Lily chuckled. “I see your point.”
The door opening sent Lily running off to care for new customers and left Evie with her thoughts. She didn’t sit withthem long. Lily had given her an idea, even though it might be a bad one, by the way Lily was talking.
But what did Lily know? Evie had spent the past week frustrated, confused, and mostly plain sad. She was sick of it. She hated not knowing what was going on.
She paid for the drink she hadn’t touched and left The Five-Leaf, aiming for the Court of Chains. Barely had she taken a step outside before she collided with someone.
“Sorry!” a mousy voice said.
Evie stepped back, frowning and looking up at a tall, hunched woman.
“Sam?” Evie was more confident being in the open street in broad daylight than when she was alone in the studio. She narrowed her eyes. “Have you been following me?”
“What? No! Or… I mean… Not really.” Sam took several steps backward. “I was walking by and saw you inside, so I waited for you to come out and… I feel terrible about the other day. I want to apologize. I didn’t mean to frighten you.” Sam fidgeted. “Your girlfriend is really scary, by the way.”
“She’s not my girlfriend.” The words stung a little. “And I’m not interested in dating, so you’re wasting your time.”
“Oh… Oh, no, I’m not… I wasn’t hitting on you. Back at the studio.” Sam looked even more nervous than before. “I don’t make a good first impression. I’m awkward and I… I wasn’t thinking, really. I just wanted to help.”
When Evie kept glaring at her, Sam continued with a stammer. “S-sorry.”
Evie inspected Sam in more detail. Tall, unkempt hair, and her eyes never lingered on Evie’s for more than a few seconds at a time. She was hunching like she was trying to make herself look invisible.
“I need to get going,” Evie said after a moment.
“Right. Right, sorry. But… here.” Sam handed her a piece of paper where she’d scrawled a phone number. “I really do feel terrible and apologizing with actions tends to be more effective. I’m told. If you want to, I’d like to make up for being weird with coffee. Overpriced too.”
She smiled nervously, and Evie had trouble seeing how she could ever have found Sam intimidating. She was like a frightened puppy.
“Sure…” Evie said. “Are you going to let me pass now?”
Sam was blocking the sidewalk. Realizing it, she moved to the side, looking ashamed.
“Sorry. Again.”
Evie looked over her shoulder as she left. Sam huddled away from The Five-Leaf like someone would hit her if she stood up straight. Evie felt a bit of pity for her, but the feeling only lasted long enough that she put Sam’s number in her pocket rather than in the trash.
Evie had somewhere to be. And a demon to talk to.
From her red leather throne, Natalya watched the Second Circle with dead eyes. The carnal hall of Lust held only the initiated that day, and its hardwood floors and industrial-style design gave it a brutal, dangerous look. It fit the mood of its ruler.
She had been in the dungeon for hours, and hardly anyone had dared approach her. She was glad for it. She wanted to seethe, and it was better done in silence.
She should be more attentive. Drago, the only other greater fiend in the Court of Chains, had asked her to supervise a scene he was doing. He hardly needed it. The Wrath demon hadlearned the tenets of control surprisingly quickly, though he still wasn’t ready for humans.
Drago was whipping a fae man tied to a Saint Andrew’s cross, leaving bright marks on his skin. A year ago, Drago would have left bloody wounds.
He finished up the scene, going through the steps of aftercare in a way that was more mechanical than tender. The fae actually ended up dismissing Drago, finding someone else to soothe the whipping marks. The man sought out a woman who took him to a nearby couch and held him so caringly Natalya sighed seeing it.
Then it made her angry.
She’d never envied the patrons of the Second Circle. They were merely lusty moths drawn to her flame. The Second Circle was near a Court in its own right with how she oversaw it and how it affected her to be near it. Until she saw how Aleksander smiled at Lily when he thought no one would notice, she’d never wanted anything more than that.
She’d tried with Elliot, her Purple Ribbon when Lily came to the Court. Natalya had taken him further than she wanted, at his request. He wanted to be treated like a submissive all the time, not just sexually. She obliged him, despite having little desire to do so, because she knew it made him happy.
In turn, she’d tried to lean on him. She’d opened up to him, but it shattered how he saw her. He’d left the Court, kept his distance for several days until Natalya’s influence over him had waned, and then terminated their contract.
He wanted a strong and powerful Mistress. He didn’t want her vulnerable. No one did. The pain of the break, both physically and emotionally, had kept her from taking on anyone else since. There was no point in yearning for the impossible.
