Page 74 of Kiss of Seduction (Court of Chains #1)

“Sloth. With me. You always provide such filling sleep.” Dominic nodded at the scarlet-eyed fiend next to Sloth. “Wrath, guard the door. Don’t let anyone enter or leave until I return.”

The two lesser fiends stood, following their Master and obeying without complaint. Or choice.

When Dominic and Varro left, the lesser Wrath demon—a middle-aged man who looked like his only purpose in life was to break bones—positioned himself by the door to this arcane lair. He looked grim and displeased.

All the fiends in the room looked displeased. Except for Vex. She looked enraged.

“Fucking bastards.” She spat on the floor. Her body trembled from the pain her Master had instilled in her.

Their Master, Natalya reminded herself. She was still kneeling. She hadn’t been allowed ease, so she couldn’t get out of the position.

She was bound again. She was a slave again. And though she may have been given relief for tonight, it wouldn’t last. She’d seen the want in both Dominic’s and Varro’s eyes. Sensed the lust in their bodies.

They’d have her. Take her. Make her dote on them and beg at their feet, and there was nothing she could do to stop them.

Not even scowl or glare. If they ordered her to adore them, she would be forced to play the part.

And if they thought she wasn’t convincing enough, pain awaited.

The same excruciating kind that had just torn through Vex.

It filled her with rage. And then dread and sorrow, both emotions she hadn’t felt the last time she was bound. Then her freedom had been taken too, but that freedom was a hollow thing compared to the one she had now.

There were echoes of grief and fear in her body.

Evie’s emotions. Bright, pure, and sorrowful.

Natalya would never see her again. Not unless she managed to break her bonds to Dominic.

An unlikely thing. Perhaps in a decade or two, when he grew sloppy or convinced that she loved him.

And then Evie would be far away, hopefully.

With Drago protecting her. With another woman, maybe.

Natalya touched her lips, grateful she could at least feel Evie still. That she would be able to sense her joys and sorrows. Know that she lived. Even if Natalya wouldn’t share that life with her.

“How’s your human doing?” Vex said. Natalya glared at her hatefully.

“You almost killed her.”

“Please. At most, I rattled her. Though she was tricky to steal from. Took me a few tries to feed from her at first.” Vex gave Natalya a cocky smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Didn’t want her to notice I was there, after all.”

If Natalya hadn’t been bound by her circle, she would have tried to tear Vex’s head off.

“You fed on her?”

“I didn’t take anything she’ll miss. Some hours of sleep. A memory here and there.” Vex sneered and looked away. “She had plenty of painful ones. Enough that she won’t notice I stole a few.”

It took Natalya a moment to understand what Vex was saying. The rage of knowing this fiend had been near Evie for weeks didn’t wane but understanding that Vex had acted with restraint all that time meant the anger pivoted somewhat.

“You were ordered to kill her?”

Vex shrugged, looking annoyed. The expression seemed to be a semi-permanent part of her face.

“I was ordered to watch and listen. Then to get you before the East Coast and the Chains moved on Varro. Offing your human was something to do in addition to that, if I could. For some reason, I found myself un able to follow my Master’s request.”

Vex looked at the other fiends in their lineup. Her annoyance changed into anger.

“Dominic likes toys. He likes making me get them. He hasn’t made me steal a greater fiend before, and I didn’t feel like giving him more than I needed to.”

Natalya’s anger lessened to be nearly insignificant at those words. Vex was a prisoner as much as any of them. And not only that, but Dominic had used her to imprison others of their kind. To capture slaves for her Master.

Her restraint and the excessive time she’d lingered in the apartment had come from pushing her orders.

As had the information she’d given Natalya.

She couldn’t say who sent her. She couldn’t not attack Evie, and she couldn’t not record Natalya’s marks.

But she had taken her time, and she’d let Evie live, pretending to be too overwhelmed by the power of a greater fiend to keep attacking.

