“Do you like my menagerie?” Dominic said, gesturing at the seven binding circles. “I’ve always enjoyed collecting things. And I like my collectionsperfect. You are the second of seven flawless pearls, my dear. I didn’t want to keep old toys around when I have better ones to play with.”
He looked back at the dead fiend, smiling with malicious joy.
“I trust you’re satisfied with your prize, Mr. Fane,” Varro said. The vampire King looked at Natalya with wicked appreciation. “I know the plan was to have her months ago when she guested here. To have her slip away, by the actions of my own slave no less, wasn’t ideal.”
“I have always been a patient man, King.” Dominic looked at Vex, still writhing in pain on the floor. “When you’ve owned a fiend of Envy for as many years as I have, you learn that certain cravings just take more work to satisfy. It makes it all the sweeter once you finally get them.”
He stepped away from Natalya, making a dismissive gesture at Vex, who shuddered into stillness on the floor. She shivered, and black ichor ran out of her nose. When she sat up, her eyes flared scarlet.
“Isn’t it late for you, Varro?” Dominic flashed a grin as he returned to his desk. He stepped over the corpse as he did. “Or perhaps early would be the better word.”
Varro’s mouth went taut, though he kept smiling. The King of the Heartlands obviously didn’t like the warlock living in his estate.
“It is. But I wished to see her before I rested.” He looked back at Natalya. “Mr. Fane, could you establish contingencies? As you did with the others? This one looks particularly murderous.”
“Lust, you’ll obey the commands of Varro Visconti as though it was I who said them, save should a command ask you to harm me or another.” Dominic didn’t even look at Natalya as he spoke. “There, King. You’re free to do what you want with her.”
“I intend to.” Varro’s black eyes locked on Natalya’s with a different hunger than before. A more sickening one. Then he turned back to Dominic. “And I trust that allowance of use stays. As was agreed.”
“A deal is a deal. Even one that is delayed. My devils help you crush the Chains. In return, I get their fiends.”
Natalya glanced at the lesser Wrath fiend a few spots to her left. She imagined Drago in that position. The thought made her clench her hands into fists.
“I believe the deal was to crush myenemies, Mr. Fane,” Varro said tightly. “With Zahra moving her forces along my borders, the East Coast has made it clear they are part of that group.”
Dominic chuckled, not at all frightened of the vampire King glaring down at him with flaming eyes. This mortal man, who looked to be barely in his twenties, seemingly didn’t care.
Knowing he had a fiend of Envy under him, Natalya suspected his age was stolen. Envy could steal lives. It was likely she’d given many years to her Master.
“Once I get a greater Wrath fiend, the East Coast won’t stand a chance against us. With him and my other pearls, I can tear the world apart if I wish it.” Dominic smiled crookedly. “And I amsolooking forward to that.”
“Destroying the world must come later,” Varro said stiffly. “First, my rest. Yours too, I would suspect.”
“Ithasbeen a long, exciting night. Tomorrow’s eve will likely be even more so.” Dominic’s eyes briefly trailed to Natalya asthough considering whether to make use of his newesttoy,as he’d said. Then he looked at the gray-eyed man sitting at the end of their lineup.
“Sloth. With me. You always provide such filling sleep.” Dominic nodded at the scarlet-eyed fiend next to Sloth. “Wrath, guard the door. Don’t let anyone enter or leave until I return.”
The two lesser fiends stood, following their Master and obeying without complaint. Or choice.
When Dominic and Varro left, the lesser Wrath demon—a middle-aged man who looked like his only purpose in life was to break bones—positioned himself by the door to this arcane lair. He looked grim and displeased.
Allthe fiends in the room looked displeased. Except for Vex. She looked enraged.
“Fucking bastards.” She spat on the floor. Her body trembled from the pain her Master had instilled in her.
TheirMaster, Natalya reminded herself. She was still kneeling. She hadn’t been allowed ease, so she couldn’t get out of the position.
She was bound again. She was aslaveagain. And though she may have been given relief for tonight, it wouldn’t last. She’d seen the want in both Dominic’s and Varro’s eyes. Sensed the lust in their bodies.
They’d have her. Take her. Make her dote on them and beg at their feet, and there was nothing she could do to stop them. Not even scowl or glare. If they ordered her to adore them, she would be forced to play the part. And if they thought she wasn’t convincing enough, pain awaited. The same excruciating kind that had just torn through Vex.
It filled her with rage. And then dread and sorrow, both emotions she hadn’t felt the last time she was bound. Then her freedom had been taken too, but that freedom was a hollow thing compared to the one she had now.
There were echoes of grief and fear in her body. Evie’s emotions. Bright, pure, and sorrowful. Natalya would never see her again. Not unless she managed to break her bonds to Dominic. An unlikely thing. Perhaps in a decade or two, when he grew sloppy or convinced that she loved him. And then Evie would be far away, hopefully. With Drago protecting her. With another woman, maybe.
Natalya touched her lips, grateful she could at least feel Evie still. That she would be able to sense her joys and sorrows. Know that she lived. Even if Natalya wouldn’t share that life with her.
“How’s your human doing?” Vex said. Natalya glared at her hatefully.
