Page 71 of Kiss of Seduction (Court of Chains #1)

The gilded fiend of Envy trailed her green eyes over Natalya. She looked to be enjoying herself.

“You two are really cute. Nauseatingly so. I should know, with how much I’ve been watching you lately.”

She made a mock gagging noise.

“Give it back,” Natalya snarled. Evie was in her arms, clawing at her throat. Her eyes saw nothing.

“Why would I do such a thing?” The fiend sneered as she said it. “You’ve made someone annoyed, Lady. There’s a certain King who doesn’t like it when people take his things. And my Master is very interested in you.”

Eyes flaming with fury, Natalya surged on the fiend and pinned her against the wall. The assault broke the fiend’s concentration. Behind Natalya, Evie gasped.

Natalya’s visage turned demonic. Her teeth long and sharp, eyes scarlet, and skin scaly violet. Her fingers dug into the stranger’s arms, turning to claws and piercing her skin.

The stranger may be well satiated, but so was Natalya, and her eyes glowed with the flame afforded Court rulers. Even though her domain was small, it gave her strength that meant she far overpowered this being of Envy.

And she’d been stupid. Envy coveted from the shadows. That she’d even shown herself proved how haughty she was.

“You will not have her.” Natalya’s eyes shined bright red. “She’s mine .”

The fiend looked surprised. She clearly wasn’t used to being overpowered. But she wasn’t scared.

“I’ve enjoyed watching you have fun with her. You make quite the pair,” the fiend said, voice tight. “I’d ask if the possessiveness you show her is a ruse, but your fingers piercing into my veins answers that question. You’re being painfully genuine.”

At the comment, Natalya dug her claws further into the fiend’s arms. She would have ripped them off if she could, but even pinned to the wall, this woman was still a greater fiend. Killing her wouldn’t be easy.

“I trust you heard me before. When I said what I’d do to anyone who’d harm her,” Natalya said hatefully. “Your death is guaranteed, Envy.”

“Death isn’t the most terrible fate, Lust. We both know that.

” The fiend’s expression grew more pained.

More angry. Red lines spawned in her green irises.

“And I think we’re both acting above our most basic urges, Natalya .

I, for one, am currently bound to please.

Not my usual purpose. With everything I’ve shared with my Master, I have pleased well . ”

“How long?” Knowing this fiend may have been in the apartment for days filled Natalya with new fear. Evie had been alone in that time. She could have been killed.

“In the high-rise? Or just in your little love nest?” She flashed her teeth at Natalya.

They weren’t as fiendish as expected. “Months in the first. Just weeks in the second.

I've been lingering in the shadows of your lovely home since your human was almost taken. Quite chaste of you to not fuck her again before tonight, Lady of Lust .”

“Who are you!?” Natalya yelled. “Did Varro send you?”

“I go by Vex. Though my Master doesn’t respect the moniker.” She leaned closer. “I cannot give you names. I have orders. But you are familiar with him. Your doting toy has felt his eyes on her body more than once. She didn’t care for it, as I recall.”

Behind them, Natalya heard Evie choke again. Vex’s eyes shined.

“Your plaything is tricky. Luckily, I’ve been watching you two long enough to know how to take things she’d really miss. Easily too.” Vex started smiling. “ Darling is having a difficult time back there. Better check on her.”

Fiends of Envy were thieves. Assassins and spies. They were made to covet and crave. The greater ones could meld with the shadows, and they could steal anything. They could steal your senses and your memories. They could even steal your breath.

Natalya shoved off Vex and rushed away. As she did, Vex tried to pull her back by grabbing her dress. The fabric tore as Natalya wrenched free.

“Evie!” Natalya grabbed Evie’s arms. Her eyes were no longer blind, finding Natalya’s. They were filled with terror.

“It’s not real,” Natalya said, holding onto Evie as she clawed desperately at her throat. She was panicking too much to listen to reason. Maybe Vex had taken her hearing too.

Steeling herself for how much energy this would take, Natalya put her hands on Evie’s face.

“Calm.”

It was one thing to calm someone scared, even someone panicking.

