Page 56 of Kiss of Seduction (Court of Chains #1)

Hasan’s hand drifted to his stomach, where a silver bullet had struck him. It had taken days for him to heal completely. Natalya was even worse off.

Stefano had struck her deep, and the wound in her side had oozed for days after she woke. It still wasn’t closed. There was no way to speed up the healing process of an injury like that, but at least it didn’t hurt anymore.

“So what do you suggest?” Natalya asked.

The two men turned to her, both looking ready for violence.

“Vengeance is sweet, but it’s sweeter if we live to see it play out.

Varro’s estate, and the area around it, is crawling with soldiers.

Human and not. Even with a host of East Coast vampires, attacking him at night would be suicide. ”

“Well…” Hasan glanced from Natalya to Drago standing in the corner. Drago had gone full mother-hen and accompanied Natalya everywhere. He’d been standing guard outside the apartment for days. “We do have a unique ace up our sleeve.”

The two fiends exchanged glances.

“We are powerful. But even combined, we can’t take Varro on his own turf,” Natalya said. “He’s a King. While within his own domain and with all his forces, he’s near invincible. Unless he acts stupid or overzealous. He’s not known to be either.”

“And he has weapons made for fiend slaying,” Aleksander said gravely. “Though I don’t know how he got ahold of them. There are complicated rites involved when making a blade like that.”

“I suspect that a certain Dominic Fane may have something to do with it.” Natalya looked at Aleksander. “I already told you he has a fiend with him. And he seemed particularly interested in me during the meeting with Varro.”

Aleksander let out a low growl. “I dislike that he’s so interested in fiend matters. Stefano was ready for you to be outside the territory, Natalya. He wanted you as much as he wanted Hasan. That I don’t know the reason is… concerning.”

Natalya tensed at the comment, relieved when Aleksander didn’t notice. She hadn’t told him, or anyone, about the camera flash. About Stefano wanting a picture of her back and the implications of it. She’d reasoned herself into believing it was unnecessary. After all, nothing would have come of it.

But he could have killed her, and he hadn’t. He had weapons ready that could hurt her. He wanted her marks, though for what reason she didn’t know. Probably for Dominic since only humans could use them.

“What does Zahra think of all this, Hasan?” Natalya said to distract herself. “When someone’s signature execution method is piercing a heart with a wooden stiletto heel, it’s generally wise to keep them happy.”

“There are many who want Varro dead. My Maker more than most.” There was a slight smile on Hasan’s face as he said it.

The relationship between a vampire and their progeny was similar to the one between a summoner and their fiend. Until released, they were bound by the whims of their Maker. But Hasan loved Zahra. She was a harsh woman of Night, but she was just. A respectable quality.

“She suggests we wait,” Hasan said. “Until we know how Varro was aware of the meeting and to prepare for your presence, Natalya, making a play would be foolish. Your Court may be solid as steel, and we don’t doubt your loyalty, but that doesn’t mean information can’t slip through the cracks.”

He didn’t need to specify what he meant. It was something she and Aleksander already suspected. They could have a leak. A spy, somewhere in the high-rise.

Hasan turned to Natalya. “Is the slave trustworthy?”

Natalya’s eyes flared scarlet. It cascaded a faint red glow on the walls. “I suggest you rescind that question, Hasan.”

Hasan took a small step back. Her fiendish appearance had an effect. “I have concerns.”

“They are unplaced.”

“She was with him for a long time, Natalya,” Aleksander said. “She tried to go back to him when you first freed her. Fear could make her do foolish things, such as share information best kept within our halls.”

Natalya turned to face Aleksander slowly, only because she needed the time it took to move to get herself under control.

“Aleksander, respectfully…” Her voice had a devilish timbre to it. “Do not say something like that again.”

Hasan stepped back even further, but Aleksander remained in place.

They stared at each other, rulers of a Court that shouldn’t exist and which stood only because of their ability to work together.

Aleksander, with his intelligence and ruthlessness.

Natalya, with her wisdom, control, and infernal knowledge of how to make people tick.

If he made another accusation against Evie, she would disregard all of it in favor of throwing him through the window.

“Lady…” Drago said, surprising Natalya. “I know that you trust her, but these two are unknowing of the private ways of fiends. I have wondered myself what makes her worthy of your trust and if you fully understand the consequences of giving it to her.”

Drago was the only one who knew Evie had seen her marks. He’d found out Evie undressed her to get the salt pellets out of her back. Though Aleksander had heard it too, Drago was the only one who understood the implications of it.

“You overstep,” she said, voice full of warning. She turned back to the two vampires. “As do you. If you do not trust her, then trust me. Evie is mine. And I say she isn’t a suspect in this.”

She didn’t want to explain. She didn’t know how she’d begin to do it.

She didn’t understand how Evie had such a hold over her.

How she had started leaning on the woman, finding calm in her touch, her voice, and her presence.

Even hours after she’d gone, Natalya still felt the strange, unfamiliar longing for Evie to return.

Joy at the prospect of seeing her again.

Perhaps this was what it felt like to miss someone.

Not wanting to further anger a greater fiend, Aleksander and Hasan changed the subject and started discussing the layout of Varro’s estate.

