A Throne of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales #2)(15)

One of the shitstains we passed in the square. A growl ran through her thought. The dopey-eyed cunt with fuzzy eyebrows and a “dead man walking” tag stamped on his forehead. I put the tag there. Just let me help you collect it.

Fuzzy eyebrows… That was probably Clautus, Jedrek’s right-hand man. He usually hunted in the communal wood on the other side of the village. The only time he ever came this way was to show girls how brave he was by walking five feet into the Forbidden Wood. That trick had stopped working a few years back when it became known that I went deep into the Forbidden Wood to get everlass. Deep compared to their reckoning, anyway.

Just the one? I thought, easing my new dagger out of its worn sheath.

Yes. He has traces of the others’ scent on him, though. He hasn’t been long out of their company.

He’s looking for me, then.

By all means, let him find you.

I would.

I gripped my dagger a little tighter and then lowered it at my side, natural for leaving the Forbidden Wood at night. He’d have no idea that anything was amiss. Barren branches scraped across my shoulders. The warmth from the sun washed over my face.

Clautus saw me immediately, his brow furrowing and his lanky body pivoting.

“Finley,” he called out too loudly. He was only ten feet from me and didn’t need that volume—he was calling someone else.

A surge of adrenaline fueled my speed. Fire roared through my blood, my animal providing me with power.

“I’ve got places to be, Clautus.”

“We heard your dad is doing much better. Imagine that. Jedrek was right, I guess, huh?”

“About what, being a limp-dicked shit lozenge? Yeah, I’ll say he was right.”

He caught up to me as I reached my usual reading sycamore, angling past it toward my cottage. He pushed in close, trying to intimidate me. It was something he’d done in our youth, the older kid picking on the younger.

Then I grew up.

“Speaking of,” I said, “what did you do in a past life to end up looking like you do? You look like a puckered asshole with a bad bleaching job. And if your eyebrows are like two bushes out of control, what must your balls look like? With a dick as small as yours, you should consider landscaping so the succubi can find your pecker. They probably think the damn thing fell off from inactivity.”

“I hope Jedrek slaps that mouth off your face.”

“I’d love to slap that face off your head. The village would look a whole lot nicer.”

I reached my lane as Jedrek walked my way from the other end. He had a purposeful strut, screaming determination.

Clautus waved at him, silently communicating that he’d found the prize.

“He obviously knows you found me, idiot,” I said, nearly at my door. “He can see.”

“Finley,” Jedrek barked, an unspoken command riding his words.

Unlike with Nyfain, though, I felt zero compulsion.

In measured steps, I walked to my door and laid a hand on the knob.

“It’s been arranged. You’ll be Jedrek’s,” Jedrek said smugly.

“What Jedrek wants, Jedrek gets,” Clautus intoned.

“What’s that, Clautus?” I asked sweetly. “I couldn’t hear you with Jedrek’s dick stuck in your mouth.” I let my focus drill into Jedrek. “Leave me alone. That is a warning. You’d do best to heed it. I didn’t meet the demon king, I don’t talk to demons, and I will never marry you. Save some face and find someone who is willing.”

He sneered. “Never say never.”

I meant to turn the knob, but I had to pause for a moment. “Really? Never say never? First you talk about yourself in the third person, and then you drop that tired cliché at my feet? Seriously, bud. You’re making a fool of yourself right now.”

The door swung open, and Hannon stepped out, his face closed down and his eyes hard. His chest puffed up as his gaze beat into Jedrek.

“Is there a problem?” he said in a deeper voice than usual.

Jedrek tensed and narrowed his eyes. His smirk grew. “Not at all, Hannon. Or should I call you brother-in-law.”

“Get off my property, or I’ll make you my bitch,” Hannon replied, gently taking my arm and pulling me into the house. “You’re not welcome here.”

Jedrek spat to the side, and then Hannon shut the door on them, his shoulders tense.

“I asked around,” Hannon said, turning. “Jedrek was overheard boasting about making a deal. None of my friends know the details, but apparently he made it last night when a succubus and an incubus were getting him off. He was overheard saying it would be easy to live up to his side of the bargain, and then…” Hannon’s face turned red with anger. “He said some not-so-nice things about you.”

“What he’d like to do with me, right?” I rolled my eyes. “Guys like that are so predictable. They have to be loud and crass to puff up their egos.”

“What are you going to do?”

“The few demons in town don’t matter. Their power is weak. It’s the demons at the castle I’m concerned about. Nyfain will look into it. If something is going on, he’ll know what to do. He’s been dealing with them for a long time. He knows how they work.”

“It would be easy to say that Nyfain got you into all this, but when it comes to Jedrek, that’s not even remotely true. I actually think you got lucky that Nyfain found you when he did. Because Jedrek would’ve always taken desperate measures to get what he wants. At least now you have someone powerful and knowledgeable in your corner. I shudder to think what would’ve happened if you didn’t.”