Chained to the Devil’s Daughter (Mating the Elements #1)

33

Ash’ren

W hile Searra was off being a queen, I was in the library. I’d stopped at my quarters first—the fuck-forsaken suitor’s suite—where I’d found two boxes on a desk. Whoever was posted at the tower had so thoughtfully returned my belongings from my brief stay in the luxury accommodations. One box was full of the bloody scribblings of a madman. The second, much heavier box, contained fourteen dusty books.

Naturally, they’d all found the trashcan immediately, but The Fire in My Belly was the reason I now found myself in the library. There were too many breadcrumbs about the strange new phantom burns that didn’t add up.

“Oh! Ash’ren!” a sharp voice called. I peered around the stacks toward the source, startled when Geysis grabbed my arm from the opposite direction. “Whoops! Just a little something I’m working on.” She waved a ballpoint pen, then held down the clicker. When she spoke next, the sound of her voice came from distinctly behind me. “Voice-throwing!”

“That sounds. . . incredibly useful for a spy,” I teased. My grin faltered when the merling woman stilled like I’d offended her. Guess I’d assumed we were closer acquaintances than we were. Two blinks later, she was beaming up at me from her five-foot stature as though I’d said something exceptionally flattering.

“Hey, Ash’ren,” Geysis all but whispered. She appeared to concentrate on the stack of books before us, clicking the pen rapidly.

Whatever moment we’d shared was gone. Concerned, I leaned against the shelf to face her fully. “What is it, Geysis?”

She cast me a shy glance before touching the spine of a book. The pen stopped clicking, but her foot began tapping. “I’m not sure how to say this.”

I stepped on her boot to stop her fidgeting. Although this was the most conversation we’d ever shared, Geysis was another of Searra’s strays. I couldn’t help feeling I already knew her. Not to mention the way she put Fuegis in his place. “You can talk to me.”

“I don’t know about that,” she jested weakly.

“Try.”

She shook her head, jingling the chain earring on her earfin. “I’ve been meaning to apologize. All those times they had me charm your water, I never found a way to show you any humanity.”

I dismissed her apology with a wave of my hand. Yeah, I’d recognized her, but it didn’t matter. A pawn of Devil was simply a pawn. “That’s not how I recall it. Yours was one of the rare smiles I saw that wasn’t on the face of some dickwad being a dick.”

“I always wanted to do more. I guess I’ve just needed to tell you that.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her fin. I understood needing to let that off her conscience, so I nodded. My hand drifted to the stump of my horn, but I startled when she suddenly cried, “Wait!”

“Fucking flames, woman! What ?”

“I can help with that!” Geysis bounced in her boots. “What Devil used on your horn, it was one of mine. It takes the mana out of its victims, which is what demon horns use to regenerate. I can’t bring your horn back, but I can make another dagger, so you can at least take his!”

“A dagger?” I cocked a brow. “Just a dagger?”

“What do you mean?”

“Hard to believe a dagger could ever be just a dagger with you.”

Geysis laughed. “Devil was stricter than our lovely new queen. Well, honestly, I’ve never met anyone like Searra.”

“Yeah,” I agreed. We shared a knowing look. “She’s good at that.”

“Hmm,” Geysis hummed. “She is.”

“Was that all you wanted to talk about?” Suddenly, it was imperative I find my Firefly and show her how deep my love could go.

“Oh! Actually, I was hoping to get a jar of your fire.” When I nodded, she clapped her hands around the ballpoint pen. “Wonderful!”

∞∞∞

The golden glow of afternoon’s fading light broke into fractals throughout the colorful palace gardens. A breeze that wouldn’t dare grace the pits filtered through speckled coleus leaves and purple coral bells, rearranging the hair on my head. Fuck, this was nice. I was tempted to sniff some fucking roses.

Voices interrupted my moment of bliss. Someone was in the private garden. Two someones. Feminine laughter floated by on the breeze, but it didn’t sound particularly happy. I flattened against a lattice wall of red clematis vines.

The laughter stopped abruptly, replaced by a moan. Not the passionate kind, and it wasn’t accompanied by the sounds of kissing or fucking. Just a hushed whisper in a harsh tone.

Loud, quiet. Here, there. I would know that fucking voice anywhere. The voice of the spineless, dickless demon who’d sealed my fate. I emerged from my hiding spot and cleared my throat.

Fara saw me first. Her eyes widened like she was more fearful of me than the sewed-up asshole holding her wrists against a tree. Fuegis had her hands looped around a low-hanging branch and held them tightly in one fist. His other hand pressed into her hip.

“We really must stop meeting this way, Fuegis.” I flicked my hand in the direction of a stone brazier to his right, filling it with black flames. Dropping her wrists, Fuegis dug his thumb into her pelvis, lingering with his back toward me. “Let the woman go.”

Turning around, Fuegis’ lip snarled like there was a hook lodged in his cheek. “Well, well. Shouldn’t you be in bed with the princess, stray?”

“Shouldn’t you be in the tower sucking Devil’s cock, seed rag?”

I brushed past the giant gaping asshole and gently took Fara’s hand, checking her wrist for marks. “Are you all right?”

She nodded, gaze downcast. I positioned myself between the two so she could make her swift exit, but she lingered.

“Let go of her,” the sentient pile of garbage snarled. He took hold of my shoulder and shoved—

A very, very welcome opening. My body reacted faster than I could think, cheeks stretched around a wide grin.

My fist connected with the stinky lump of Firefolk feces incarnate, a satisfying crack resounding on impact. Fara screeched. Fuegis stumbled. I kicked him in the chest, sprawling him on the flagstones.

I chuckled and popped my knuckles.

“Fucking fuck, I have wanted this for so long! Thank you, Fuegis, truly.” I crowded him, snatching his collar. “Sneaking around a woman’s gardens, harassing her friends, these things won’t get you in my position. Oh wait…you’ll never be in my position, or should I say any of my positions, for the queen and I are adventurous.”

“Fara!” The waste of space barked. “Tell him, for fuck’s sake!”

A tentative hand trembled onto my shoulder. I tilted my head but did not take my sights off the glorious vision of Fuegis on his knees.

“W-we were h-having a tryst. Let him go. Please.”

“Nah. I don’t buy that.” I released the steaming trash pile with one final shove. “But Searra trusts you, Fara, so I’ll let him go.”

“Th-thank you.”

Fara offered a hand to help Fuegis up, but he swatted it away. As the happy couple scampered from the gardens, I noted that Fara didn’t try to touch her so-called lover again.

I wanted to smirk. Started to. But I didn’t like whatever I’d interrupted. Definitely not a tryst. Searra trusted Fara, vehemently so. Searra wanted to see the good in everybody, wanted everyone to have one, two, three chances at redemption. I had no such compunction. I would burn the fucking world if anyone harmed Searra, and by extension, her friends.

Too uneasy to enjoy the gardens, I decided to head inside. I’d agreed to meet Geysis in her workroom, but the palace was crawling with nobles this close to dinner. Might as well go through the window now that I had a right to be in Searra’s rooms whenever I pleased. As I began to climb the dragoncherry tree, my thumb brushed something wet.

“The fuck?”

A blister on the bark oozed with rot. It smelled like oil left out in the sweltering sun.