“Share how she resisted me, and I’ll tell you how you can fuck her without turning her into a corpse.”
Natalya sneered at Vex. She wasn’t used to other beings having the upper hand in conversation. She’d gotten used to Chicago and the Court of Chains, as well as the power it afforded her. She had none of that power here. She didn’t have any power at all. She was just one of seven puppets, bound into the service of a cruel man who’d just killed the girl Natalya replaced.
“Evie is resistant. Naturally so,” Natalya said. “I believe it comes from her heritage, from her being a Seraphic. She’s harder to enthrall and harder for me to influence. If she focuses, she can push against some supernatural abilities and even ignore them entirely.”
Natalya touched her lips. “She can push against any emotion my presence would enforce in her. If she doesn’t want to be affected, she isn’t. And she loves me anyway.”
Vex stared at her, head cocked and eyes narrowed. Probably trying to determine if Natalya was lying. When it became clear she wasn’t, Vex looked even angrier than before.
“You don’t seem pleased with my answer,” Natalya said.
“We greater fiends aren’t allowed that kind of ease in this world. Somehow, by happenstance, you found it.” Vex scowled at the floor. “I am of Envy. Let me rest in it.”
“I wasn’t allowed ease for long,” Natalya reminded her. She’d meant for the words to sound hard, but they came out quieter than she’d intended.
When Vex looked at her again, Natalya turned away. In the silence, an intense sorrow and fear rose in her chest. It came from Evie. Painful, grief-ridden emotion summoned by loss.
“I sense her. Even now. I feel what she’s feeling.”
“She’s upset?”
Natalya scoffed. It kept her from sobbing. “She’s heartbroken.”
Vex regarded her a moment, looking more interested than envious. She had been watching Natalya for weeks and her Court for months. She’d developed assumptions in that time, assumptions Natalya was evidently challenging now.
“A kiss lovingly granted, and a kiss freely returned,” Vex said.
“What does that mean?”
“It’s the bond for your Sin. A way for a human to survive you, if nothing else. An elected connection rather than an enforced one. A greater Lust fiend can only bond with a human by kissing them for no reason other than to bring comfort. The human then returns it without being tempted or coaxed.”
Natalya stared at her. A greater Lust fiend’s kiss was lethal. And even if it wasn’t, their entire being was temptation. Their presence produced sinful desire that mortals couldn’t stand against.
“That’s not possible.”
“That’s the point. It’s a cruel trick, like I said.” Vex scoffed. “But there you are. Touching your lips, feeling her emotions. Loving her, and her loving you. It’s infuriating to look at.”
Natalya kept staring, unable to speak as she recalled how she and Evie had first met. How they’d first interacted.
Evie had been frightened beyond belief. Though she’d watched Natalya with the same intensity as every other mortal being would have, there hadn’t been any desire in how she looked at Natalya. There had just been fear. Later a little trust.
When Natalya kissed her for the first time, it wasn’t to satiate herself. It wasn’t to bring pleasure or death. It was to protect her. To keep her safe. And when Evie kissed Natalya in the office, she hadn’t done it because Natalya asked her to. She hadn’t even done it becauseshewanted to. She’d just done it because she thought she had nothing else to offer. Because she was grateful, and she thought a kiss was the only way she could repay Natalya for helping her.
Chance had caused all that to happen. Chance let them meet, let them bond, and let them fall in love. It was so unbelievably unlikely Natalya couldn’t help but marvel at how tragically perfect it was.
Maybe Flea was right, and Lady Luck really was watching over the high-rise. Even if her gifts came at a high cost.
“How do you know this?” Natalya said.
“Us of Envy crave particular things. For some, it's lives. For others, it's power. For me, it's information. Though Dominic has made me steal all three, I only really care for the last.”
Vex’s face twisted into a strained grimace. “He wants to know of fiends mostly. The idea of themenageriehas been with him since he summoned me twenty-five years ago. He’d be the envy of every witch and warlock in the world if he had aperfectcollection. When I found out about the bonds, he intended to use them to lure greater fiends out of hiding in exchange for information about them. But they don’t trust him, and I’m not the charming kind.”
She looked Natalya up and down. “I can imagine the plans he has for you. Beyond the obvious.”
The thought of being used not just for her body but to actively enslave others made fresh anger form in Natalya’s chest. She imagined being made to coax fiends out of hiding. Making them trust her and then betraying them to Dominic. She imagined Drago’s stoic face and how enraged he’d be if he saw her like this.
Strangely enough, the thought gave her hope.
