Page 77 of Kiss of Seduction (Court of Chains #1)

Evie washed the blood off her body in the bathroom. Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking as she did, and she had to scrub for several minutes to get the traces of scarlet out from under her fingernails. It left her skin looking red and raw.

Taking off her now bloody clothes, leaving the sweatshirt and jeans on the floor, Evie stripped down to just her underwear.

Pretty red lingerie. The kind Varro preferred and the kind Stefano would have put her in when he was done with her.

She couldn’t quite stifle the bleeding from the fang marks in her neck, but it didn’t matter.

It sold her role as an enthralled slave better.

The wooden hairpin had snapped when she used it on Stefano.

It was useless now, one less means of defense.

Trying to calm herself, Evie pressed her tongue against the ampoule still in her mouth.

She’d almost broken it when Stefano fed on her, and she was thankful she hadn’t.

Unarmed, weak, and bleeding, the little cylinder was the only thing she could actively defend herself with. And she could only use it once.

Knowing her hour was coming to an end more rapidly than she’d like, Evie exited the guest room and started towards the east wing.

She encountered several people on the way.

Human guards and a few vampires. They all ignored her as she walked the halls barefoot, eyes downcast and shaking all over.

They were used to seeing frightened slaves.

As long as she walked with purpose, they all assumed she’d either been summoned or that she was returning to her chamber to rest.

It was difficult to walk with purpose. She wanted to turn tail and run.

She’d already assumed Natalya was in the east wing.

She’d assumed Dominic would be with her too, but he was just a man.

A man who wanted her. Evie had planned to use that for her benefit, letting him believe she wanted him too, and then seize an opportunity as soon as his guard was down.

She hadn’t expected Varro to be there as well.

He had Natalya. According to Stefano, he was making her scream. Knowing that helped, in a dark, frightening way. It was easier to walk with purpose when you were angry rather than afraid.

As each step brought her closer to the east wing, a new plan formed in her mind. She came up with lines in her head, whispering them under her breath as she walked and hoping they would be believable when spoken aloud.

They had to be. Otherwise, she’d never see a sunrise again.

Natalya let out yet another scream as arcane pain surged through her again. It was akin to being stabbed with the fiend-fixed dagger, except her entire body suffered this agony. It was like everything inside her had been set on fire.

“Why is the East Coast attacking now?” Varro said. It was the fifth time he’d asked that question.

“I don’t know!” The same answer she’d given the previous times.

“I believe she’s being truthful, Varro.” Dominic was sitting at his desk, feet up on the table, playing with the knife that had killed the lesser Lust fiend. “We did summon her awfully quick after Envy got back. It’s likely she wasn’t part of the replanning effort.”

“They aren’t supposed to be attacking until days from now,” Varro said.

“They probably panicked and moved up the date.” Dominic looked bored. “Just follow the plan and keep your fangs near home. Then when the Chains roll in, you can tear them to pieces at your leisure. If they’re attacking before being ready, they’re probably scrambling. Good for you, no?”

“I was hoping we’d have more information before such a thing happened. That we’d know exactly what forces the Chains would be sending.” Varro glared at Natalya. “Fane, would you make her stop wailing !? It’s making it impossible to think.”

Dominic dismissed the pain with a wave, and Natalya fell back on the floor, gasping in relief.

She was being purposefully difficult. Though she couldn’t deny a direct question from either Varro or Dominic, she could make them work for an answer. It meant Varro was annoyed and that Dominic frequently summoned pain for her. It didn’t matter. Not if it meant they’d know less about the Chains.

There was also another thing distracting her. Fear. Not her own, but Evie’s. For the past several hours, Evie had been terrified. Now, she was so scared it was impossible to ignore.

“Are you done?” Dominic asked, playing with the knife. It was obvious he didn’t know how to wield it properly. “I have questions of my own.”

Varro started pacing. “I don’t like not being in the know.”

“We are of similar mindsets. Why do you think my first summon was a being of Envy?” Dominic looked at Natalya. “Lust, how many fiends are at the Court of Chains?”

She knew the exact number. She didn’t want to give it to him. “A few.”

Dominic narrowed his eyes. “Be specific.”

“Specific for when? The number changes frequently. Fiends come and go. I don’t know which number you want.”

Dominic’s glare turned into a scowl. He waved at her again, and she fell back, screaming against the pain he instilled in her. They’d talked since nightfall. Several hours. She’d been in pain for most of that time.

“Stubborn, isn’t she?” Varro commented.

“She’ll break eventually.” Dominic eyed the Pride fiend sitting at one end of the lineup. “They all do.”