Those emotions could be forced down, their source ignored or momentarily forgotten.

But Evie couldn’t breathe. Her panic was a bodily reaction to extreme, lethal danger.

It siphoned an incredible amount of energy to overpower something that primal.

It would make it harder for Natalya to defend herself. She may have an edge on this Envy demon who had snuck into the high-rise, but she couldn’t stand against a satiated fiend after this. Not for long. But Natalya could delay her.

Evie would live. And she could run. She would have a chance.

The otherworldly calm that flooded through Evie made the panic vanish. It happened so fast. It was like a switch had been flipped. She felt no fear at all, though she still understood, on some level, that there was danger present.

A woman with glowing green eyes was watching them. Her pupils were slitted like a cat’s, her arms bleeding black. A fiend. A greater fiend. Vex, she’d called herself.

“It isn’t real.” Natalya still held onto Evie’s face, but her grip was failing. “She’s doing this to you. Push against it.”

Evie’s throat was taut. Her chest burned, and her stomach was curling in on itself. She couldn’t breathe. It was impossible. But the impossibility was conjured. It wasn’t real, merely something her body had been tricked into believing.

She focused on that one thought. The sensation of something pinching her airways shut wasn’t real. It was a fiendish trick. It was not real .

Evie drew in air so suddenly it made her gasp. She started coughing, and it was like she’d swallowed fire. Aching flames burning through her throat and lungs.

Natalya fell away from her, breathing heavily. Only then did Evie notice her clothing was partially torn. Pieces of her dress were clasped in the hand of the green-eyed monster that had broken into the apartment.

The strange fiend stared at Evie. She looked confused. And intrigued.

“How did you do that?”

Evie didn’t answer. Vex cocked her head. Her eyes glinted, and Evie’s vision blackened rapidly. She shook her head, removing the enforced blindness.

“Oh, that is fascinating .” Vex looked at Evie with frightening interest. Like she was something meant to be dissected. “I haven’t been stopped like that before.”

“ Go, Evie. Get help.” Natalya got to her feet, facing Vex. “I’ll rip this one to pieces in the meantime.”

Vex ignored Natalya, keeping her eyes on Evie. Vex didn’t move. She just looked curious.

“You can try, Lust.” Vex shrugged. “You’ll fail.”

By the way Natalya was swaying, Evie suspected Vex was right.

The calm Natalya had instilled faded as soon as she let go of Evie, being replaced with the primal fear of facing an apex predator. This fight wasn’t one a mortal could hope to win.

Evie rushed towards the door. As she ran, the darkness thickened, curling around her like tendrils. It was like the heavy smoke Natalya could create, except this was pure inky black. It was shadows given form.

Glowing green eyes emerged from the darkness, advancing on her. Evie started to scream, the sound being cut off as Vex grabbed her by the throat and yanked her close.

“What are you?” she said, voice low and vibrating. It sounded far away, like a whisper echoing in on itself.

Vex vanished in a blur as Natalya—her eyes bright and scarlet—clashed into her and wrenched her away. The apartment filled with smoke and shadows, blocking Evie’s vision in a way she couldn’t combat. It blinded her as she staggered in the direction she hoped the apartment door was.

There were sounds of breaking furniture and shattering glass.

Snarls, yells, and tearing fabric. In the dark, Evie caught streaks of green and scarlet moving rapidly around the living space as the two fiends tore at each other.

By the smell of brimstone, Evie suspected the fighting was brutal.

It was confirmed when she took another step, slipping in something warm, black, and smoky.

She finally made it to the apartment door, hearing a loud cry behind her and the sound of something snapping. It could have been a piece of furniture or a bone. Evie wasn’t sure.

Helping Natalya here was impossible. Other than being a distraction for both fiends, Evie was useless. But the high-rise was filled with creatures who knew how to kill. She just had to find them.

As Evie found the handle and started opening the door, something slammed it shut. The shadows dropped, lingering as a blanket of black smoke over the floor rather than filling the room completely. And in front of her, green-eyed and horrifying, was a demon of destruction.

