within my soul. It flowed out of me, and I imagined her legs walking her backward to the door.
I felt it when my power had her in its grasp, when it twined around her limbs like serpents. Something lit within me, an unfamiliar throb.
From my magic touching her?
She gasped and stiffened. “Stop it.”
I forced her backward, toward the door. She struggled against my power, her magic fighting mine, but she wasn’t strong enough.
I prowled toward her, and fear brightened her eyes.
Prey.
“Fine,” she all but growled, her back coming up against the door.
Something lit within me at the sound, and I dropped my magic.
She whirled and fled.
I watched her go, something strange filling my chest. I ignored it, striding back to the window to stare down at the sea. Losing myself in the crash of the waves below.
Faint footsteps sounded behind me. I looked back.
Lucifer.
He grinned. “Well, well. That was interesting.”
I turned back to the window, ignoring him.
He chuckled. “I’m quite certain you are a machine, my friend. But she has thrown a kink in your gears.”
A machine.
Yes, the title fit, and I relished it. I needed to stay that way. Whatever was malfunctioning inside my chest needed to be repaired. The cold that had once sat so comfortingly inside my soul had been invaded by the slightest flicker of heat. It couldn’t be tolerated.
“You like her.” There was a grin in Lucifer’s voice.
Like?
I’d never heard such a weak word in all my life. “I need her.”
“You’ve invited her to dinner, so I am certain that this is more than a need situation.”
“You’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”
“What I’m talking about is unprecedented territory.”
“You’re an irritation.” I knew why she was coming to dinner. So that she would eat and be forced to stay here. There was no need to tell him why. I turned to look at him. “It is time for you to leave.”
“There’s something different about you.”
Cold sliced through my heart. “There is not.”
Lucifer raised his hands. “No need to get testy. Just saying what a tasty morsel she appears to be.”
Tasty morsel?
It was a term I was entirely unfamiliar with, though it was clear enough what he meant. Lack of experience did not indicate lack of knowledge.
I just wasn’t built that way, like a mortal.
I thought of her wandering through the halls, of my guards watching her movements. They were loyal, but they had their weaknesses.
They could be a threat to her.
So too could the other gods, some of whom stopped by to pay a visit occasionally. To bother me, more like.
I could not allow them to hurt her, to get in the way of my plans.
“When she leaves her quarters, watch her,” I said.
“Watch her?”
I nodded. “She can’t escape but see that no harm comes to her.”
His brows rose. “You would choose me for this task? You know how I am around women, and she’s yours.”
“Not in that way.” I knew he spoke of physical union, something a machine had no use for. “As long as she fulfills the purpose for which I have taken her, she can do what she likes while she is here.” Something distinctly uncomfortable twisted in my chest at the thought, but I forcibly ignored it. “Just see to it that no harm comes to her.”
Lucifer shrugged. “I’ll do my best.”
“You will succeed. Nothing can happen to her.”
“Aye, Captain.” He saluted, then turned and left.
I turned back toward the window, fighting the desire to go to the mirror to watch her. She was a pawn. A chess piece. That was all.
Seraphia
I hurried down the hall away from Hades’ quarters, my mind racing.
A pawn.
What a bastard.
Ha. Calling me a pawn was the least of it. The image of the flayed bodies in the city square flickered in my mind’s eye. And the memory of his power forcing me to comply was still printed on my legs.
He wasn’t a bastard. He was a monster. Cold and hard.
And he wanted me at dinner. At his table.
Why? And was I really going to go?
Yes.
He would drag me there if I didn’t. And I needed to, for Mac.
My stomach grumbled at the idea of dinner, and I looked down at it. Shut up, you. We’re not eating for a while. Dinner is about info, not food.
Charging into his room had been an idea, but not a good one. For one, it had been dangerous. As soon as I’d arrived, I’d realized that he didn’t always have the mist surrounding him. He had to consciously make