“Know you don't what? Have the herbs or the majick?” Lori asked, bemused.
“You... You don't know that demons are forbidden from learning majick?” Lephas's anger was snuffed out as quickly as it had risen.
“You're not?” The princess looked surprised, then her expression turned sour. “Well, then we have that in common, Demon. My father banned my eldest sister and I from learning as well.”
“Why?”
“Who knows. I never understand what he’sthinking half the time. I guess he thought it was too dangerous. We know basic defence but that's about it,” she replied bitterly.
Lephas was relieved. It was good to know he didn't have to expect a fireball to the face from the girl any time soon. That made things much more straightforward.
The commander itched to know more – her tone suggested there was unrest between Lazuli and his daughters – but he bit his tongue. He didn't want to over-step and raise her suspicions. She had only just started to relax now she knew he meant her no immediate harm.
Although, she did keep glancing at him from the corner of her eye, which he found unsettling...
CHAPTER FOUR
Stop! Stop looking at him, you freak!
Lori internally berated herself and tore her eyes away from the demon for what felt like the thousandth time.
She didn't know much about men, but goodness she wanted to know more about this one. Lori ran her fingers through her hair thoughtfully.
How could she have gotten it so wrong? She definitely hadn't imagined those gruesome visuals in her father’s books. In fact, she could recall ripping one particularly hideous one out as a child and pinning it above Faye's bed one night. Her sister had cried for hours.
Was that yet another one of her father's lies to 'keep them safe'? She glanced across at Lephas again. He was staring into the fire, lost in thought.
She nibbled her lip. The demon was easily the most handsome man she had ever seen – even with the horns and fangs. They should repel her, disgust her... She feared the exact opposite were true.
What is wrong with you?!
Demons were supposed to be slavering beasts of nightmare, yet Lori was the only one doing any slavering. What did this mean?
She had very little experience with romance and sex. Her father had ensured she and her sisters led a very sheltered life.
Unlike her eldest sister, Sivelle, Lori had managed to have a grand total of two sexual partners – a temporary member of her father's waiting staff and a chef that had been called in for Faye's birthday party one year.
She had pretended to be just another servant girl as long as she could, but inevitably the truth always came out. Funnily enough, once they found out who she was, they hadn't wanted to hang around.
Sivelle was much more straight-laced than Lori and Faye. She refused to engage in any sexual behaviour until she was married. Lori and Faye often teased her about her prudish nature. Faye had been trying to convince her to purchase a love slave shortly before Lori had run away. That had been hilarious.
Lori pressed her lips together. She wondered what romance and sex were like within the demon community. Were they governed by the same social shackles like celibacy before marriage as many faeries were?
Either way, she was clumsy and unpractised when it came to matters of the heart... Or maybe in this case, matters of theloinwould be a better way to describe it. She shivered.
“Are you still cold?” Lephas's deep, rumbling voice cut through her reverie. Lori jumped.
“Oh, no. No, I'm alright – warming up nicely.” She smiled, praying for her cheeks not to heat. She deliberately kept her eyes off him... Although, she realised with a start, he must have been watchingherintently to have noticed that small shiver.
Lori barely managed thirty seconds before she was glancing across at him under her lashes again. His dark, almost black, gaze was already on her.
“Have you got any food?” she asked, flipping her hair as nonchalantly as she could manage from one shoulder to the next. She continued separating the tangles on theopposite side.
Lephas seemed relieved to have something to do with his hands. “Yes, but it's not the kind of cuisine you're probably used to eating though.”
“I'm starving – I'll eat anything.”
The demon knelt down and rummaged through a large canvas travel bag.