Vex’s eyes were bright green with only traces of scarlet.

Her clothes were torn, and her pale skin was covered in black blood.

She moved unsteadily, the smell of brimstone wafting off her.

But her gaze was still intent. She looked at Evie not in anger but with an extreme curiosity that was more frightening than if she’d been furious.

“You surprised me already,” Vex said. “With how disgustingly adorable you two are together. The little show on the couch you just gave me was especially revolting.” She grinned with cruel delight. “Not many can fuck a Lady of Lust and survive it. Lucky you.”

She grabbed Evie by the face, pulling her close. Though Vex was thin and slight, Evie couldn’t even struggle against the hold. Vex’s eyes glowed emerald.

“I thought the infernal bond of a Lust fiend was an impossibility. Seeing it in action was quite the tease. However, that bond does not provide control over fiendish power, nor does it extend to another Sin. How did you resist me?”

Evie looked around desperately, spotting Natalya kneeling on the floor several feet away. She was trying to stand, her arm hanging awkwardly and twisted. When she got to her feet and tried to move toward Evie, she nearly collapsed.

“ Answer me.” Frustration made Vex’s eyes flare scarlet. Only then did Evie recognize her. The lean woman with the dark hair and slitted, red eyes. They had never been green before.

“I know you,” Evie said. “I saw you. You were at Varro’s, months ago. With Dominic.”

The sentences came out short and broken as Vex still held onto her painfully. If she squeezed any harder, Evie’s jaw would be crushed.

The scarlet in her eyes faded slightly, returning to green. “I know you too. The once-redheaded slave. My Master coveting you kept me well satiated. He wanted you. And he resented the King for having you.”

She yanked Evie closer, moving a blackened claw to hover over her pupil. The green-red of her eyes extended to fill them completely.

“Now tell me how you’re resisting me.”

Evie couldn’t give this monster a satisfying answer. She didn’t know how she could do what she did. She didn’t know how she could push back against Natalya, or against this fiend for that matter, or why she could withstand Natalya’s touch.

Maybe it was because she was a Seraphic. Or maybe it was just coincidence. She wasn’t sure. She had a feeling this fiend wouldn’t accept an answer like that.

So she lied.

“The Chains contract,” she gasped. “The necklace.”

Vex frowned, looking down at the purple Chain pendant around Evie’s neck. She reached out for it.

As her fingers touched it, she screamed in pain. She let Evie go, pulling back so fast it was like she’d been burned. Evie moved away from her, rushing through the apartment to where Natalya was still trying, and failing, to get closer to Vex.

Natalya was covered in black blood. Her arm was twisted in the wrong direction, and her clothing was torn to pieces.

She was more naked than not, and she was staring at Vex with such filling rage it made her look like a monster.

Evie didn’t care, quickly moving to her side. Natalya pulled Evie behind her.

“Clever trick, you little liar.” Vex growled and shook her hand. “So the Chains are giving the pets sage-quenched trinkets now? That is particularly pathetic.”

“Stay away from her,” Natalya snarled. “You do not touch her.”

“Not in a sharing mood? You really are smitten.” Vex pretended to throw up.

“She’s mine .”

“I heard you the first time.” Vex looked at Evie again, the sight of her now mostly scarlet eyes making Evie cower behind Natalya. “I understand the infatuation better now. She’s intriguing.”

The fiends stared at one another. Natalya with vicious hatred.

Vex with frustration and annoyance. They both looked haggard, Natalya more so.

But Vex wasn’t approaching, instead stepping backward.

There was a faint glow through her clothes, rounding over her chest. Strange symbols shining like fire through the fabric.

“Some advice before I leave. Consider it a courtesy, from one Lady to another,” Vex said.

The glowing symbols illuminated her in a faint, fiery light.

“Make sure your sweet darling is looked after. Regal, black eyes are on her. In this case, they are hungrier than even mine. I should know. They watch my circle often enough.”

With a final annoyed sneer, flames burst from Vex’s chest, engulfing her before they and she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The fiend was gone, and the shadows in the apartment lightened.