Page 25 of Taken to the Demon Court (Stolen Demon Brides #3)

OROS

E verything was ready.

I looked over Eve’s room once more, memorizing her smell. Remembering the time she’d pulled me inside.

The things she made me feel.

The way her warmth seeped into my body.

She saw me when no one else did. After a lifetime of people only seeing Eros, she looked at me and liked what she saw.

She gave up a lot for us. She saw and did things she shouldn’t have had to. In a blink of an eye, she’d been taken from us, and even then, I heard her. I knew she hadn’t been thinking about herself.

Please don’t do this to them. They don’t deserve any more pain!

Her words had absolutely shattered the cold barrier surrounding my heart.

She was too good for this world. It would only put her in danger.

She’s too good for us.

And once Father knew what we had done, there would be no going back. She would become an even bigger target than she already was.

I heard them in the hallway, and I knew they were safe. Eros and Eve pushed through the door, and when Eve met me with a smile, I could swear I heard my heart breaking.

She ran to me, pulling me into her arms. Even underneath the dirt of the godforsaken place Father had taken her to, her scent was unmistakable.

I will never forget it.

I wrapped my arms around her and inhaled deeply. She was safe. Finally. The worry gripping my entire being lessened just a little bit. I pulled back to get a look at her face.

“I’m sorry, Eve.” I gave her a sad smile. “I’m happy you’re safe.”

She gave me a smile back. I couldn’t help but notice how one side of her face was a little redder than the other. How there were signs of slight bruising and small claw marks grazed her beautiful face.

I looked at Eros, and my murderous glare matched hers.

They had dared touch her.

“I knew you guys would save me,” she said.

Eros moved in from behind her, wrapping her arms around her as well.

“Always, darling,” she vowed. “You’ve been the best person—human or demon—we’ve ever had the pleasure of allowing into our lives.”

“Perfect for us,” I added, running my clawed hand down her cheek. “Strong. Brave.”

I’ll miss her. Miss her smell. The warmth of her skin. Her playfulness. The way she would tease us at every turn and how different she’d been from everyone else.

Meant for us.

Her smile faded.

“Why does that sound like a goodbye?” she asked .

Sweet Eve. I wish it didn’t have to be this way.

But it did. We needed to protect her, and this was the only way.

“Because it is,” I replied as I stepped away from her. Her eyes widened, and she tried to step out of Eros’s hold but failed.

She looked back at Eros, betrayal flashing across her face.

“I will take you back home, Eve,” she said. “After that, you can live a fulfilling human life. You won’t have to worry about us. You won’t be in danger anymore.”

“I don’t want that.” She struggled to break free from my sister. “Let me go!”

“We have some things to take care of,” I said, letting my hand run across her face one last time. “Until it is over, and even after that, we cannot guarantee your safety.”

“I don’t need you to guarantee shit! I can protect myself.”

“If you could, you wouldn’t have been brought here in the first place,” Eros said from behind her. “Please understand, Eve. We want nothing more than to keep you with us. But we cannot risk your life.”

“Just let me stay!” she pleaded, tears filling her eyes. “We can work out the details later. Please!”

Her tears hurt more than I could take.

Eros looked at me one last time. I gave her a nod, and, in a flash, they were gone.

It hadn’t been hard to get the information from Madam. Even if she was still mad at us for the favor the shadow demon cashed in, she still gave us the coordinates for Eve’s old home and promised never to go after her again.

I believed her. She knew better than to upset her relationship with the future rulers of the demon realms.

Eros was back in mere minutes, sadness etched into her face. I was positive I was wearing the same expression.

“Are you ready?” I asked after allowing us to stew in our sadness together. Something we hadn’t done since Mother had been killed.

She let out a sigh and nodded.

“Let’s get it done.”

“So the lustful haze has finally worn off,” Father said as I handed him the drink. His eyes held some suspicion, but he accepted it with little resistance.

We sat across from him in the dining room, not another demon in the vicinity.

“Can you blame us?” Eros asked with a smile and raised her own glass.

