Inferno of Darkness (Divisa Huntress #2) - J.L. Weil Page 0,89

is the Court of Envy, after all.”

“You’re going to start a war.”

A half sensual grin danced on his lips. “Probably.”

My fingers were toying with the ends of his sable hair, and I tugged on a strand, earning a scowl. “Tell me that you’re not doing this for me.”

“You know I can’t do that.”

“Ashor,” I scolded.

“We’re going to be on the winning side, luv,” he said, with more confidence than any single man needed. Then he proceeded to slap me on my ass. “Trust me.”

“How can you be so sure?” I retorted, wishing I had an ounce of his assurance.

Ashor’s eyes glimmered, and the smile on his lips was a dark, cruel thing. “Because I never lose.”

“Don’t be such a dickladle,” I said dryly.

Ashor choked. “Come again, luv?”

My lips quivered, enjoying the glint of amusement lingering in his eyes. “It means stop being an ass. So tell me how you plan to weasel your way out of spending a night in her room.”

“I can’t.” He pressed a finger to my lips when I opened them to protest. “I cannot share the details of the future, not just for your own protection, but because I do not yet have the answers. I have ideas, but more than one path is laid out before us. The bond between us is stronger than any demon oath, and I swear on our bond that I will not touch the queen, nor will I allow her to touch me. Not now. Not ever. You are and will only ever be the sole woman to share my bed for as long as I shall have a soul to dwell in this world and beyond.”

My fingers weaved into his dark, silky locks. “That was all you had to say.”

He groaned as my lips claimed his again.

Two days passed.

And in those forty-eight hours, Ashor and I spent the majority of the time refining my control of the darkness. I was far from playing in his league, but I had more discipline summoning and banishing the power gifted by our bond.

Still no luck releasing my demon, but it wasn’t the same as learning a new trick. Suppressing my demon went deep, an ingrained reflex, like muscle memory.

The waiting was torturous, and if it wasn’t for Ashor keeping my mind occupied with magic and exercises to pull out my demon, I would have done something stupid and reckless, like busting into the queen’s throne room and issuing an ultimatum that would probably have ended with her killing me… or worse, her enslaving me.

I hadn’t realized that was a fear until the thought popped into my head. But the courts enslaved human souls. It was kind of the point of Hell. They worked for them in the courts, enslaved to do a variety of nasty deeds with demons with no say in the matter.

Hell, no.

I was no demon’s bitch.

Light footsteps sounded outside the suite. Ashor’s body hardened, his gaze swinging to mine, and the storm swirling there sent my hackles up. Something was happening.

Ashor banished his glorious onyx wings, retracting his demon. “It appears the queen would like to speak to us,” he said, moments before the door to our suite burst open.

Three demons crowded the doorway, more or less pushing and shoving at each other to be the first one over the threshold.

Ashor rolled his eyes, smoothing down his hair. “Incompetent,” he muttered under his breath with haughty superiority. “I don’t know why the queen employs such foolish demons.”

These were nothing but grunt soldiers. They were expected to obey without question, which wasn’t difficult to do when you only had half a brain.

A trickle of darkness leaked from Ashor, ribboning itself around the trio. “You forget who I am. Do not enter my rooms without knocking, or you will learn just how true my reputation as the Prince of Darkness truly is.”

The demon in front shrank back, lowering his head as he said, “The queen invites you to dine with her.”

Ashor waved a careless hand that sent his shadowy powers into a sweeping motion that had the demons tumbling back into the hall. “I’ll show myself to the dining hall.” Lacing our fingers, he guided me past Verena’s guards, a wicked grin on his lips. He enjoyed stirring up trouble.

I did a quick scan of my appearance and groaned internally. “It would have been nice to know ahead of time so I could have changed.”

His eyes did a sideways sweep of me from head to toe. “What’s wrong with how you’re