Page 48 of Vengeance and Vipers

‘What does he want with her?’ I grind out.

He looks up sharply at my tone and then snorts in amusement. ‘What do you think?’

‘If not death, then sex,’ I murmur.

Krase surveys me, looking for what I don’t know. ‘Not quite.’

‘Stop being so cryptic,’ I growl. ‘Am I going to need to kill you after all, or not?’

He doesn’t say anything for a moment, and I wonder what the hell my brother’s deep, dark demon could want with her if not the usual.

‘I’m not sure,’ Krase says, turning away. ‘He wants to mate. Properly.’

‘With Jules? But she’s human.’ I shake my head at him. ‘That doesn’t make sense. Why would your fully demon side be interested in a human as more than food?’

‘Why are you?’ he counters.

‘It’s not the same,’ I argue. ‘I’m not rogue.’

Krase is watching me closely again. ‘She’s human, you say? Are you sure about that, brother?’

I frown. ‘Of course. What else could she be?’ My eyes narrow at him. ‘What do you know that you aren’t telling me?’

He sits back in his chair and purses his lips. ‘How much did you get to know her again in the Mountain?’

‘Intimately,’ I say without hesitation. ‘I spent time with her, fed from her, fucked her. But I was thwarted by the others at every turn, bar Axel who also fed from and fucked her.’

‘He became close to her as well?’

‘Aye.’

‘But not the others?’

‘No. Daemon, Maddox, and Iron … they thought there was something wrong with us both, that she had us under some spell. They …’

I hesitate, wondering how much I should tell him. He’ll rage, but perhaps it’s better to tell him everything now while we’re alone rather than wait for it to come out later when there might be others around.

‘She was hiding in the Mountain. I still don’t know why or from whom. The Demon King knew she was there. He’d been trying to find her for weeks. We thought you were dead, and we all blamed her for it because of what she did two years ago.’

I sit down on the bed. ‘We made a deal with the King in the Mountain that we’d find her and deliver her to him. She captured Axel, and then we caught her, but she wouldn’t tell us where she’d stowed him. She was ill for a few days with a fever. When she finally woke, I took her with me to find Axel, and when we did, he was starving ...’

‘She had a fever?’ Krase’s voice is sharp.

I look up to find Krase staring at me.

I frown, not seeing the importance. ‘Aye.’

‘Tell me the rest then.’

‘She made friends with an actual arania. Can you believe it?’ I smile at the thought, but Krase’s face falls a little.

Mine does, as well. ‘Siggy’s dead.’

Krase nods. ‘She grieves deeply for the arania. What else should I know?’

‘Iron’s fae magick is a lot stronger. The Mountain, maybe ... it did something to him. He was able to compel us to leave the safety of Siggy’s nest. He made us walk right out to where he and the others were waiting. We tried to reason with Maddox, but he wouldn’t believe that our feelings for Jules were real. He wanted to know the location of the portal she used to get into the Mountain before Dante. He kept us subdued while Iron …’

‘Tortured her,’ Krase finishes, standing up abruptly and saying a soft ‘fuck’.