Sympathy for the Demons (Promised to the Demons #1) - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,46
looking at the worst sort of criminal, then. I probably should just leave him alone.
Anything Piers was in on, Bernard was in on too. I knew this well, even though Bernard didn’t tell me much. He told me enough. And I felt it.
“Why?” I asked. “Why would you do all of that?”
“For power,” he said simply. No hiding it, and no elaboration—it was the answer I guess I already knew.
“And this is where that ends up,” I murmured, thinking more of Bernard than Piers.
Piers laughed bitterly. “Once it’s gone, it’s like sobering up with a pail of cold water in the face. The power is gone and I’m not getting it back, and every sin I committed was for absolutely no purpose at all.”
“Do you know Bernard Franch?”
“Ah. Right. You’re his,” Piers said.
“Not anymore,” I said, recoiling at the idea that I had ever been ‘his’, or ever could be again. The thought of Bernard caused me such dread and fear, and yet, I couldn’t shake my old bond to him, and I wished I knew how to change him into the boy I remembered from so long ago. I wished I had never asked about him now, because I didn’t like Piers to catch my weakness for my former warlock.
“A loyal foot soldier to the council’s power grab,” Piers said.
“I know…”
“There is only so much you can tell another person that they’ll listen,” Piers said. “If he’s an ass like me, just forget about him.”
“I won’t forget. But I’m moving on.” I met the golden eyes of the avornax whose scales blended in with the shadows. “If you ever want to come out, I’m happy to give you some work. But don’t burn my hair again or you will have to live on bugs!”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Lord Variel
The hours flew by as we built the cabin, log by log. It would take us several days to complete the structure, I estimated, and then we would fill in the cracks and get windows and a door installed, and I would plaster over the inner walls so I could hang some tapestries to bring a little color to the room. It was hardly a castle, but I had built it myself, and I was enjoying it as much as I enjoyed the redesign of the gardens a century ago. It must be admitted that it was easier to build things that didn’t involve traps and torture devices or foreboding stone architecture.
With the return of my most loyal servants, I was feeling a little more like my old self. And this Bevan was a talented fellow when it came to building a house, but there was something about him I didn’t like nor trust. He didn’t act like a proper servant.
Sometimes souls are willful even after you devour them. I remembered my father’s old words of wisdom. Then you have to break them. If you do not, they will begin to devour your soul instead. That risk is the price of our magic. However, you must not be afraid of it. Breaking them is the very best part…
I knew I ought to take every opportunity to humiliate Bevan, especially in front of Jenny, and if he still acted out, he would need to be whipped.
I had an image of Jenny sobbing and begging to me to stop. I’ll do anything, sir, please!
It aroused my cock, but it also gave me a disturbing feeling that I didn’t want that to happen, especially since I wasn’t sure she would actually say that. It was just as likely she would develop a powerful hatred of me.
It was possible, I thought, that the trouble was simply that this was his house and realm, and he had no other servants to model behavior for him or warn him how dangerous I could be. Perhaps nothing would need to be done once he saw how Uram, Gillian and Jameson obeyed me.
Although Gillian really was dim-witted, and Uram kept giving me this grin that I didn’t like one bit.
“Dinner is ready!” Jenny sang out from the stoop.
My stomach growled. I had worked up an immense appetite from this hard work.
“We don’t even have room for us all to eat in there,” Bevan said. “I’ll make up a fire from the wood scraps out here and we can eat under the moon.” It was getting on to dusk.
“How lovely!” Jenny said. “Well, the rest of you can come fill your plates.”
“Thank you, sweetheart,” Uram said, tipping his cap to her.