Page 11 of Kiss of Seduction (Court of Chains #1)

The Court was closed, which Natalya was grateful for.

It meant only the initiated were allowed to walk their halls.

The club floor—the public face of the Court of Chains—wasn’t as packed as usual, and it was only the otherworldly and their companions who wandered it. It meant they didn’t need to hide.

Natalya nursed her drink, barely tasting it. Like with everything these past few months, she was too distracted to enjoy it, but enjoyment wasn’t its purpose. Even if she didn’t need to eat or drink, alcohol was still a numbing agent. Though it burned off quickly.

“Lady Natalya.” A rumbling voice filled with the potential for destruction, like distant thunder, sounded near her.

“What, Drago?” she said, turning to the greater Wrath fiend.

As usual, the huge man wore only slacks and long fingerless gloves that covered his lower arms. Covered in symmetrical tattoos, olive-skinned, and with rust-colored hair, he made for a dangerous-looking individual.

In this visage, only his slitted, red eyes gave away his fiendish nature.

“There are wolves by the door,” he said. Natalya sighed.

“Strangers?”

“They said they know the King and are here by invitation.”

“I’m not in the habit of greeting guests that aren’t mine. They seem dangerous?”

Drago looked down at her, stone-faced and deadly. “Not to me.”

Natalya rubbed her eyes.

“Tell them to come back another night. Or for the Iron’s Eve if they plan to pledge.” She turned from Drago, speaking into her glass. “As if I care.”

Under normal circumstances, she would have enjoyed figuring out the wants and desires of strange lycanthropes in their Court, but Natalya wasn’t operating under normal circumstances.

She was ruling the Court solo, and even without the stress of that, she hadn’t been at her best lately.

She masked her unease with a mean-spirited aloofness that meant most steered clear of her.

Aleksander was one of the only people who’d dare question her unusual behavior, and he was too busy with border ferals to play detective.

It wouldn’t be a satisfying answer if he did prod. She was distracted by lingering thoughts. Thoughts of a beautiful girl with red hair and mossy green eyes.

“You’re scowling,” Flea said. He was her designated bodyguard for the evening, not that she needed one. “It’s scaring off the customers.”

“Fuck the customers.”

Flea whistled. “That’s new. Aleksander is usually the scary one. You coming for his gig?”

“Are you implying I’m planning treason, Flea?” Natalya said, purposefully taking offense. It would have silenced any sane man. Flea wasn’t exactly sane.

“Something on your mind?” He pointed to her hand, which had drifted to her lips. She quickly lowered it, and Flea grinned. “Or someone ?”

“Don’t you have somewhere to be? Or a baby to steal?”

“This is more interesting than baby-stealing. You should be flattered. Only few things are,” Flea said with a grin. “You’ve been acting off ever since we came back from Varro’s. Is this about what happened with that chick in the car?”

Flea had no nuance, no filter, and he was more than a little mad, but he saw things more clearly than most. Natalya didn’t care for it in this instance.

Everyone had been curious about what exactly had happened between her and Evie. Even Aleksander had pried, and even he hadn’t been told all the details. She wasn’t one for sharing what made her tick, especially when she didn’t know why it did.

It was one thing to feel responsible for Evie.

That would be understandable. Natalya had pulled her into this mess after all.

What was neither understandable nor acceptable was the intense concern Natalya suffered, something that wasn’t helped by the echoes of emotion she felt from the strange woman.

The last time she’d felt something like it, she was bound by magic.

“I dealt with Varro,” she said, hoping her chilly tone would lay the topic to rest. “We released the vampires we had in custody, and he let bygones be bygones about the slave. I guess he didn’t want to get into detail about why I had a bullet hole in my chest, and Cassius walked with a limp for a week. ”

“Yeah, sure, but the chick…” Flea ignored the warning glare she shot him. “Blake says you’ve been worried about her.”

What Natalya felt was more than just worry. Somehow, she’d left a mark on Evie as permanent as those from vampire fangs.

Ever since the kiss in her office, Natalya had been able to sense Evie’s emotions, even at a distance.

She’d experienced it before when a witch or warlock had managed to find her true name and summon her into service.

The effect was intended to connect Natalya to them, so she could accurately predict their needs.

What wasn’t an intended effect was the longing Natalya felt. The intense concern. The pull to make sure Evie was safe.