“I apologize for overstepping, Lady,” Drago said as Natalya drifted out of the conversation. Her mind wanted to be elsewhere.

“Never question Evie’s allegiance in front of me again,” Natalya said sharply. “Ever. Understood?”

Drago nodded and then didn’t speak. Instead, he… fidgeted. The huge man, made to commit violence and cause pain, rocked from foot to foot.

Natalya frowned. “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing is wrong, Lady. I only have a concern.” He spoke quietly now. Drago never spoke quietly. Natalya hadn’t thought him capable of it. “Your Evie was accompanied by an uninitiated woman the night you were attacked.”

Natalya’s frown deepened. She didn’t know much about Sam, but there was something about her, beyond her scaring Evie, that Natalya didn’t care for.

“Is there a question in that statement?”

“Who is she?” Drago asked. “Do you know her name?”

This was unusual. Drago didn’t care for humans. They were too breakable, and most were terrified of him. Natalya cocked her head, suddenly much more interested.

“I’ll give you her name. But first, I want the reason you’re asking about her.”

Drago lowered his eyes. “She was in pain, Lady.”

As a greater Lust fiend, Natalya could sense the emotions of others if she wished to. Being of Wrath, Drago could sense pain in the same way. It was satiation for him. He fed on it, alongside violence.

“So she satiated you, and now you’re enamored?”

“She didn’t satiate me. It was not that kind of pain. It was an inner one. Emotional. Guilt and shame, and so intense it couldn’t be ignored.”

From what Natalya had heard from Evie, Sam was a soft-spoken, awkward woman who always assumed she was doing something wrong. The shame fit well with that, but not to the point of intensity Drago was insinuating. The guilt even less so.

“Her name is Sam. Short for Samantha, I believe,” Natalya said. “Is there a reason you’re concerned for her, Drago?”

“None specific.”

“A general one, then?”

“I don’t know, Lady.” Drago was still looking at the floor. “I don’t often think about humans for longer periods of time. But her pain… It was unique. It hurt me to feel.”

Natalya understood his concern then. Wrath fiends weren’t supposed to feel pain, save from their summoners and from weapons made for the purpose of hurting demons.

Drago was new to freedom, and he considered her his teacher. He’d entrusted her with a mystery to his very being. And she had no answer for him.

“Perhaps emotional pain affects you differently than physical pain.”

“Perhaps.” Drago shook his head, confused. “It was so intense. She was wrought with it.”

Natalya’s black heart softened a slight amount. She still disliked Sam on principle, but to experience emotional pain so purely Drago could not only feel it but couldn’t stop thinking about it suggested Sam was in so much hurt as to be worrying for her safety.

Natalya could mention something to Evie. Not all of it, of course, but some. Even if Natalya didn’t like Sam, Evie did.

“I understand your worry, Drago. If you wish, I can look into it.”

“No, Lady. I only wanted to learn her name.” He bowed, shoulders slumping. “Thank you, Lady.”

To see a Wrath demon hunch like that was an upsetting sight. Natalya had come to not only like Drago but find familial comfort in him. The two of them were unique to the Court. The only greater fiends. They understood each other in ways no one else did.

“We have no people within his walls.” Hasan’s sharp tone pulling Natalya back into the conversation. “Not anymore. Varro routed them out months ago.”

“I don’t like being in the dark,” Aleksander said, face twisted with annoyance.

“An unfortunate consequence of your existence is that you must be,” Natalya said, returning to the conversation. “Varro has a talent for letting his enemies know only what he wishes them to know. But we know more than that.”

She’d read over every interrogation the patrol teams had with Evie. Though no single piece of information was big enough to be a crux to Varro, several pieces together were thorns in his side.

“Varro is running out of doting spawn. He lost his favorite in Rollo and then Rollo’s replacement in Austin.

That means he lacks trusted allies, which isn’t a good thing if he wants to reclaim the territory Aleksander and I took from him.

He may even ally himself with Queen Cecilia to accomplish it. ”

“Unwise,” Hasan said. “Cecilia would betray him immediately.”

“And then she’d take his territory, and we’d have a mad murderess at our borders rather than a conniving snake.

We already know that he wants to wipe out the Chains.

Likely the East Coast Regency too. Because he is smart, he won’t make a play until he knows how to hurt us.

We should move on him before that time if we’re to have a chance at winning. ”

She looked first to Hasan, then to Aleksander. “Vampires are powerful. Elder ones even more so. Regents are nigh indestructible. But only under cover of darkness.”

Natalya stopped when she knew Aleksander had caught on to her idea.

“We can move on him in the daylight,” he said. “If we use East Coast vampires to lure away Varro’s defenses, forcing them to go to ground away from the estate, day-walking Chains can fall on him in the light hours.”

Natalya smiled when Hasan stared at the Chains rulers. Night vampires tended to forget that daylight was more than just lethal.

“If we do this, we’ll need a few weeks to move our forces around,” Hasan said after a moment. “We don’t want to cause suspicion.”

“If that’s what you need, you’ll have it.” Aleksander gave Natalya a respectful nod.

She started to smile, but then it faltered. It stiffened, freezing into a pained expression as something surged in her. Fear. Panic. Distant and suffocating.

Not her own. Evie’s.