The last two weeks passed in a confused daze. I was still having a tough time making sense of all of it, especially after I was dragged off to some meeting where rulers of several factions were in attendance.
The leaders of several factions met on neutral ground to discuss recent events plaguing their borders, but I didn’t understand much of what was said. It was likely coded. They were also careful not to fling accusations at one another, though some clearly had their suspicions.
You could cut the tension in that room with a knife. I got the distinct sense that every leader was suspicious of the other. What they hoped to accomplish at that meeting I couldn’t be sure, because I certainly came out of it more confused than informed. Onyx had left only an hour after arriving and insisted it was pointless to stay beyond the formal greeting.
There hadn’t been a better opportunity to act on my mission than that moment, but for some reason, I couldn’t. Or maybe it was more accurate to say that I wouldn’t. I let every chance to cause trouble pass me by, despite Onyx being weirdly insistent I stay by his side the entire time we were there and acting like every person was an enemy instead of an ally.
The Sky Demons leader snarled at anyone who even so much as stared at me. Even in a room full of dragon kings, no one was brave enough to push the issue. Their fear of what he might do silenced their complaints the second he growled at them, and the perplexed stares of the other leaders followed us everywhere we went.
After the weird hour in the midst of powerful ruling dragons, it was business as usual. He didn’t humor Void’s insistence that he meet with Vektor despite it being well after the allotted week. If anything, the demon seemed to revel in it.
Onyx gave into his urge to touch and kiss me more than a few times, especially when the smell of oranges was almost too much to bear. But he always stopped. He never took it further. He never did more than taste my mouth, trace my curves, and seek out my pleasure, never his.
No matter how many times I tried, he always refused any advance I made as if he knew it was done out of duty and not want. But even I couldn’t tell if I was doing it for the mission or because I wanted to.
More confusing was his boundless kindness and wit. Like Iris, the leader of the Sky Demons chipped away at the ice coating myheart and made me second-guess everything I’d been told about them. It made me wonder if we had it wrong.
Onyx engaged in banter but never punished me. After testing more than a few boundaries, it was clear he never intended to lay a hand on me I didn’t want first—because his concern for me and his restraint hadn’t faltered since I was first brought to his room.
He put off his meeting with Vektor for over two weeks, always spitting some half-baked excuse for why he wasn’t in any mood. Iris came several times a week to see me, and it was as if they’d never argued. He even found a reason to join us on our usual strolls, answering questions I braved asking and sometimes answering them before I had a chance to voice them. Another peculiarity if the wide-eyed stares around the castle were any indication.
When the time came for his meeting with Vektor, I expected Onyx to put me at his feet the same way Void had his humans the first time I was in the throne room. But he demanded his guard bring a chair for me so I could sit next to him instead.
The shock and confusion that flitted across Boris’s face was a reward in and of itself. A vicious part of my heart enjoyed fucking with the asshole, and it gave me no small measure of pleasure to watch as he all but stumbled over his own feet when Onyx barked that the chair he'd brought wasinsufficient.
Boris stared at it, confused, unsure what his leader meant, but another growl set the bastard into motion. He left the room like his ass was on fire before returning with another chair. Again, the one he’d brought didn’t seem to meet whatever unspoken standard Onyx had for chairs. The leader’s vicious snarl told him so. I didn’t get it, either. It seemed like a perfectly good chair to me.
Onyx’s scales faded into view as he took my hand and dragged me from the room with him. After stomping through a few nearby spaces, grumbling about nitwits and brainless dolts, hefinally grabbed a large ornate chair. This chair looked very similar to his—ridiculously large, padded, and built with a king in mind.
Satisfied, he brought it back to where a confused Boris waited. He lugged the huge piece of furniture in one hand like it weighed nothing. My suspicion about their strength was confirmed because the chair he carried was made of precious metals and easily weighed the same as four or five men.
After growling something under his breath at Boris, whose eyes had taken a little stroll down my body but quickly slid away, Onyx led us over to the chair already situated on an elevated platform. He set the one he’d stolen from the other room on the left of his and carefully guided me into my seat.
My first thought about the chair he’d spent nearly fifteen minutes searching for was that it was as comfortable as his bed and in no way appropriate for a slave.
I perched on it with my spine straight. My legs were pulled together with my hands clasped on top of my lap. I kept my chin lifted, my posture strong, because I didn’t want Vektor to think I was afraid of him. This seemed to satisfy the demon at my side. If anything, he couldn’t keep his eyes off me.
Onyx’s partial transformation didn’t appear normal with how many glances it earned him from Boris. The brute shuffled near the door, his body language telling a story of great discomfort, but he never looked at me again. As if he was under strict orders not to. He did, however, openly stare at his leader, and the same perplexed look he wore when Onyx made him hunt for a chair twisted his face.
It was an insanely quiet few minutes before both males snapped to attention. I stared at them, not sure what they were reacting to, before Boris opened the door and let whoever had come inside.
Vektor entered in all his villainous glory. The only difference this time was that he wasn’t dragging a poor human with him, and I could only hope that the man he’d terrorized was at peace instead of somewhere suffering alone. My hatred for the vile demon was renewed with one look at his overly smug face.
“So good of you to finally—” the arrogant demon stopped the second he caught sight of me.
A growl thundered from my right. The terrifying leader of the Sky Demons shot the other demon a warning glare. “Eyes on me, Vektor, or I’ll personally remove them.”
Vektor, who’d donned some sort of cape over a weird tunic and pair of black pants, whipped his eyes back over to Onyx. “You can’t really expect me to speak on important matters with thatfilthin the room, my Liege.”
I didn’t see him move, but Vektor was already in the air before I blinked. Onyx’s hand was wrapped around the other male’s throat, snarling so loudly it battered my eardrums.
“Are you questioning my decision as your leader, Vektor?” Onyx’s anger punctuated every word. “I’d be very careful what you say next because I’ve beenwaitingfor a reason to kick your useless hide out of my fucking territory.”
Fear reached the other demon’s face, and Vektor spoke in a tight voice. “No, my Liege. Forgive me.”
Onyx released him and was already back in his chair before I saw it happen. Their speed was horrifying, and the more of it I saw, the less confident I felt about one day fighting them.
Something uncomfortable twisted my gut at the thought of having to fight Onyx at all. It’d grown over the last couple weeks, and it was worse with every thought of one day betraying him. Because I wasn’t sure I could anymore.
