Sympathy for the Demons (Promised to the Demons #1) - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,47
“She is not your sweetheart. Address her as Miss Jenny and nothing else, or I will cast a silence spell upon your tongue.”
“It’s okay!” Jenny said. “I don’t mind!”
“Uram is too much of a cad to be trusted with you,” I said.
“Oh, no worries, my lord. She’s a cute little thing, and hiding a nice bosom too, but I don’t think a toad is meant to be my match.”
Jenny turned pink and quickly moved to arrange some biscuits and butter.
“Silence,” I said, seizing Uram’s tongue, as a feeling of cold horror slid down my entire body. He might have told her. “You may speak again when the moon is full.”
“Huhh,” Uram coughed out. I knew he was trying to protest that the moon was barely out of a full phase now, but it wouldn’t hurt him to shut up for twenty-seven days straight.
“You don’t really mean that,” Jenny said. “You’re not going to let him speak for a whole month?”
“Twenty-seven days.”
“That—is—cruel,” she said, snapping a tea towel with every word.
“I am cruel,” I said, leaning a little closer over her until she did edge back a little. “If you think otherwise you are only asking for a misunderstanding between us.”
She was holding her breath now, her dress strained around her curves as her lungs were full of air, and my hands twitched to tear the dress off of her and claim her right away. My father would certainly have done it. She was mine. I should be able to do what I liked with her.
I eased off and scraped my horns on the ceiling again. Damnit.
“It’s true,” Jameson said. “When I summoned a demon I was wishing to be turned into a human. And he could do it anytime he wants, but he never will. He just ate my soul and laughed.”
Now I cut Jameson a look that made him turn away and shake his head a little, with the resignation of a good peon. “If I turned you human, you would try to leave,” I said. “You wanted something without being willing to give anything in return, and you end up with nothing. I didn’t make the rules.”
“Is…is that true too?” Jenny asked. “You can’t turn him human if you turned Piers into an avornax?”
“It would do him no good to be human when he is my servant,” I said. “He’s one of the clever ones, and if he had hands and didn’t look ridiculous I’m sure he would cause me all sorts of trouble.”
“So…you could change him into a human, you really just don’t want to.”
“It serves him right for wishing to be something other than what the gods made him. You seem proud enough to be a humble toad.”
“Harpies have no opportunity in life,” Jameson said. “Who would not want to be free of this accursed form? I have a degree in theater from the Royal Sinistral College of Performing Arts, but there are no roles for a male harpy in any classic play.”
Jenny’s brows furrowed and she picked up a plate and started serving Jameson some food.
I think I had made her angry.
Her angry face was a fierce little masterpiece. She actually looked more cute than she normally did. Then I wished Uram had not called attention to her bosom, because now it was impossible not to constantly consider how full and round her breasts were under her high-necked dress with a demure black ribbon at the neck. Although somewhat concealed by the flared skirt, there was every indication that her bottom was just as luscious. Unlike demonesses and nymphs, she seemed unaware of her assets, which was so intriguing it made my balls ache.
Get ahold of yourself, Variel. This girl is nothing. She has no power. In a fight she would be obliterated, and it’s likely she doesn’t even have the strength to bear your children. You cannot let yourself forget for a moment that you would be a target of mockery and even violence if you took a toad for a bride.
At home, I did not even eat with my servants, per se—that is, they waited on me while I ate, and then they ate themselves while I had my evening leisure time. I decided to stay in the cottage and eat by myself while the others gathered around the fire. It was proper that way; I should not be mingling with these lesser beings.
Bevan and Jenny were sitting right beside each other, hip to hip, eyes meeting eyes.