second ago stepped out from the sides. It was like they’d appeared from thin air. Literally. They didn’t move forward, just waited and stared, letting us know they were there. Two of the other four yanked me forward, forcing me to step on my bad ankle before I could get the other in front of me. I limped, but the pain didn’t vibrate like before, thank the goddess.

“I would like to get my hands on Ressfu,” the first officer murmured as we walked, Jedrek hauled up and all but dragged with us. “I would like to torture him to death. The guards’ bodies make the best creatures. I will watch with glee as he transforms into a hideous little creature that the dragon king could kill in his sleep.”

So apparently they used dead people to make their creatures. No wonder no one had cared much about Luru’s fate. He’d still be useful down here, even in death.

I glanced around with raised eyebrows. The minions didn’t seem to be listening. Was this for my benefit?

“They are all so stupid.” The first officer reached a set of wide stone stairs that curved down into the darkness. He trailed his fingers along the wall as he descended. “You must’ve seen that, dragon.”

Ah. For my sake, then.

“And stupid demons do stupid things and get in all kinds of trouble. Do enough stupid things, and the demon king will be happy to hand them over to me. Most of them are worth more as building blocks for my creations than they are as guards, surely.”

We kept spiraling down at the next landing, and the stairwell slimmed down until the gangly minion to my right had to escort me solo. The stairs stopped at the third sub-level, the ceiling hanging low and dampness soaking the stone walls around us. There was no grandiosity down here. No columns or impressive stonework. It was exactly the kind of dungeon I’d envisioned.

The first officer stopped at the bottom of the steps and pushed his finger against the stone at his side. A click preceded a flood of light. It turned on with a loud buzz, raining down from the ceiling.

I couldn’t help smiling. I was very young when the lights essentially went out in my kingdom. This felt like…a present. This place hadn’t been trapped by a curse and cut off from the world. Even though very few modern conveniences could be found in this shitshow dungeon, the demons had access to them.