Damien gestured to Amma. “Come.”
Her reddened face fell into a scowl, and she settled back. She was angry, and at him, of all people.
“Now.”
With a huff, Amma pushed herself up out of the chair and swept past him. He chanced a glance at Xander who was grinning from ear to ear, mouth open like he had just been presented with the severed head of his greatest enemy—Damien’s head.
Amma had begun to make her way across the hall, but rather than to the exit, she was headed right for Delphine. Her legs were short, but somehow she’d covered quite the distance, so he had to hurry behind. He caught the back of her neck a bit more roughly than he meant, and she squeaked under his touch.
“Apologies,” he mumbled, but she was still scowling, gaze trained on where Delphine stood.
The two women were making eye contact that Damien would have had trouble slicing through with his arcane blood blades. At least, for a moment, he’d stopped existing, pulling neither of their ire, but there was no way the tension under his hand would last, Amma’s sudden ferocity poised to snap like a bowstring.
He tugged at her, and though she relented, kept her features locked into a murderous glower. Damien guided her through the hall and back to the stairs. They strode along in icy silence, Amma still making the exact face he’d told her not to, and as soon as the door was shut in their private chamber, she loosened herself of his grip and turned on him.
“Who wasthat?”
“Nobody,” he said, averting his gaze and removing his coat, a job he focused on intently.
She clicked her tongue. “Nobody certainly has a command over you.”
Damien grunted, chewing his lip—Amma had no idea whatshe was saying, but damn if it didn’t fill him with indignation. “She would have approached us had I not gone to her first, and I didn’t want to subject you to her presence.”
“So, she’s not nobody.”
Removing his coat took too little time, and he suddenly had nothing to do with his hands, holding them out, empty. “Of course not.”
“Xander says her name is Delphine, and she was your—”
“Don’t listen to Xander.” He paced up to Amma. “And if you see Delphine again, don’t scowl at her like you were doing.”
“I wasn’t scowling—”
“Yes, you were. You were challenging her, to what, darkness knows, but she won’t take kindly to that.”
“I’ll look at whoever I want, however I want,” she said, that same scowl melting into a pout, crossed arms going limp, her voice losing its venom.
He snorted. “Then be prepared for her to retaliate in the most heinous way possible. Shewillhurt you, and she’ll enjoy every second of it.”
“And you’d let her?”
“No, I wouldn’tlether,” he spat, standing straighter, but then his hand came to the back of his neck, heat there he needed to rub out. “But it may not be up to me.”
Amma’s brow furrowed, hands falling to her sides.
Damien turned from her, pacing to the bed and sitting on its edge. Amma waited quietly, head tipped, expecting, no—deserving an explanation. “Delphine is a rare creature, and I do not mean that as a compliment. She was human once, and I suppose she still is.” He looked up at Amma carefully. “You remember the cup that the fae king offered you. The one that I…took away?”
She nodded, and he was thankful she didn’t correct him about the violence he’d used to do so.
“That was noxscura, but in its purest form. What is inside the veins of a blood mage or even a demon isn’t that refined, but without impurity, calling noxscura dangerous is a gross understatement. It kills nearly every creature it comes in contact with in that form, too powerful, too destructive, but the few who can survive ingesting it become something we call nox-touched.” He took a deep, reluctant breath. “They gain the ability to manipulate noxscura, often to a formidable degree.”
Amma took a step toward him. “Delphine can control your blood?”
He squinted, thinking. “The noxscura in it, yes, if I’m particularly susceptible. When she is strongest, and I am weakest, she can essentially turn me into a thrall. I did not know, did not expect, her to extend that power over me beyond the games we played, but she insisted on complete control. I was to do her bidding, slay her enemies, and remain chained to her bed until my services were required.”
With another careful step, Amma came a bit closer. “She kept you prisoner? But you’re so…you.”
“By my own stupidity, yes. At first, I could come and go, but I was too enraptured to notice as things changed, and then I was asking to leave, begging even, planning an escape,failing.” He scoffed at the memory. “But I don’t mean to…that is, I am only trying to explain that under the most dire circumstances, I cannot protect you from her because I likely cannot protect myself from her.”