She’d even taken Evie’s sight right when Natalya talked about where she could send Evie for safekeeping. She’d interrupted the conversation, so she couldn’t relay the information to Dominic.

“You look prettier with violet eyes,” Vex said coldly.

Natalya inspected her in more detail. Now that she wasn’t just a threat to be torn apart, it was easier to look at her as an equal.

Time didn’t visibly change greater fiends like it did most other creatures. They entered the world looking the age perfect for their purpose, but there were signs that could reveal how long they had been outside the realm of Sin.

Vex’s eyes were evenly green with no variation, and her visage reflected the time and place she had been summoned in.

She was thin, mean-looking, and young . Younger than Drago and much younger than Natalya.

If Natalya was to guess, she’d been summoned into the world by Dominic and had been bound ever since.

Her only view of the world was from the perspective of a slave. It made sense she was mean.

“Thank you for sparing her. And for helping, how you could,” Natalya said.

Vex narrowed her eyes, looking angry and suspicious. She’d probably never been thanked before.

“You’re convincing. But save the act for Dominic and that freckled bitch you have wrapped around your finger. At least you picked a hot one to bond with, so that’s—”

“I’m not acting ,” Natalya said, cutting her off. “Not with you. Not with Evie.”

Vex laughed at that. A cruel sound, void of humor or enthusiasm. Then her expression changed to one of surprise when Natalya stayed serious.

“Don’t tell me all that lovey-dovey stuff was genuine.”

Natalya didn’t say anything. Vex laughed again, this time mockingly.

“This is too good. A being of Lust, falling in love with a human. How does that work exactly? Did she beg you long enough, and you convinced yourself her desire for you was more than just summoned, sinful emotions? Or did your bond with her make you believe in true love’s kiss?

” Vex leaned closer, looking intrigued. “How did you manage that anyway? Infernal bonds are supposed to be impossible.”

Natalya frowned. “Infernal bond?”

“So you did it by accident. Fantastic.” Vex spat on the floor again. “A bond is just another cruel trick. A prize just out of reach.”

“Evie is not a prize.”

“No, she’s just special ,” Vex said, voice shrill and whiny. “What’s her deal? She resisted me. I didn’t like that.”

“If you swear not to mock her again, maybe I’ll tell you.”

“Share how she resisted me, and I’ll tell you how you can fuck her without turning her into a corpse.”

Natalya sneered at Vex. She wasn’t used to other beings having the upper hand in conversation.

She’d gotten used to Chicago and the Court of Chains, as well as the power it afforded her.

She had none of that power here. She didn’t have any power at all.

She was just one of seven puppets, bound into the service of a cruel man who’d just killed the girl Natalya replaced.

“Evie is resistant. Naturally so,” Natalya said. “I believe it comes from her heritage, from her being a Seraphic. She’s harder to enthrall and harder for me to influence. If she focuses, she can push against some supernatural abilities and even ignore them entirely.”

Natalya touched her lips. “She can push against any emotion my presence would enforce in her. If she doesn’t want to be affected, she isn’t. And she loves me anyway.”

Vex stared at her, head cocked and eyes narrowed. Probably trying to determine if Natalya was lying. When it became clear she wasn’t, Vex looked even angrier than before.

“You don’t seem pleased with my answer,” Natalya said.

“We greater fiends aren’t allowed that kind of ease in this world. Somehow, by happenstance, you found it.” Vex scowled at the floor. “I am of Envy. Let me rest in it.”

“I wasn’t allowed ease for long,” Natalya reminded her. She’d meant for the words to sound hard, but they came out quieter than she’d intended.

When Vex looked at her again, Natalya turned away. In the silence, an intense sorrow and fear rose in her chest. It came from Evie. Painful, grief-ridden emotion summoned by loss.

“I sense her. Even now. I feel what she’s feeling.”

“She’s upset?”

Natalya scoffed. It kept her from sobbing. “She’s heartbroken.”