She knew Evie got scared whenever night fell. That Evie often woke from nightmares. A few times, when Evie’s fear was particularly serious, Natalya had rushed to her apartment to make sure she was safe, though she always stayed out of sight.

She could feel Evie always, though it was faint most of the time, and she had to concentrate to notice it.

A few hours earlier, Evie had been calm and content when Blake and Lily visited her.

Now she was nervous. Feeling her was a connection Natalya couldn’t explain.

As far as she knew, it shouldn’t even exist.

Natalya lowered her hand. Her fingers had trailed to her lips again.

“Blake needs to distinguish between interest and worry. I only asked how Evie was progressing with the therapist we sent her way.”

“And what did Blake say?”

Natalya sneered. “She told me to fuck off and ask Evie myself.”

Flea threw his head back and cackled. “I love that woman.”

“She always says she hates you.”

“She loves to hate me. It makes the sex better. But if you’re curious, you should talk to Evie. She’d probably like the company.”

Natalya sighed and emptied her glass. “I’m not company, Flea.”

What was best for Evie wasn’t to be around creatures who fed on humans, especially not one who had fed on her without her consent.

The guilt and unease of having done that was still painful.

Outside of her first summoning, she’d only ever kissed people because she was ordered to, or to incapacitate or kill them.

With Evie, she’d done it first to protect her and then. ..

Evie had kissed her and lived.

A kiss from a succubus had consequences, mostly lethal ones. If it didn’t kill its target, it left them feeling weakened but blissful. That was it. Whatever had happened with Evie, was happening with Evie, wasn’t normal.

She’d initiated a kiss when Natalya wasn’t ready, and she’d stayed standing.

In the car, it had taken every ounce of control Natalya had to only drain a trace of Evie’s essence, and she’d only known she could do it because she’d killed hundreds while learning the skill.

She had none of that control when Evie kissed her in the office.

By every rule and law Natalya knew, Evie should be dead.

Flea turned away from her, having noticed the only person who could pull his attention away from something he found interesting.

Pushing through the crowd, shoulder-checking anyone who didn’t get out of the way, Blake moved towards the bar.

She made straight for Flea, grabbed him by the neck, and gave him a hard kiss. Natalya rolled her eyes.

“Hello, princess,” Flea said too nicely, toying with a strand of her black hair. Blake yanked on his in return.

“Hello, sweetheart,” Blake said in the exact same tone. They were undressing each other with their eyes.

“How was your afternoon off, Blake?” Natalya asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

Blake leaned against Flea. “Are you asking out of interest for me or for Evie? I know you’ve been keeping tabs on the Chains who go to her place.”

Natalya thought she’d been discreet about that. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I’d believe you if I didn’t have proof to the contrary. I overheard you and Cassius talking. And she’s fine. If you’re feeling worried.”

“I’m not worried,” Natalya said sharply. She looked at Flea. “Kindly remind your human that playing with hellfire is not the same as the flames she’s familiar with.”

“She’ll roast you alive, princess,” Flea said. “Better drop it.”

Blake rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I only have a few minutes anyway. Going out on patrol. I just needed to remind sweetheart here that I own his ass when I get back.”

Blake put her hand in Flea’s back pocket, flashing a mean grin.

Natalya was about to make a snide comment when she felt a surge of fear.

Not from anything close, but a distant emotion.

It came from Evie, strong and sudden, and then it was gone in an instant, replaced with deceptive calm.

It was like she had started to panic, and then something forcibly suppressed it.

Other than herself, Natalya knew of only one type of being that could cause something like that.

Natalya spun on Blake, making both her and Flea frown. “Did you leave Evie at home?”

“Why do you—” Blake started, but she was cut off when Natalya grabbed and shook her.

“Is she at home!?”

“Fuck! Yeah, she’s home!”

Blake tried to get free of Natalya’s grip, but it took Flea pulling on her before Natalya realized she should let go. Natalya hadn’t thought to hold back her touch, and it had set Blake’s nerves on fire.

Blake rubbed her skin. “I just saw her a few hours ago. She was fine. Fuck me, that hurt.”

Natalya stormed past them towards the exit. As she rushed through the crowd, several people cried out as they came into contact with her skin.

She had no concern for their discomfort. No concern for the confused stares and comments people sent her.

There was a vampire at Evie’s apartment.