“Until Elheart delivers on his end of the bargain, his bride belongs to me.” I turn to Kennix, ignoring Dahlia’s shocked gaze. “If he believes I am ruining her then perhaps he will act more quickly, and I intend to ruin her.”
“You will do no such thing!” she shouts at me.
Before my guards close in on her, I raise my palm to stop them.
“Sweet princess,” I pace towards her, “you are a captive in my court. Therefore, if I would like to strip you naked and hang you by your pretty wrists then I shall take pleasure in doing so.”
My court buzzes with laughter. She glances at them nervously.
Crouching down, I lower my voice so only she can hear. “This does not have to go so terribly for you. Behave, play your part, and I will treat you kindly. You will not be here long.” Hopefully long enough to get her out of my system at least.
“Being stripped and hung by my wrists doesn’t sound like being treated kindly.” She glares at me.
“You asked me to be rough with you, remember? At the party?” I tip up her chin to meet my smirk. “You seemed to have no objection to me pushing up your skirt and fingering your tight cunt outside the ballroom.”
“Don’t you dare talk about that.” She tries to push my hand away, but I snatch her wrist.
“You’re misbehaving, sweetheart.” I tug her closer to me. “Keep that up and I’ll start assuming you want me to punish you.”
Her lips clamp shut, but her bratty glare remains. If she were a whore, I’d collar her naked to my throne and compel her to touch herself until she remembers her place. But she’s not a whore. And despite the painfully-hard mass below my belt, I have no desire to use her like one.
“Sire, the advisers,” Kennix reminds me.
Scowling, I drop her wrist and rise to my full height.
Panic flares in her gaze, but I ignore her protests as my guards swoop in on her. “You can’t just keep me here!” She writhes against them. “My father will not accept this! My father?—”
“Is the one who sold you off in the first place,” I say under my breath before she’s dragged kicking and screaming through the small archway that leads deeper into my castle.
Kennix follows me into my private meeting chamber, swinging the heavy door shut behind him. A round table sits in the centre of the room, surrounded by half a dozen stern-looking demons.
My inner circle. Or castle advisers as they’re more formally called.
Not that they’ve ever given me any good advice. Still, the laws of this court that have been upheld for thousands of years state that every lord must have advisers. So I let themadvise.
But right now, listening to several hundred-year-old demons discuss how I should deal with the feisty human woman trapped in my bedchamber is the last thing I want to do.
Especially with the painful tightening at my hips that only grows more painful every time I remember her plump, pouting lips. As if I haven’t been tortured enough by thoughts of her this entire fucking week.
“Has Elheart’s bride been captured?” Thobas croaks as I take my place at the head of the table. “Are we ready to send the messenger?” He’s about as old as the castle and he looks it, with his wispy hair and cracked horns.
“There’s been a slight complication,” Kennix sighs. He pushes past the demon to my left to stand at my side.
“Complication?” Thobas rasps. The other advisers mutter in confusion.
“There is no complication.” I frown. There isn’t. Not really. The fact that Dahlia and I met prior to Elheart selecting her as his bride means nothing. I’ve bedded plenty of women in the past. What we did outside the ballroom was nothing more than lust paired with too much wine. For all I know, she could’ve done the exact same with Elheart minutes after I left and that’s why he chose her as his bride.
Something prickles inside me at the thought. Him pushing her against that same wall. His slimy fingers running through her hair. His hand dragging up her?—
I scrub my fingers over my face, pushing the thoughts away. “There is no complication,” I growl again. “Sir Kennix is referring to the fact that Princess Dahlia and I had abriefinteraction at the ball last week. This changes nothing.”
Kennix gives me a look, but I ignore him. After the ball, I’d asked him to bring me information about the woman I’d kissed. A name. The kingdom she’d visited from. Anything. But his search had found nothing.
Aside from the twelve princesses who, according to the invitation we’d intercepted on the way to Elheart’s palace, wouldbe dressed in gold, the only other female guests at the ball were either far too old or far too young to be her.
Not that it matters now.
Clearing my throat, I return my focus to the table. “Dispatch a rider to Elheart’s palace tonight and inform him of our offer. If he wants his bride delivered safely to his palace then he will return what he stole from me. If not, Princess Dahlia will become property of the demon court. Permanently."
