“What are you doing here?” she spat, her voice an angry whisper.
“Careful, Kitten. You know I like it when you’re mean to me.” His smirk sent shivers down her spine. If she had a knife she would cut it from his pretty face.
“Get out.” Nyx pointed to the door, but his narrowed eyes said the gesture was futile. He didn’t answer to anyone.
“I’m glad to see you made it off Anthemoessa alive. I knew a clever little thief like you would make it work.”
“Yeah, no thanks to you, asshole. What did you do? Ride off in your golden chariot and drink ambrosia while you watched us all drown?”
“As a matter of fact, I did. The fear was absolutely engaging. I can’t wait for the survivors to finally sleep. Their nightmares will taste like honey on my tongue. Much like you will, I imagine.”
“You’re fucking sick.”
“What of our friend, Nyx?” He looked around and sneered before wiping at his pant leg, almost as if being in their presence made him feel dirty.
“You better stand up. You might get ‘poor’ on you from that chair.”
Mischief flared in his eyes as The Lord of Nightmares stood, and she watched those expensive black boots stalk toward her.
To her shock, he stopped before reaching her. She’d anticipated him touching her. Grabbing her. Maybe even hitting her.
What she hadn’t expected was him stopping in front of a petite brown-haired woman nestled around a sleeping blue-eyed girl.
Evangeline.
The Lord of Nightmares stooped low and twirled one of Evangeline's curls around his finger. Bile clogged her throat as she watched him with that curl. “Such a pretty thing, don’t you think?”
“Please,” she whispered as her fight drained.
“Children are my favorites.” His smile shot ice through her veins. “Their nightmares are never worse than a grown daemon, but they are more vivid. Their fears are more imaginative. Unlike the rest of you.” He stroked Evengeline’s cheek with the back of his finger as he talked. “Useless tears as you’re fucked against your will. Despair as your children’s throats are cut. It’s positively boring,” he tisked.
What a sorry, dreadful piece of shit. She wanted to tell him that and how much she longed to see him die. But Nyx couldn’t take her eyes off the blonde strand held delicately between his fingers.
Evangeline twitched. Her eyebrows furrowed as she frowned and turned into her mother’s chest. Soft whimpers slipped past her lips and carried through the room.
“What are you doing?” Nyx said, her voice still low.
“I’m giving you a taste of what it looks like when you don’t follow the rules, little thief.”
Evangeline’s little body jerked like she was fighting, and her whimpers turned into soft screams.
“The nightmares of a child taste like the finest of wines.”
“What do you want? Make it stop and I’ll give you anything you want.” Tears spilled as her fists clenched.
He looked up to her with a fire in his eyes. “Boring. It’s always ‘what do you want’ and ‘please, I’ll do anything if you stop.’ Be original, Nyx. That’s why I like you.”
Original? She would show him fucking original.
Nyx didn’t have a plan as she turned and flung the door open and walked back out into the chilly morning breeze. She was counting on him to follow.Neededhim to. He was too close to Evangeline. Nyx wouldn’t be able to reach her time if he decided to strike. Nyx ran like a mouse and hoped the cat followed.
Nyx didn’t stop until she was behind the treeline and well into its shadows before she spun to face the Devil himself. That roguish smile she hated more than anything stretched so wide twin dimples appeared on his cheeks.
They stood and stared at each other, both tense and ready to spring. He’d stopped not even a breath behind her and she was glad for it. That icy stare made her feel things she couldn’t begin to identify, and that fueled her hate fire until it seared her skin.She’d decided long before they reached the forest that she would be the first to act.
Nyx pulled her arm back as swift as a viper and swung her fist at his pretty face. Her broken knuckles made contact, a searing pain lancing through her entire side, but the satisfying crunch that filled her ears was worth the pain.
His head came back around slowly and he wiped the single drop of blood from his lips with a thumb. Nyx stood with her shoulders back and chest out, standing as tall as she could against this man made of nightmares. She would not back down.