Vex regarded her a moment, looking more interested than envious. She had been watching Natalya for weeks and her Court for months. She’d developed assumptions in that time, assumptions Natalya was evidently challenging now.

“A kiss lovingly granted, and a kiss freely returned,” Vex said.

“What does that mean?”

“It’s the bond for your Sin. A way for a human to survive you, if nothing else. An elected connection rather than an enforced one. A greater Lust fiend can only bond with a human by kissing them for no reason other than to bring comfort. The human then returns it without being tempted or coaxed.”

Natalya stared at her. A greater Lust fiend’s kiss was lethal. And even if it wasn’t, their entire being was temptation. Their presence produced sinful desire that mortals couldn’t stand against.

“That’s not possible.”

“That’s the point. It’s a cruel trick, like I said.” Vex scoffed. “But there you are. Touching your lips, feeling her emotions. Loving her, and her loving you. It’s infuriating to look at.”

Natalya kept staring, unable to speak as she recalled how she and Evie had first met. How they’d first interacted.

Evie had been frightened beyond belief. Though she’d watched Natalya with the same intensity as every other mortal being would have, there hadn’t been any desire in how she looked at Natalya. There had just been fear. Later a little trust.

When Natalya kissed her for the first time, it wasn’t to satiate herself.

It wasn’t to bring pleasure or death. It was to protect her.

To keep her safe. And when Evie kissed Natalya in the office, she hadn’t done it because Natalya asked her to.

She hadn’t even done it because she wanted to.

She’d just done it because she thought she had nothing else to offer.

Because she was grateful, and she thought a kiss was the only way she could repay Natalya for helping her.

Chance had caused all that to happen. Chance let them meet, let them bond, and let them fall in love. It was so unbelievably unlikely Natalya couldn’t help but marvel at how tragically perfect it was.

Maybe Flea was right, and Lady Luck really was watching over the high-rise. Even if her gifts came at a high cost.

“How do you know this?” Natalya said.

“Us of Envy crave particular things. For some, it's lives. For others, it's power. For me, it's information. Though Dominic has made me steal all three, I only really care for the last.”

Vex’s face twisted into a strained grimace.

“He wants to know of fiends mostly. The idea of the menagerie has been with him since he summoned me twenty-five years ago. He’d be the envy of every witch and warlock in the world if he had a perfect collection.

When I found out about the bonds, he intended to use them to lure greater fiends out of hiding in exchange for information about them.

But they don’t trust him, and I’m not the charming kind. ”

She looked Natalya up and down. “I can imagine the plans he has for you. Beyond the obvious.”

The thought of being used not just for her body but to actively enslave others made fresh anger form in Natalya’s chest. She imagined being made to coax fiends out of hiding.

Making them trust her and then betraying them to Dominic.

She imagined Drago’s stoic face and how enraged he’d be if he saw her like this.

Strangely enough, the thought gave her hope.

Natalya was bound. She was enslaved. She couldn’t escape her indenture on her own. But she wasn’t on her own. She had the Chains. A whole Court of creatures who looked at her with respect. She had Drago, who saw her as a teacher. Aleksander, who was like a brother to her.

She had Evie, who loved her when she didn’t have to.

“We’ll get out of here,” Natalya said then. Vex laughed.

“Hope is a dangerous thing, Lust. It hasn’t helped any of this lot.

” Vex gestured at the other fiends. “Dominic is smart, unfortunately. I was the first he summoned, and I’ve helped give him everything he wanted.

Everything he craved, and what he craves is trophies and knowledge. I know a lot. That means he does too.”

“There’s something he clearly doesn’t know.”

“Oh yeah?” Vex sounded as annoyed as she always did, but she couldn’t hide the genuine interest in her eyes. “What’s that?”

Natalya smiled. A small expression filled with hope and trust. Hope for the impossible, and trust that the steel bonds she’d spent the past decade-and-a-half cultivating wouldn’t snap if their reach was extended.

“You don’t fuck with the Court of Chains.”