I tightened my hold on his throat, but we both knew that wasn’t how I would kill him. His hands were at his sides, pinned with my magic.
“You won’t burn this place to the ground,” he replied. “You don’t have the people. You have a lot of power, but not enough. They’d kill you eventually. And him with you.”
“Fine. But you’ll die first. And I have the power to make it slow. Right here, in front of all your guards.”
He licked his lips. His eyes changed—the intensity, not the color—and something new appeared in them. I didn’t know if I should be scared or wary or worried for my future. But then, I’d decided not to think about the future just now.
“Can they hear me outside of this…bubble?” he asked.
“Yes. I’m not a faerie. I don’t have that kind of magic.”
There was an edge to Govam’s voice as he raised it and said, “Leave him. Even if he was presentable, which he isn’t, we don’t have the guards. He’s trouble.”
“What about the dragon?” Denski asked, just outside my wall of will, his hands burned from trying to get in. That meant he was willing to take damage to help his captain. They had a tight bond. I wondered if this explained why Denski had never been elevated to a similar post—Govam didn’t want his friend targeted by Micah.
Govam kept eye contact with me, never glancing away for even one second. “You can resume your duties, Denski. She and I have an understanding. Don’t we, Finley? I will not include your brother in the parties if you play nice.”
“Not quite,” I replied. “You won’t include my brother in the parties so that I won’t slice off your dick and choke you with it. There was nothing in there about my playing nice with others. But yes, I won’t cause any more trouble than normal if you leave him out of this.”
Govam nodded. “We understand each other.”
I pushed off him, keeping him put for a moment while I backed up and extended my hands behind my back. Apparently I could break out of my cuffs—I just needed enough motivation. I wondered if that was true of most of the non-suppressed dragons. If so, it made me wonder why they bothered with the things. Or why the other Wyvern dragons didn’t break them on the regular. Then again, Govam had increased the amount of guards for each non-suppressed person so they’d be ready if we broke out.
Well…no, maybe not. They hadn’t been ready for me.
Denski grabbed my elbows as Hannon was put back in his cell. They were a little rougher than I would’ve liked. Still, he was there instead of here. I couldn’t spare him pain, but at least I could spare him the parties.
I just hoped Hadriel and Leala weren’t too badly off.
EIGHTEEN
FINLEY
“What in the hell?” Micah said softly as he looked at the demons coming through the main doors.
My jaw dropped. “What the hell” was right.
Costumes. Everyone had on costumes. It was reminiscent of a party back at Nyfain’s castle. Although some of the guests showed next to no skin, others were nearly naked. No robed figures walked amongst them this time—the “tame” shifters and faeries wore sparkly briefs and body paint of all colors.
“Has this happened before?” I asked Micah, fighting a crooked smile. Even though no one really wanted to get too close to me, they continued to put us together as the focal point of the cages. I was going to try to pull back on that a little tonight. I had to get near the other shifters, even if it meant getting bought, killing my john, and facing the repercussions.
“No.” Micah chuckled, then started laughing. “Absolutely not, no. Despite the fact that there is an entire faction of sex demons in this kingdom, the demon king likes to pretend their kind are civilized. Civilized in his mind means…”
“Vanilla,” I said, my smile widening.
“Apparently they’ve had a change of heart.” He sounded mystified.
Hadriel and Leala work fast, my dragon thought, full of pride.
“Are they…” Micah’s words drifted away for a moment. “Are they wearing nipple clamp…pasties? Is that a thing?”
Really fast. I laughed.
“So it seems,” I said, spying Leala in the crowd draped on a demon’s arm with those nipple clamp pasties and a sparkly pink thong. The demon next to her held a leash attached to a collared male demon trailing along behind them.
I could not believe my eyes. Collars? Hadriel and Leala were miracle workers.
Then again, there were sex demons present, and this was the exact vibe they’d created at Nyfain’s castle. Dolion might’ve been trying to show a certain face to his guests, but this depravity had always been lurking within them. Hadriel and Leala, true experts, had just let it out. I was sure the sex demons in his castle had helped. How could they not? This was their jam.