A Ruin of Roses (Deliciously Dark Fairytales #1)(37)

“He doesn’t meet with anyone from my village,” I said, strangely offended.

Hadriel pulled his lips to the side of his face. “He clearly should’ve been, huh? Because you have that elixir thing. I’m supposed to bring you down to harvest the everlass tonight. Good thing, too, or I might’ve gone for the hair of the dog, and then the demons would’ve made a fool of me.”

“You make a fool of yourself just fine without the demons’ help,” Leala said.

“I know what you’re doing.” Hadriel held up a finger. “You’re trying to rile me up so that I’ll get behind the paddle next time you want to be spanked. I’ll say it again, Leala, I am not into that kinda kink. I do not find spanking a tied-up girl a good time. It stresses me out. So stop coming at me about it.”

“But you really put your all into it. I can feel your passion.”

“That’s anger, Leala. It is anger, and I’m being very violent when I do it.”

“Hmm,” she said with a little smile, and ran her fingers down the side of her neck.

He shook his head and looked away. “I don’t understand hate-fucking. If I hated you, I wouldn’t want to fuck you.”

I felt my face flush as I thought of my complicated feelings for Nyfain. Our anger, our rage, our mutual dislike for each other, and how damn good his tongue had felt stroking my nipple. The pounding of desire as his fingers rubbed between my thighs. I was pretty sure hate-fucking him would be a real good time. A real good time.

I was also sure something was wrong with me, and Hadriel was right—I was not making good decisions! I needed to stay away from that guy. At all costs, I needed distance between him and me.

“I’m not clear on the rules here,” I said, rubbing my temples as though that would get Nyfain out of my head and the simmering heat out of my core. “I thought the beast couldn’t pass through the edge of the Forbidden Wood.”

“Well, that’s where the power thing comes into effect,” Hadriel said. “Back in the day, the magic fortifying that line was potent. It hurt the master a great deal to cross it. But the magic has dissipated a bit over the last sixteen years. The demon king has not re-fortified it, and the master can make the crossing without too much pain now. He just has to do it sparingly because he doesn’t want any of the demons to find out. Luckily for him and unluckily for us, we keep the demons pretty well occupied. As do the villages, I hear.”

“And so when he goes to meet these villagers…” I squinted an eye.

Hadriel flung out his hand to silence Leala, but he was too late.

“They usually meet him in the wood. The villagers can come and go without the magic affecting them. Which is also supposed to be a secret from the demon king. I mean, he probably knows, but he doesn’t think villagers pose any threat anymore…”

She trailed off. Hadriel looked at me with a blank face. As well he should have.

“And just how many other prisoners has he taken?” I asked in a measured voice. This time I let my animal rise to the surface, fueling me with power. My senses strengthened, smell and eyesight and hearing more acute. That might come in handy. “How many?”

“Um…” Leala cleared her throat. “We’re really not at liberty to—”

“Tell me,” I barked.

“None,” they both said quickly, clutching their chests. Hadriel’s eyes widened, and Leala smiled and bent a little, looking inward again.

After a moment, Hadriel took a deep breath.

“Never, and I mean never…” He stuck up a finger. “Never do that in the presence of the demon king. Ever. Or he’ll take you away without a word.”

“Do what?” I asked, allowing my animal a little more freedom now that Nyfain wasn’t kicking around.

Hadriel gave Leala a look before pushing to standing. “Nothing. The master will figure it out. Right. Let’s get cracking, doll. I’ll show you around to all the hobby stations so you don’t go crazy and give in to the demons, then we need to find you that garden for your herbs—I hope you can work miracles—and get you measured so you don’t look like a fourteen-year-old boy running around the place. We have standards around here.”

“So he took me prisoner—”

“Don’t.” He held up his finger again.

“But seriously, he’s—”

“Nope.” He shook the finger.

“Why am I—”

“Zzzzzip it.” He grabbed my arm and pulled me up, leading me away from Leala, who would presumably pick up the largely uneaten picnic, and to the side of the back door.

“Listen to me,” he said seriously. “There are three people you can trust in this place, okay?” He ticked off a finger. “There is me because I had no choice in the matter.” He ticked off a second finger. “There is Leala because she is a damn fine lady’s maid and will keep every one of your secrets. Don’t tell her I said nice things, she’ll just taunt me.” Third finger. “Finally, there’s the master.” He spread his hands. “That’s it. We’re the only ones you can trust. Just us three. And that isn’t because the rest of the house staff mean you harm. The problem is that the survivors are mediocre at best. Remember me telling you that? We tend to make things worse instead of better. So if you tell someone something, they’ll spread it around. If they don’t tell a demon during a pleasure session, they’ll tell someone else on the house staff, and they’ll pass it on. When it comes to you, we do not want any details getting around. As far as they are concerned, Nyfain found someone stealing, and he’s going to use her as a plaything before he kills her. That is something the demons will understand. They’ll think they’re finally getting to him. They’ll give him a little leeway with it. At least”—he grimaced—“he seems to think so. I guess we’ll just have to wait and find out, huh?”