Page 32 of Kiss of Seduction (Court of Chains #1)

Evie tried to prepare herself for the energy of the dungeon.

She’d worked freelance gigs in a private kink club before, so she thought she knew what to expect.

Her job then had only been to dance, and she’d never been in a scene with anyone, though there had been plenty of offers—all from men.

For that reason, she hadn’t been interested.

The Second Circle wasn’t like that club at all. Wood, leather, and steel made the grand dungeon look rawer somehow. Like everything felt down there would be more intense. More painful, more pleasurable.

It was how it felt to look at Natalya. It made sense this was her domain.

Evie passed through the hall, her eyes scanning the nearby stages. She had to remind herself that the people on display, tied up and being touched, were there willingly.

It was difficult. She couldn’t help but look at the bright red marks left on the skin of some of the people and remember what that pain felt like.

Maybe Lily was right. She shouldn’t have come down here.

No. It was just a club, like any other, and no one would harm her. She wasn’t there to participate. She was there with a purpose. Her fear was less demanding than the anger at being ignored.

Evie continued inside and found that a not-insignificant amount of the patrons turned to look at her as she did. The looks they sent her weren’t ones of desire or anger. They looked confused. Like they didn’t know why she was there. Like she didn’t belong.

It wasn’t until a woman wearing a latex catsuit looked her up and down that Evie realized why people were staring. Evie was wearing faded jeans and a long-sleeve t-shirt. She wasn’t following the dress code. The realization almost made her laugh.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

Natalya’s voice made her flinch. Evie hadn’t noticed her approach.

Natalya was right next to her, wearing a sleek, black dress with steel clasps on the shoulders that made it look like armor. Her pupils had a faint red sheen. Like there were lit fires in her eyes.

“Well, hello to you too,” Evie said a bit sharply. She made a cursory glance at the room. “I like the aesthetic. You stick to a theme.”

“You shouldn’t be here, ” Natalya repeated. “It’s not a place for you.”

“And you’re the one deciding that?” Evie snapped back, and Natalya’s eyes flared. A few nearby people turned to look at them.

“The Court is closed. Outsiders aren’t welcome. Go back to the apartment.”

“Why? So you can keep ignoring me?” Evie stepped towards Natalya, a bit surprised when she moved away at the approach. “You won’t talk to me. If I did something that upset you—”

“You did nothing wrong.”

“You’re acting like I did.” More people turned to look. Natalya’s eyes flickered with flame.

“Careful, Evie,” she said, her voice low with warning. “I may not be Queen of this Court, but I will not be disrespected in my own domain. Not even by you.”

“What are you going to do about it?” Evie spoke with much more challenge than she’d intended.

The energy of the Second Circle had been close to overwhelming at first, but it was easy to ignore when looking at Natalya. As was everything. Evie didn’t care that people were staring. She cared that Natalya was finally talking to her again.

It took Evie a moment to realize Natalya’s silence was shared by the room. Everyone had gone quiet.

“You should leave.” Natalya’s voice was barely audible, yet it roared through the hall. There were lines of red in her violet eyes.

A smoldering unease started in Evie’s chest, growing and expanding into fear. It hadn’t been there a moment before. She’d been anxious but not afraid. It came on too fast to be natural, just like the calm produced in Varro’s guest room. Natalya was forcing fear into her.

“Don’t do that,” Evie said, her voice trembling slightly.

She pushed against the fear by reminding herself it wasn’t real. Though it still lingered, it didn’t seize her like Natalya had obviously meant it to do. After a few moments, it faded entirely.

Natalya stared at her, stunned. Then with nothing but frightening anger.

“Everyone out.” She spoke to the room. No one moved.

Natalya’s eyes turned bright scarlet, the embers in her pupils blazing into flames.

“ Out !”

A rush of emotion went through the hall. A surge of terror and command that brought a feeling of dread with it, as though staying even a moment longer meant something terrible would happen.

It nearly sent Evie running. She stood her ground. Everyone else rushed to leave.

When they were alone, it became harder not to be afraid. Evie was standing in front of a furious demoness, and the only thing that kept her in place was an assuredness nestled so deep in her body that not even Natalya forcing her emotions could make it go away.

Natalya wouldn’t hurt her. Evie knew she wouldn’t.

“You were trying to scare me into leaving.” Evie had regained control of her voice, and the anger in it was obvious. “Is the idea of talking to me really that awful?”

“You don’t belong here, Evie. It isn’t safe for you.”

“ Safe ?” Evie scoffed. “Nowhere is safe. Nowhere feels safe anymore.”

Except when I’m with you. Evie didn’t let the thought past her lips.

“You’re not exactly helping yourself,” Natalya snarled. “You’re here . In a den of monsters and demons. Facing a fiend and actively challenging her. That is not a very safe thing to do.”

Evie jutted out her chin. “You wouldn’t hurt me.”

Pain flashed over Natalya’s face. It vanished in a breath.

“I already did.”

“When? When you left me alone on the floor of the studio, scared that I had done something terribly wrong? Because yes, Natalya. That hurt.”

“You don’t get it,” Natalya snapped. “Nothing you did was wrong. It was fake . Don’t you see, Evie? I wanted you, and that was enough to force it into happening.”

“You think I didn’t want you ?” Evie’s voice was trembling again, but now it was from frustration rather than fear. “I’ve been thinking about you ever since I came to Chicago.”