Natalya heard the comments but couldn’t respond. The pain was all-consuming, and the only noise she could make was screaming. If she hadn’t been an immortal being, it would have broken her mind into pieces. Instead, she felt everything with awful lucidity.

She tried to focus on things beyond the pain. The annoyance she felt from Dominic and the fear from Evie. The fear was constant, and it hurt differently than this summoned agony raking through her body.

The feeling created questions that distracted her. What was happening to Evie? Was she safe? It didn’t feel like she was safe. The worry of that was so filling, it could almost combat the pain.

“She’s right, you know?” Vex sat cross-legged in her circle, strumming her fingers against the concrete floor. “Creatures arrive at the Court of Chains every week. Sometimes every day. Unless she had the most recent records, she wouldn’t know the exact number.”

Dominic dismissed Natalya’s pain, letting her breathe. “I trust you have the most recent records, Envy.”

Vex stared at her Master and owner. The man who had imprisoned her and tortured her for over twenty years. The weasel she had to obey. She smirked. “I wasn’t told to get the records.”

A sneer and a wave from Dominic made Vex fall to the floor screaming, just as Natalya had been doing.

“The loyalty of greater fiends is not easily won, I see,” Varro said, sounding smug. “Maybe you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, Mr. Fane?”

Dominic muttered something under his breath.

There was a point to what Varro was saying.

Witches and warlocks usually restrained themselves to binding one or two fiends at most. Dominic had seven .

And not just lesser fiends, but two greater ones.

Unable to make them like him, he used arcanely summoned pain to control them instead.

He didn’t enjoy the torture. He didn’t dislike it either.

He treated the fiends like they were dogs, and the summoned agony a way to discipline them.

Natalya didn’t beg Dominic to stop torturing Vex, just as Vex didn’t beg him to stop torturing Natalya.

They both knew the satisfaction of provoking him was greater than the relief that would come from groveling.

It was easier with the other one present.

They weren’t alone in their torment. They could hate him together.

“Maybe she’s just stupid.” Dominic made a frustrated gesture at Natalya. “Lust is a primal Sin, after all. There isn’t much need for brains in the bedroom.”

“She’s not stupid,” Varro said. “You don’t get to rule alongside Aleksander Voronov if you’re that. No, she knows what she’s doing. She’s disrespecting you, Fane. I’m surprised you’re letting her.”

Dominic dismissed Vex’s pain, and she shuddered. She’d been tortured almost as much as Natalya since Dominic and Varro returned to the lair.

“Careful, Varro,” Dominic said slowly. “In this room, we are not equals. And you are overstepping.”

The two men stared at each other, eyes full of challenge.

Varro could overpower Dominic physically, but if he threatened the man with violence, he’d unleash the fury of seven fiends on himself.

Even a vampire King in his own domain would have trouble standing against that.

He evidently didn’t want to take the risk.

“You’re off,” Vex whispered to Natalya. She wiped ichor from her nose. “You’re not all here. I can sense the desperation in you. You’re craving something. It better not be relief.”

“It’s Evie,” Natalya said just as quietly. The two men were still in a battle of stares, not paying attention to them. “She’s afraid. Afraid enough that I can’t ignore it.”

“Aw, how cute. You just want her safe.” Vex scoffed. “You really are pathetic, you know that?”

Natalya raised an eyebrow. “Jealous, Envy?”

Vex laughed. It made the two men look back at them, clearly annoyed that she’d interrupted their staring contest. Vex kept laughing. Then both she and Natalya screamed as Dominic tortured them again.

There was a soft knock at the door, barely audible over the cries of the greater fiends. Varro and Dominic glanced at each other, and Dominic called off the pain. Natalya and Vex both flashed their teeth at him.

“Did you summon someone?” Dominic said, turning to Varro and frowning.

“No. And I’m guessing you didn’t either.” Both men looked at the door with suspicion.

“Gluttony, be a good host and see who it is.” Dominic waved forward the lesser fiend—an older woman with yellow eyes. She went to the door, opening it a crack. There were hushed voices, and then the lesser fiend turned towards Dominic.

“A gift for Varro. From Stefano,” she said. “A missing slave.”

The two men exchanged confused glances. Only Dominic, Varro, and Stefano were allowed in the east wing. Not even cleaners came here. That responsibility was handled by Sloth.

Then Varro’s eyes lit up with sudden, delighted realization, and he smiled in a way that was more fear-inducing than the threat of pain.

“Send her in,” he said. Gluttony opened the door, and then Natalya’s world fell apart.

Evie walked into the room.