Page 6 of Drawn to the Demon Duke (Sombra Demons)

DINE WITH ME

SUSANNA

I almost want to tell him to take a long walk off a short pier or something even more snotty.

Like, really?

Come with you, Haures?

Three days after he stole me from my house, leaving me down in the dungeon, claiming I broke some demon law that I ’ve never heard of…

three days of suffering with this thing in my chest, tugging me toward him, drawing me closer, wishing he’d throw me a bone and explain what the hell he meant when he said I was his…

three days after he gave me every reason to stop believing in true love for the first time in my life and now he wants to summon me this time, telling me to go with him?

There are two reasons why I refrain from telling him to take a hike.

One? I want out of the cell. Period. Whatever he did to me so that I can understand the demons—because they’re not speaking English, I’m just suddenly fluent in Sombran—it also makes it so that I can read their language.

I found that out when I bugged one of the green-eyed guards patrolling the corridor outside of my cage, asking him if there was anything I could read since I was just so bored.

He did, almost begrudgingly, though I had to swallow a retort when he admitted that he received permission from the duke to do so.

It was a history of the wars between Sombra and another demon plane known as Brille Rouge, and while it was a far cry from the romance books I devoured back home, at least it was something to distract me since my poor Walkman was abandoned back in Connecticut.

I needed something to take my mind off of my situation.

It was one thing, being whisked away to a fantastical realm for the promise of a happily-ever-after.

It’s enough to be branded a criminal, tossed into a dungeon, and studiously ignored by the demon duke who I thought might actually be my true love.

He’s not, clearly. I got fanciful ideas in my head, and now I’m paying for it.

I’m not the only one, either.

Mindy… does she know something happened to me yet? It’s been three days, and I usually speak to her every other at least. When will she realize I’ve disappeared? If I don’t show up at the call center, will they think of me as just another flakey employee, or will LIssy sound the alarm?

My book is out in the open. I never got the chance to clean up the protective circle. I feel bad for the Madison PD. Add the pentacle to the grimoire and I wouldn’t be surprised if Susanna Benoit isn’t written off as another victim of Satanic Panic.

They’d be right, too, I think as I follow at Haures’s heels, hurrying up the stairs so that his much larger stride doesn’t leave me behind. I’ve been taken by a demon—a real demon—and he’s made it clear that, whatever reason he had to Su-nap me, I’m not going back to Madison anytime soon.

And that leads me to the second reason why I gave in.

Curiosity.

They say it kills the cat, but I’ve been dying to learn more about the world he’s brought me to.

Not even because I’m itching to return home.

I know heroines in stories like these are always eager to go back to the mundane human world.

I guess I’m the opposite because, while I’m in Sombra, I want to drink it in.

That’s the researcher in me. After owning the grimoire for nearly half my life, it’s such a delight to discover that the Sombra mentioned in the title, Grimoire du Sombra , is a place. It’s a world.

It’s a fantasy.

So far, I know that Haures is its ruler, and that it had a ton of wars when a different demon wore the crown. The book I’m reading talks of a king—Yelios—and a queen—Alana—making it clear that Queen Alana was the ruler, and Yelios? He was her mate.

That one word caught my attention. Mate… The sudden ability to understand Sombran is a strange one. When I look at the pages, I see the unfamiliar language printed on the page, but it’s like my brain provides the English translation instantly.

Mate… I saw the word ‘uxor’ on the page, instinctively understanding that it referred to a mate. A bonded partner, each demon only gets one.

It’s their one true love.

I swear that I heard Haures refer to me as that before he disappeared through the portal the first time.

Then again, maybe I’m just remembering how that was one of the formerly gibberish words that were in the verus amor spell.

Either way, between the queer sensation in my chest and the way my body is reacting now that Haures is near, I have to wonder…

Is that what he meant by ‘mine’? That I’m his mate?

If so, he doesn’t tell me. Instead, after announcing that I will come with him, he stays quiet until we’ve climbed what has to be nearly four flights of stairs.

They took us out of the dungeon. At the top, Haures slides open a door made of stone, leading me out into a large room that’s so different… so striking … I almost forget that I’ve spent three days peeing in an unusual hole in the ground.

It’s beautiful, and like nothing I expect.

