“Isn’t blackmail illegal?” Gre glanced over.
“Sure. But you have to prove you were blackmailed and reveal the information he has on you. Father’s a prince of hell. By the time they die, he could do verylegalthings to their soul.” I stared Gre down and waited for him to approach. I wanted his body against mine.
“I was wise to take your father’s threat seriously.”
“And unbelievably kind to offer me a choice, anyway.” The relief I felt at salvaging our things and escaping death, escaping his death, all culminated into something light and playful in me that I relished by drawing Gre closer to me, attempting to lure him into bed as the help left. “We have an hour until dinner, and there’s nothing we can do about our situation, so…”
Gre’s eyes hooded, lashes dangerously low over his pretty golden eyes. Seriously, such power in them I’d never seen before. His goddesses had gone above and beyond to bless him. “I can think of a good way to waste an hour. But are you sure you’re okay to?”
“I’m not getting any more pregnant.” I flicked my brows at him in invitation and sank under his weight as we snuggled into my bed. He lacked the hunger he had for me, all careful touches and uncertainty, like every part of me was precious. And for that moment, I’d be okay with it.
Chapter Fifteen
Esmeray
I stared at my latest paystub, my eye twitching as it had grown significantly from my last. My usual eight hundred a week had plumped itself faster than I had, to a respectable fifteen hundred. Whatever Father was pulling, I’d get to the bottom of it. Right after I finished reading through the hell-borne cleric’s assessment of my gifts.
And, according to their documentation, I had succubus and cambion prince genetics, a daeva that consumed most of my thalmaturgic energy, succubus charisma that was in the realm of legal gifts as it had no control over external impulses, and greater mastery of regent gifts. No special sex skills. They’d been thorough.
Resting a hand on my side, I sat up, breathing through the twinges that came with the end of my first quad’s end. Demons showed and grew quickly, but we tapered off toward the latter half, the growth stemming as our children developed their more arcane parts, which took longer.
I caught up with my breath and scooted out of the room, my goal one floor up and down the hall, past the office he kept shiny, new and empty just for me one day.Dick.
As I passed by the cubicles, heavy whispers passed about, and I turned that way, glancing at everyone comparing their paychecks with excitement.
“What’s going on?” I glanced at their paystubs and flinched when I got shyoh, it’s the boss’s sonreactions.
“We were—uh. We can compare paystubs; it’s our right and legal…” A rather stubborn young alpha spoke up, a snake shifter of some variety that wasn’t doing his species any favors for the sake of stereotypes.
“Of course. I was just wondering why everyone had theirs out comparing.” I waved my own stub, and a shy woman spoke up.
“Thought there might be an error.” She cleared her throat. “Our pay took a nice jump.”
I narrowed my gaze and caught the digits on their respective checks as I craned my neck over. “Oh. You, too? I was just about to go put my foot down with Father about it.”
“It’s a mistake, isn’t it?” The girl sighed.
“I’ll go check on it.” I held out my stub for inspection and earned a shocked glance that traded between a few of them.
“I make more thanyou.” She huffed, and I compared our checks. Surprisingly, hers only came out to be more because she had a write-off.
“No, we make the same. I don’t have any deductions.” I nodded politely to them. “I conceded to the office because…” I gestured about ambiently and earned a few nods of understanding.
“We all know you’re part succubus. It’s really the right thing to do.” The snake from before stood and gave me a clap to the shoulder and eyed me up and down. “How are you and your mate faring, by the by?”
“Careful. Your nose is turning brown.” I shook my head and half grinned. “But we’re doing fine. Stuck on names.”
“Well, I lost my chance to date you, so I might as well kiss booty.” He winked and, honestly, I couldn’t remember a time he’d ever propositioned me or flirted. Hell, I hadn’t even recalled his name. Dirk? Derek? Dahm! He was kind to me, but maybe I could be oblivious.
“I thought you got paid more than us,” the woman, Tara, I thought, spoke up. “Wow. You and daddy not get along?”
“Huh? Oh, no. I just wanted to do things on my own. Prove I could and all that.” I smiled and waved them off as I took my paystub back and made my way to my father’s office.
I didn’t need to knock as his door was open and, to my surprise, Gre sat there in his business attire, reviewing paperwork of some kind. “Oh, hey there, dear.”
I didn’t react as I moved forward, glancing down at the paperwork he signed. Life insurance, deed of ownership—it was quite the splay of things. “What’s this?”
“You didn’t want to get married so soon, so I made sure that my life insurance, will, and the deed to our new house all had your name on them as sole inheritor.” He turned his gaze from mine. “In case of the worst.”