He let out a small huff of a laugh and brought his glass to his lips. I did the same, taking a small sip.

Father’s eyes widened as he tasted what was in the cup.

“How did you?—”

“We know some people who went to the human realm recently,” I said. “It was of little effort to ask them to bring us back a bottle of your favorite human liquor.”

Father would never admit it, but there were many things that he liked about the humans. Their flesh, for one, and their inventions—such as whiskey—another.

“You truly are trying to butter me up,” he said before throwing back the rest of the drink in one gulp.

Neither Eros nor I could keep the smile off our faces. Father truly thought his good little minions had returned to him.

“And you’ll be happy to know tomorrow they will be on their knees in front of you for their unsanctioned visit to the human realm.”

Father let out a laugh. “Perfect. You two are almost forgiven. This is a good start.”

His words angered me more deeply than I expected and I had trouble not lunging at him. He didn’t ask if we forgave him for what he had done to Eve. In his mind, he was doing the right thing. Sickening. I couldn’t wait to give him what he deserved.

For Mother. For Eve.

He got up, placing the cup back on the table.

“Looking forward to tomorrow. Make sure that bottle gets sent to my room.”

“Already done, Father,” Eros said with a smile.

He left the dining room and Eros and I waited in silence. When the sound of a clock chiming throughout the palace reached us, we slowly looked at each other.

“Ready?” Eros asked.

“Born ready.”

With a forced restraint, we made our way up to our father’s room, opening the door just enough to shed some light inside.

It was time. And by the sound of his shallow breathing, our little present had already worked its magic.

“Some things cannot be forgiven,” I growled as I watched Father stumble in the darkness of his room as he got up from the bed. The crown, still on his head, glimmered in the darkness.

It didn’t even surprise me that he slept with the damned thing on.

We only had a few minutes before his guards sensed something was wrong. Not that they weren’t going to have a surprise of their own.

As it turned out, so many more were loyal to the realm, to the whole family, to my mother—to us.

“What did you do?” Father wheezed, his hand clasping his throat.

“Do you feel it?” Eros asked from my side, a feral smile spread across her face. “The fire?”

“Originally, we wanted you to be tried by the court,” I said, crossing the room. “Wanted to show every demon in existence what you had done to their queen. The crimes you’d committed while ruling them.”

He let out a hard cough, and his hand came up, motioning for us to stop. But it was too late. He had fallen into our trap.

This is what you get for taking what’s ours. For hurting her.

“You can’t do this to me,” he forced out as his throat began to close. He fell to the ground, his entire body shaking.

I leaned down, getting eye level with him. Eros was standing behind me, her laugh echoing through the room.

“Do you know how hard it was to find demon poison?” I asked, tilting my head to the side.

“Remember that uprising all those years ago? When the humans threatened to murder you? You did good work getting rid of every fire lily just in case they could get their hands on one—or at least you thought you had.”

His eyes widened as he realized what I was saying.

“That’s right,” I confirmed, lowering my voice. “You shouldn’t have taken her from us. Either of them.”

Eros stepped around me, her hand tangling in Father’s hair and yanking it back.

“We’re going to sit on your throne and undo everything you did to fuck up the demon realms,” she vowed. “Every dirty deal. Every murder. Every human life lost, we are going to make it right. Starting with Mother.”

“Remember her,” I commanded. His eyes shifted to mine. “Remember her laugh. Her smile. How caring she was. You took her away from us. You ruined the only good thing in our life. And you can think about that as you rot in the dungeons.”

“The lily will leave you paralyzed, but don’t worry—we will make sure you’re fed enough to be kept alive,” Eros said. “And as you go crazy down there, slowly but surely, I want you to remember Mom.”

She let go of his head, letting it flop to the floor .

“You’ll be burning for eternity. Unable to move. You’ll be begging for us to kill you, but we won’t.”

“We will take your crown, though,” Eros said and plopped said item off his head.

There was nothing more satisfying than watching Father try his hardest to fight and fail.

“Guards,” I called to the ones I knew would already be outside the door, awaiting my orders.

It’s over.