This has got to be where Haures spends most of his time. Not only because there are blue lights everywhere , all of them the same shade as his eyes, but the huge throne made of crystal, up on a raised dais, has got to belong to the demon duke.

The floor beneath my sneakers is slick and shiny.

The tiles seem to mimic the crystal throne and his crystal crown, reflecting the orbs of light that illuminate the long, narrow room.

Over my head, I notice that the ceiling has holes the size of a small pizza tray cut into it.

Part of me wonders what would happen if it rains, while the other part is like a magpie, stunned with how sparkly everything is.

“This is my throne room,” Haures says. “Where my subjects come to meet with their duke, and where I make the decisions that affect them all.”

I get the sense that I’m supposed to be impressed.

I muster a small smile, doing my best to hide that, well, I am . “That’s nice.”

He grunts softly. “Come, mortal?—”

“Susanna.”

Haures glances over at me. “Did you speak?”

Sure did. “I said, my name is Susanna.” He doesn’t get to call me Su. Not while he has the major stick up his butt. “And you’re Haures. Right? Our introduction down in the dungeon happened so quickly, I thought I’d double-check.”

“I am Duke Haures, Lord of the Shadows, Ruler of the Flames?—”

“So I was right. Your name is Haures.”

His brow furrows slightly. Huh. His ears are as pointed as any other demon I’ve seen, but unlike the others, his forehead is smooth. He doesn’t have any ridges over his nose. Neither does he

“Hey,” I say, changing the subject because, as ever, I’m super friggin’ curious. “This is your home?—”

“Mavro is the capital of Sombra. This palace has been mine as long as I’ve worn this crown.”

That’s a lot of words for a simple ‘yes’... “Cool. But I’ve seen a lot of those shadow demon guys milling around. Bodyguards, I guess. When they’re not shadows, they’ve got this deep red skin. What about you?” I wave my hand at him. “You look like this now. What happens when, you know, change?”

I thought it was an innocent enough of a question. Especially if I’m going to be stuck here, shouldn’t he take it as a compliment that I’m interested in him and his people?

He scowls, and I gulp. I… I’m not scared. He makes me nervous, and… and something I’m not ready to deal with just yet… but he doesn’t scare me.

The scowl fades to a flat expression, as though I surprised him by not screaming again and trying to run away.

Why would I bother? With the spellbook left behind, it’s not like I can really go anywhere else…

It takes him a moment to understand that I meant my question, and that I’ll peer up at him curiously until he answers.

The scowl makes a triumphant return. “I don’t change.”

“Really? Why not?”

He clicks his claws together in obvious agitation. Even so, his deep voice is completely emotionless as he tells me, “Because I am the only Sombra demon currently in existence without his shadows. I am always as I am.”

Right. Big and fearsome and too ruggedly beautiful for his own good…

“Wow. So that’s why they made you the demon king?”

There goes his forehead scrunching again. Poor guy. He makes it too easy… “No. That is why I am the duke of Sombra. Now, come… Susanna.”

Progress. “Where are we going?”

“Follow me and you shall see.”

It takes a trip through two doors, then down a long hall before Haures leads through another door into what has to be his dining room. As I gawk at my surroundings, he moves in front of me, blocking me with his giant demon body.

Haures rumbles in his chest as he peers down at me imperiously. “You will dine with me.”

Wait… that’ s why he pulled me out of the dungeon?

I smile at him sweetly. “I’d rather starve.”

His eyes flash. “It wasn’t a request. Take your seat.”

I glance at the long, shiny black dining table stretching out behind him.

It’s different from what I’d expect from the duke.

It’s lavish. Polished. Way too dramatic after the icy way he rules over his throne room.

His dining room is much more inviting, though I notice something interesting about the long table: it’s set for two, with one chair at the head of the table, the other just to the right of it.

Oh. I’m not just supposed to ‘dine with’ Haures. He wants me right at his side instead of watching me from the other end of the table. Almost like he wants me close… but since his actions so far have made it clear that—spell or no spell—there’s no true love here, I don’t understand it.

I blame it on my fuzzy brain. I’ve only eaten sparingly, ignoring most of the meals that the dungeon guards have slid into my cell these last three days.

For one thing, I’m a little wary about what they’re serving me.

For another, anxiety does an awesome job of snatching my appetite away.

I didn’t even realize I was that hungry…

until I take a breath and my stomach goes tight.