“Of course you have!” Natalya yelled. “I made you obsessed. It’s what I do. It’s what I am. I am something people desire, and I pulled you close. I kept you near me. Unknowingly or not, I manipulated you into thinking this way.”

“You didn’t manipulate me. You saved me. You stayed with me so I could fall asleep. I shared things with you I haven’t shared with anyone. I trusted you, Natalya!”

Fresh fury sprang into Natalya’s face. The whites in her eyes turned scarlet, and her skin mottled to have a scaly, violet sheen. Thick, gray-purple smoke emanated from the ground, enveloping them, and the room seemed to shrink as the smoke rose to cover everything in hellish, whirling fog.

“I am not a being you trust.” Natalya’s voice was awe-inducing. Heavy, rumbling, otherworldly. Terrifying. Evie took a step back as Natalya the Demon moved toward her.

“I am not a lover. I am not a friend. I am not something to care for, or adore, or feel safe with. I am irresistible. A living aphrodisiac. I am pleasure and passion, uncontrolled and all-consuming. That is how I was designed. Anything you feel for me is manufactured by my being, so I can more easily consume you.”

Her demonic visage faded. The smoke started to dissipate.

“The attraction you feel isn’t genuine. Any pull I have over you is as constructed as the fear I tried to instill in you before. It isn’t real , Evie.”

“I don’t believe that. And you don’t get to decide what’s real for me.”

“It’s not a matter of deciding. It’s how it is.”

Evie didn’t know how to handle what she was feeling. Sadness, frustration, and anger mixed together into a pressing feeling of indignation.

She couldn’t believe what Natalya was saying. That the security Evie felt with her was somehow artificial. How could it be? How could something that made her feel so safe be fake?

“You’re wrong,” Evie said weakly.

A familiar mask slipped over Natalya’s face. It was the same expression she’d had in the car before she kissed Evie for the first time. Regretful but determined.

Grabbing Evie’s wrists, Natalya pushed her against the wall. The movement was so easy for her. Evie couldn’t even struggle against the grip. Her touch produced no effect other than warmth.

“What are your safe words?”

Evie frowned. “What?”

Natalya leaned in close, face twisted with fury. “Your safe words, Evie. Say them .”

“Red and yellow!” Evie’s voice was trembling again, though her anger was no longer to blame. Natalya’s smile looked like it would better belong on a gargoyle.

“I’ll prove that this isn’t as real as you think.

That what I am is desire given form, and that you mortals would die just for a taste of it.

If you truly believe that your feelings are real, then do what no one can.

” Natalya’s grip tightened. Familiar, pleasurable sparks rushed through Evie’s arms. “Stop me.”

Her lips clashing against Evie’s was like a sledgehammer to the senses. Maddening pleasure rushed through her, spawning from seemingly nowhere and everywhere at the same time. It was intense enough to make Evie forget everything that had come before it, so consuming was the sensation.

Evie parted her lips with a moan, and Natalya’s tongue going into her mouth sent fresh fires of delight through her body. Her fingers dug into Evie’s skin, and it created zaps of pleasure so overwhelmingly euphoric she started shaking.

It was intoxicating. She wanted more of it. She wanted to drown in it. Be consumed by it.

That was the problem.

Right then, Evie wanted to continue more than anything. She wanted it more than breathing and living. It was destructive pleasure. It was passion made into lethal flames.

Natalya had told Evie to stop her. She should use her safe word.

Red!

Just a thought. Overtaken by pleasure. It was only a word. It should be easy to say. It didn’t come.

She tried again. Red.

Red …

red …

She didn’t want to stop. She wanted to take it further than just this kiss. To strip out of her clothes and have Natalya do the same. To writhe on the floor, and moan, and scream from the pleasure of it all.

Safe words were useless against such a need. You would call out for more, even as your body succumbed to the overwhelming sensation of it.

Natalya leaned against her, her lips hard and demanding. Evie moaned, the sound growing louder as Natalya’s fingers dug into her skin, producing blinding pleasure so consuming it made her forget everything but the present.

Natalya was warm. Her grip was tight, and she sighed into the kiss. Her body was firm, strong, and unyielding. And careful. Even now, she held back enough that she wasn’t hurting Evie.

This was a test.

Evie needed to stop this. Not because she wanted to. Not because it was dangerous. Not because it was overwhelming. She needed to stop this because she had to prove to Natalya she could. Even when she desperately didn’t want to.

Tensing her muscles so hard it hurt, she wrenched her lips away from Natalya’s.

“Red!” She gasped out the word. She had forgotten to breathe. Natalya immediately backed away, her face filled with shock.

Evie leaned against the wall. Her body felt like it was vibrating. Only when away from Natalya’s touch did she truly understand how powerful it was. If this was how humans normally reacted to her influence, it was no wonder she didn’t trust Evie’s feelings to be reliable.

“Natalya, I—”

“Leave.” Natalya wasn’t looking directly at her. Her eyes were violet again. There was no scarlet, no fires. No anger. Just confusion and guilt.

“I want to talk about this. Please, if you just let me—”

“No, Evie.” Natalya didn’t raise her voice. “I need to be alone.”

Evie didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what to say to make this right or even make it better. Hopelessness rose in her, the emotion so strange in her chest. She hadn’t felt it in earnest since she moved into the high-rise.

Dejected, ashamed, and wiping away angry tears, Evie left the Second Circle.