“Yes, you are,” Millie countered. “The morning after you showed up was the first time I’d seen that glint of power back in his eyes. Like he was itching to use it. Back in the game…” Millie laughed softly. “You brought him back to life. He finally had a purpose again. He was no longer just meandering through the darkness.”
Ana didn’t reply. She stared at her hands, picking the blood from beneath her nails.
“Did you know he saved me?” Millie asked.
Ana’s eyes narrowed in her direction. “What are you talking about?”
Millie let out a quiet huff, pushing her hands together as her heel began to tap. “Of course you don’t,” she muttered. “I imagine there is a lot you do not know about him. About the things he’s done.”
“Are you planning to tell me or are you just here to watch me piss myself?” Ana snapped.
Millie glared at the woman in the cage. “Sam was once employed by the Moorian King, King Atrion,” she said. “He was a slave to the voices in his head and his…talents. But what Atrion didn’t know was that Sam was building an army of demons to one day pull him out. When he was found out, King Atrion tried to burn Sam’s wings. Not long after, war broke out with the Moors, and Sam… Sam escaped. He tried to take his revenge and failed so many times. The last thing he did before shadowing this place was to create demons from the men lying in their last breaths in ditches and promise them a free, immortal life… if only they worked for him. And we did.” She sat back in the chair with a heavy sigh. “Sam found me clawing my way out of a hole I’d been forced into before the battle broke out. Men had bet on me fighting other women for entertainment. I’d killed out of survival, but at least that had been better than the servitude King Atrion sold me into. I was weak. Starving. A few dead soldiers had fallen into the pit with me. Fuck, the stench was unbearable. When Sam discovered me, he took the souls of the resting soldiers as payment, and then offered me the choice.”
“How did you come to be in Atrion’s grasp?” Ana asked.
“Atrion found me as a child after he’d burned my entire village. I was the only one left. I fought those soldiers, and I guess… I guess he liked my refusal to die. So, he sold me to the southern army in the hopes that they’d break me.”
Ana considered the blonde demon sitting in that backwards chair, curling a strand of hair around her finger like the hair was power in itself.
“What kind of demon are you?” she decided to ask.
Something shifted behind Millie in the darkness. Ana didn’t see what made the movement until she felt something twisting in her hair. She flinched, but didn’t jump or move away. She knew by the coy smile on Millie’s face what it was.
Her tail.
Ana watched as Millie ran her hands through her hair, and within her white-blonde locks were two curled black ram’s horns. Talons elongated on her slender fingers. Her features sharpened to points, accentuating her already sharp cheekbones and perfect brows. And when she stood from the chair, Ana hated herself even more for how much she liked this woman.
Milliscent was a goddess among demons. Genuinely terrifying and intensely stunning. She had no doubt that people would fall to their feet before her if she appeared like this to their Council or the people. And standing beside Sam…
The beginnings of what nightmares were made of.
“You should stay in this form,” Ana said, looking Millie up and down.
Millie turned her hand over as if studying her fingers. She looked like she might say something, but the demon just shook every part of her body like a wet dog, and she turned back into her regular self.
“If we were to all walk around in our true forms, we’d be easily targeted by any spies inside our borders,” Millie said, sitting back down again. “And while we’ve never had to worry about being killed in the past, now…” Something clouded her eyes, but she seemed to collect herself. “Let’s just say it’s a good thing Samarius gave us the ability to shift.”
Ana caught the hesitation in Millie’s voice, but didn’t press whatever had changed. “Don’t people recognize you as the ones that never age?” Ana asked.
“If a spy was around long enough for that, we’re not very good at our jobs,” Millie said. She looked back down at her hand, at the talons that lingered. “You know, Sam and I share empath powers,” she told her. “Unlike him, I have to be touching the person. Unlike him, I am unable to see visions of what they’re thinking about. I can only get feelings, but like Samarius, I can make people see what I want them to see, and sometimes ease their pains.” Her lips quirked upward like she was reminiscing about the past. “One of the small talents he gave me when he saved me.”
“What are the others?” Ana asked.
Millie’s lashes lifted, and she met Ana’s eyes. The wicked glint in her gaze should have chilled Ana to her core, but it only made Ana more intrigued. “Maybe one day soon, you’ll find out,” Millie said.
“Why didn’t you tell me about this the day we talked?” Ana asked. “You were so bent on defending him… you could have told me all of this to win me over. Make me think him more than the stories I had been told. Why didn’t you?”
“Because I wasn’t sure I trusted you enough to know his true self,” Millie replied. “You should know how much we love him. We would all do anything for him after the things he’s done for us. Even those in the camps and prisons. He gave us all a second chance.” Millie leaned back in her chair and took in Ana’s figure again, heel tapping on the floor.
“What do you really want, Deianira?” Millie asked. “Truly. Now that you’re here and you know who he is, some of what he’s done, perhaps even have fallen in love with him… You were willing to give up that love for greed once.“ Her head tilted, and Ana resisted arguing. “What do you want?”
“Revenge,” Ana whispered without thinking.
Revenge.
Such a small word, and yet it held so much. It had slipped from her lips so easily, speaking such truth. It called to her soul and ignited her flesh. She had been built for that word. Every minute of her existence was predicated on that very concept.
“On?” Millie asked.
