Page 121 of Vipers and Vendettas

‘Not quite, at least not the way you think. We do find some here and there, pockets of clans with two or three females, but they aren’t enough to sustain all eleven of us. We end up draining them dry within days.’

‘Is that what you’re planning on doing with me?’ I ask, keeping my fear in check, at least outwardly. ‘Doesn’t seem sustainable. Surely, at some point, you’ll run out of stragglers.’

‘Indeed. But, no, you weren’t for them. You were going to be my ace. Having a private succubus is a bit like having your own personal and limitless battery. I was intending on keeping you for myself and allowing the others to simply … wither away.’

‘That’s why Iron got so powerful around me,’ I mutter to myself. Gigi was right. ‘You wanted the others out of the way. You wanted to be in charge,’ I say.

‘Behind the scenes, yes. But you weren’t maturing quickly enough for my plans.’

‘What happened to my mother?’ I ask. ‘Did they drain her?’

He looks thoughtful. ‘I believe she died in transit or something. An accident while en route to be brought before the Ten to be ‘executed’. You were taken when she was found and spirited away by one of my agents in secret. I waited for you to be old enough to begin forcing the succubus to the surface, but then it never happened.’ Tamadrielle smiles. ‘I was beginning to think my agent had deceived me and that you were simply a human until you escaped me. I saw it in your eyes that day just as I do now.’ He sighs. ‘So, I have a proposition for you, demon.’

‘A proposition?’

‘You’re going to be my personal succubus.’

I stare at him. ‘You want me to juice you up?’

‘Crass creature,’ he mutters, looking vaguely disgusted.

‘What if I don’t want to be your battery?’ I ask.

He leans forward. ‘Then, I’ll have your mates killed. Your entire clan will be butchered, and you’llstillreplenish my magick, but I’ll give you to Toramun to warm his bed as I originally promised him. So long as he doesn’t kill you, the arrangement is the same for me.’

‘And if I do it?’ I hear myself asking. ‘Do I get anything?’

He snorts. ‘Besides the lives of those you care about and your sexual autonomy, you mean?’ He seems to consider. ‘You ask for much, slave, but you can live with your clan in that lovely ancestral estate of Julian Maddox’s if you like.’

He says it like he’s doing me a favor, but more likely, he just thinks fewer people will know I exist if I come and go from this room instead of living in the dungeon or Toramun’s barrack room. Slaves talk, and so do overseers and guards. He wouldn’t want the Ten to know about me.

‘But?’ I prompt.

‘But you keep my sigil on your flesh for me to see. You remain mine. You come when I have need of you.’

‘So, you can take my magick when you want it.’

‘You make as much as you require,’ he sneers. ‘With only one Lord to feed instead of eleven, you’ll be guaranteed a good life. So will your daughter after you.’

‘It’s a good deal for a slave like me,’ I say.

He nods, smiling. ‘It is a very good deal for a slave.’

I turn to leave.

‘Where are you going?’

‘Back to the kitchens.’

‘I’m afraid not. You’re to be kept in your cell until I can sort a conjure that will ensure you can’t run again.’

As if on cue, there’s a knock at the door, and Toramun enters.

‘You called for me, my lord?’

‘Take her to her cell. No more work for this slave. I mean it, Toramun. You do nothing with her unless you speak to me first.’

Toramun bows and begins to lead me from the room.