Sympathy for the Demons (Promised to the Demons #1) - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,55

an apprentice.”

“I have a feeling you’re going to be a lot more than an apprentice,” he said, putting his arms around me all the way. “This is where you belong…Celeste…”

Hearing my name on his lips, it was the first time in all these years that I could hear it and not feel like it had been stolen from me.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Lord Variel

As soon as the deed was done, jealousy swept over me.

That would not do. No, I must prove to myself that I was Lord Variel the Devourer, and nothing less. I was a man to be feared, a pillar who stood alone and needed no one. I never had, and Jenny was the last person who would do me in.

I ordered all my servants into the house and immediately sliced up Jenny’s cake. I hacked at it, really, like it was my foe. She had been talking about the rainbow cake all week, and how much she was looking forward to making it pretty with the dyes. She had assembled it so carefully. It smelled like heaven and every layer was perfectly symmetrical.

Now I made a mess of it, the layers of different colors getting smashed and falling over, the thin layer of chocolate coating shattering. Crumbs went everywhere. I gave all the servants a piece of the cake and took the rest for myself.

“Jenny worked very hard on that,” Gillian said in a very small voice, but when my glowing red eyes bore down on her, she shut right up.

“That is why we will enjoy it, as she intended,” I snapped. I waved a hand at the fire and began to shout out a spell. The flames roared. I reached out a hand and wove my claws with the words, stirring a vision in the flames. My head throbbed at the force of the spying spell, but I was soon rewarded as a vision appeared in the flames. Bevan had Jenny pinned to the bed and was kissing her.

“Is that—is that what they’re doing right now?” Jameson asked.

“Exactly.”

“You’re spying on them?”

“They are my servants, so they will perform for my amusement,” I snapped, ignoring the feeling that kept plaguing me in Jenny’s presence—a soft, troubled emotion.

Gillian started to creep off to the kitchen.

“Gillian, you will stay here and watch also,” I said. “You will all watch. I know that the three of you told her that I saw a toad in the old hag’s scrying bowl.”

Uram, still silenced, gave me a look that suggested he was down for all of this, but also wondered why I was doing it when he clearly thought Jenny was destined to be my bride. I smacked him with the back of my hand.

“I want it to be known that this girl is nothing to me! I have no feelings for a lowly familiar! She and Bevan will be wed and produce more servants for me, and I will be glad of it, because they are both excellent workers, much better than any of you lot. But none of you mean anything to me, and Jenny least of all.”

Jenny and Bevan were talking for quite a while after they kissed. Maybe Bevan will resist my spell.

Relief mingled with deep annoyance. I had set this up. I needed him to force her, to be the little puppets that devoured souls should be. I had to show them both that I had power over them, and they had none over me. The fact that Bevan wasn’t tearing her clothes off right now only reminded me how dangerous he was. He wasn’t a powerful sorcerer who could meet me head-on in a fight, but if you lived long enough, you learned that men with patience and discipline could be far more dangerous.

He kissed her again. Then, she took ahold of his shirt and pulled him closer. I couldn’t really see their face in the vision; it wasn’t that clear, but the body language told enough of the story.

He’s not forcing her at all… How can he take such care with her under the influence of that spell?

“I really don’t want to watch this,” Jameson said.

Uram clearly did. And Gillian, despite trying to leave, was staring as Bevan now pulled Jenny’s dress off of her.

“Too bad,” I said. It was too late for me to back out now, although I realized now how irritated I was that Uram was enjoying this.

I was a little shocked at how mutual their love making seemed to be, and how different it