I lifted my icy-blue eyes to the door, watching another figure loom just outside it. I’d trained for years to see in the dark, but I could barely make out his figure from where I was situated. One thing was clear, his shape was just as massive as the one guarding the door.
Demons were monstrously large.
“Bring her to the main chamber,” the newcomer said to the guard keeping watch over me. “We’ll see which one is up for a challenge. Did you say she bit you?”
That got me a look. “Twice.”
I could’ve sworn the new guy smirked. “Maybe she’ll be the first to get Onyx’s attention. Willing to bet on it?”
My guard scoffed. “I doubt it, but I’ll take your money, you shameless bastard.”
I’d given them hell when they captured me. It was all part of the act I’d go in with. No one ever came to the Sky Demons willingly, and I wouldn’t pretend to be anything but ready to fight my way out.
What we did know about the three leaders of this ruthless demon faction was that they preferred a challenge, so I’d happily give them one. I didn’t fear torture. If anything, it was an area I excelled in. I could suffer hours of it without making a goddamn peep. I was confident nothing they did would ever persuade me to share secrets.
But I was up against demons, so I couldn’t anticipate what agony awaited me. We didn’t know what they could do. I’d gauge when it was time to fight and when it was time to comply after spending a little time with them. I had to tread carefully, or I’d be dead before I could do anything meaningful.
“Just go get the cage, you bloody wanker,” the newcomer grumbled. “They’ll be impossible if you make them wait.”
I’d been told about their strength, but it still took me by surprise when the guard picked up the all-metal cage with one hand like it weighed nothing at all.
He stole a narrow look at me, his fingers wrapped around the bars and perfectly vulnerable. “No biting or I’ll hurt you even if it gets me a lashing from Boss.”
The side of my lip slipped up. “Guess I owe you for the water.”
He obviously hadn’t expected gratitude from a captive because his eyes went a little wider. He cleared his throat and walked on. “Maybe I shouldn’t have bet against you, human.”
Chapter 2
“Iheard this one’s feisty. I’m ready to see how much she bites back when I finally fuck her half transformed,” Blade murmured to himself, his hands rubbing the arms of his chosen chair on my right and a step lower.
The dragon on my left, and on the same step as our brother, had two humans on their knees next to his booted feet, their eyes dropped and bodies half-naked and bruised. Ones he’d no doubt taken without any regard to how it made our leadership look.How it mademelook. He was blatantly disregarding my orders by doing it.
Void found immense joy in torturing humans. They didn’t last long in his care. They either died of their injuries or killed themselves to avoid more. I might hate humans and what they did to my kind well before the Fall, but what Void did was unsettling and problematic.
My brother’s proclivities were getting worse with each passing year, and it was on me to fix it. I’d given him every criminal dragon and human to discourage treachery, but he liked his prey innocent.
Void was an incredible ally and fierce warrior for our territory, but he was a terrifying enemy to have. And like Blade, he was only related to me through our father. Which explained more than I’d willingly admit. We all had different mothers. He’d never known his, same as Blade. I’d spent my childhood with my mother, but she died before either of them were born.
Void’s clear mental deterioration and sadistic tendencies would be messy to deal with. I couldn’t risk the other factions hearing about problems between us. So for now, I limited his access to humans. I punished moments like these behind closed doors. I distracted him with bloodlust that served the faction, not his own sick fuckery.
My eyes settled on the two humans at his feet, ones who’d been stolen and not freely given. I’d have to pull Void aside after this nasty business of a human who’d somehow slipped through the cracks and been assigned to us.
It went against my orders to assign Tributes to us that didn’t meet very specific expectations. For several decades, I’d kept Tributes out of our personal chambers. Void was two kills away from being dubbed the Manic King and Blade was a shameless pervert who wooed and bred every female to come through the castle gates.
Blade for all his shortcomings and flaws didn’t require Tributes to spread his seed and warm his bed. All of the females he bed came willingly despite his crass bravado in this room. He liked to pretend to be an insufferable pig, but outside of the public eye, he was the farthest thing from it.
Void huffed contemptuously, his silver eyes eager for another female he knew he wouldn’t be permitted to have, even if it came to blows. His last one cut her own throat to escape his never-ending torture, and that very night I was visited by a terrifying dragon demanding change.
“I’ll have her first, Brother. You’ve had too many as it is.”
“You sick fuck!” Blade spat Void’s direction, sections of his vibrant red hair braided all the way to his shoulders. He hadn’t bothered to wear a shirt. He preferred to show off his body any chance he got, which he’d covered in tattoos and piercings.
His markings were for show, not war. His tattoos drew unnecessary attention to the pale-ass prat in both forms, because his dragon was pure white. The red tattoos stood out on his white scales, making this bastard easy to spot anywhere we went in dragon form.
It would’ve been easy for Blade to get inked without it affecting his transformation, but the insufferable loony wanted his enemies to see him coming. While Void and I preferred stealth, Blade lived loudly and blazed ahead without hesitation or regard for anyone else.
Blade’s claws and fangs were out, transformation bringing his glittery white scales to the surface under a maze of tattoos.
