“Maybe,” Tessau said, taking her arm and steering her away. “Or maybe I will take her myself.”
As they wandered away, I clenched my teeth and refused to let anger show in my face or bearing. I might let a woman go down on me—it wasn’t an unpleasant experience, something I’d learned in my experimental days—but I would not allow that wank-hammer to fuck me. He’d die first.
As if hearing my thoughts, Hadriel paused before following them. “Don’t worry, love,” he whispered. “A lot of these demons are in the impressionable stages of debauchery. I can talk them into and out of almost anything. That male demon is bi—he just doesn’t quite realize it—so I can lean on his confusion if I need to. You might need to do some sex acts, but we’ll try to limit that to your own digits, yes?”
I took a deep breath but didn’t respond.
He nodded. “I have to go. Leave it to me, though. I know all the right people, and most of them think I’m ridiculous.”
“How is that helpful?”
He frowned at me. “Because they aren’t threatened by me, which means I get to move around pretty freely. The lessons in the master’s castle are really coming in handy. Be thinking about your part—we need the dragons to get us through the castle and out. Where is Hannon, speaking of? He’s our expert on those boats.”
“He won’t be coming to these parties. I made sure of it.”
Hadriel glanced at my face with confusion before nodding and hurrying off.
“He’s a valuable asset,” Micah said after he left.
“Yes, and if you’d told him that a few months ago, he would have laughed in your face.”
“Incoming,” Micah said, moving to the other side of his cage as Dolion stepped out of the crowd and walked directly toward me. No one hovered around him this time. And as he distanced himself from those mingling on the outskirts of the party, his flat expression fell away, exposing the rage beneath.
“I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how you did this,” he seethed, his tone low and vicious. It was clear he was talking about the drastic change in the crowd. “Is it that little shifter man-whore who came with you? I thought he was firmly in hand. More fool me, maybe. Not to worry—he’s been returned to the dungeons. To you.”
I was careful to keep perfectly composed, not giving anything away. “Don’t degrade sex workers like that. They deserve better than your slurs. Or for Jedrek to be mentioned in the same sentence.”
His lip curled in barely controlled anger. “I took you in order to keep that dragon prince in line. But I’ve received word that he has essentially cleared the kingdom of demons. You’re of absolutely no use to me alive, but at least you might offer some potential as revenge. We’ll see how tall he stands when he watches you and your family suffer gruesome deaths, hmm?” He took a step away, clasping his hands behind his back. “Enjoy the party. It’ll be your last.”
Cold washed through me as he strode away, every movement full of rage.
“Looks like we’ve run out of time,” Micah said softly, watching him go.
“I have, at any rate.”
“We have. There’s one issue with what he said, though.”
“What’s that?”
“The officers. We can clear all the ones we see, but they have some sort of power to avert the eye. They can get away without being noticed…and then they’ll alert the guards, who’ll be after us in no time.”
I gripped the bars as my heart clattered against my ribcage. “I have a plan for the officers. They drink that fizzy drink right before the lull—the blackout. My crowded everlass leaves are ready. I just need to cold-seep them to speed up the release of their power. I can drop them into the canister when I’m brought up with Vemar—he’s great at making distractions. If the faerie and alpha can get us past those locks, and Hannon can manage the boats, I can get us the rest of the way. All I need is the opportunity.”
“Then we must ensure you have it.”
Later that night, I was purchased for the first time. I would join the others in the private rooms reserved for the paying participants and their “acquisitions.” The couple Hadriel had tried to set up hadn’t come through. Instead, I’d been purchased by a guy influenced by Leala. The details? I would need to wear leather, expose my tits and ass, and…urinate on someone.
Like…what in the holy fuck?
What in the holy fuck?