A Throne of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales #2)(121)

I shrugged. “It’s your circus. I’m just trying to fit in.”

He stuck out a hand, indicating we should take the stairs to the first floor. “You dressed the part.”

“Of a tough girl? Hardly.”

“The dagger, the throwing stars…”

“You’re out of touch, love,” I said, borrowing from Hadriel’s playbook. “Shifter ladies like to accessorize. We do it with fine daggers and perfectly balanced throwing knives. I do need a new belt for the sheath, though.”

“Shifters, yes. Nothing but animals growling and spitting at each other. It never sat right with me that they should have so many kingdoms, such an abundant population, and so many seats on the council.” He smiled at me, and I kept my face perfectly blank.

Council? That only vaguely rang a bell. I was sure it was mentioned somewhere, in one of the many books I had poured over lately, but it hadn’t been touched on enough to stick.

Yet another thing to add to my continual research list.

“But that’s enough of politics,” he said. “One of those seats has been given up, and it will remain vacant. I can see you like that dragon—he’s quite striking, I must admit, except for the scars—but you’d do well not to get too attached. Consider it a hint from a friend.”

“Oh, we’re friends now? Fantastic. Except friends don’t threaten each other, bub.”

His brow furrowed. He’d probably never been called “bub” before.

He walked me to a grand ballroom. The doors had been thrown wide and candlelight spilled out into the corridor. Raucous laughter reverberated around me, and I was starting to clue in to the fact that these nights produced no other type of laughter.

He stopped by the door, his smile sly and eyes twinkling. He thought he was about to throw me to the wolves.

“Enjoy yourself,” he said, and walked away.

The scene in the ballroom stopped me for a moment. It reminded me of the first night in the castle, when I’d walked into what was essentially one big orgy. Except this time, the demons were in their true forms. Scaled beasts hunched between creamy thighs. Demons thrusting with their tail curled around the ankle of the receiver. One demon looked very like a minotaur.

“Super,” I said, forcing myself forward.

Their demon magic hit me immediately, but it wasn’t all sexual. I felt rage and sorrow, too, suggesting these demons fed off a whole range of emotions. They all hit me at once, a clusterfuck cocktail.

“Double super.” I sauntered right into the middle, because what the hell else was I supposed to do? It wasn’t like I was here to watch, and I definitely wouldn’t partake. My goal was to kill any demon that gave me the opportunity.

“Hmm, come to join the fun, my sweet?” A demon scuttled closer, its head reaching to about the level of my breast. Its forked tongue flicked out, possibly sampling the air like a snake. Or maybe it was just gross. Its hard brow ridge arched over shiny black eyes that showed no whites. Small spikes rose along its arms, and the rest of its nude body was covered in leathery skin. Two batlike wings were scrunched up behind it.

“My sweet? What are you, a storybook villain?”

I made sure I didn’t face it directly. I wanted my shoulder to be the closest point of contact for it, because that meant it was the body part most likely to be touched.

Another demon walked out of the fray, directly toward me. This one was about my height and covered in greenish scales. No horns marked its face. No nose, either. Its bald head had bony ridges, and its absolutely massive dick stuck out much too far.

“You,” he said to the leathery demon at my side. “Go.”

The leathery demon scampered away with a strange sort of squeal. The newcomer stalked toward me, and I could tell he had something in mind. Some sort of action.

Watch, folks, as this big fucker gets handsy and loses the thing on his body with the farthest reach.

Please stop talking to imaginary people, my animal thought. People are going to have proof that you’re batshit crazy.

I huffed out a laugh.

“You have humor, animal?” Dong Song said, stopping in front of me.

“That’s not very nice,” I told him. “Do you know what else isn’t very nice? Me calling you an ugly cunt. But I really want to.”

“You are meant to come with me.” He gestured me onward. “Come.”

“No thanks.”

He waited for a moment. “Come!” he demanded.

“Does that ever work? Offering no foreplay and then shouting at women to come?”

In a flash of anger, he reached out to grab me. It took everything I had to stop from slapping his hand away and stabbing him right then and there. I had to wait for him to go for me, though. I didn’t want the demon king to get one up on me because of a technicality.

I didn’t have to wait long.

He grabbed me around the throat, something Nyfain and I had worked on a lot. It was one of his moves, after all, and he wanted me to be able to fight back in the best way possible.

I didn’t use any of those moves now, though. I just smiled, then wheezed out a laugh as the demon tried to jerk me in the direction he wished I would go. I stuck my dagger in his gut with one hand, grabbed his dong with the other, and then pulled out the dagger and sliced downward.

Incredibly, he didn’t start screaming.