would think me weak. I couldn’t. But my touch would kill the man. He screamed, eyes wild and teeth bared. I couldn’t save this one. Hands clamped around my neck, he clung on, teeth gritted. Spittle rained from his lips as he growled and snapped. No words. Maybe nobody had taught him how to speak. I could kill him. Was that the right thing to do?
Asmodeus plucked him off me and broke his neck in the time it took me to blink. He tossed the body aside and fixed me beneath his yellow-eyed glare. Propped up on my elbows with my wing crushed beneath me, I glared back. If he challenged me now, I’d fight. He sucked in a breath through his nostrils. His chest expanded. “I have another.” He grunted. “Come.”
I had to get out of this lesson and fast. “Why is it important I master lust?”
“You are my daughter.”
Climbing to my feet, I curled my lip at the sight of sizzling human hair and skin clinging to my demon flesh. Damn. I’d have given anything to be back in Boston, sipping a chai tea latte. Maybe I couldn’t even wield lust. Maybe that delightful talent had skipped me. I hoped so. But I still needed to convince daddy-dearest I could.
I followed Asmodeus through the fortress, collecting leers and jeers along the way. We descended staircases into the bowels of the castle. I knew there was a fighting pit beneath the halls but couldn’t imagine why we’d be going there. Certainly, no demon would face me in the pit. They’d much prefer stabbing me in the back or cutting my throat while I slept.
We entered what appeared to be a galley of empty stalls, like stables, but in these stalls, shackles hung from the ceiling. My element flared at the sight of them. Torches spluttered. Chains . A shudder rippled through me, dislodging ash from my skin. Please don’t let there be another half-blood chained down here. Maybe if it’s demon I can put it out of its misery before it suffers any longer.
The sight greeting me in the last stall ripped the demon smile from my face and tore out my heart.
Stefan.
Beautiful, deadly, ice-born Stefan. Demon, but without his wings. He lay on his side, eyes closed, wrists shackled. Ice crystals glittered through his glorious demon body. Gashes wept blood. Dark, dried blood marred his hip, thigh, and arm. He’d fought. He’d been beaten.
Oh, god. No!
Rage bubbled up from the deepest darkest corners of my soul. I flung myself at my father in a flurry of claws and teeth. I might even have gotten through—had he not caught my skull in one vast hand and slammed me against the wall. He pinned me there, leaning all of his formidable weight into the hold. Grit and stone dug into my skull. Growls tumbled forth. I bucked and writhed until he smothered my little demon body with his own, holding me rigid between demon muscle and dungeon walls.
“I could rip your skull from your spine,” he purred. His illicit tone made the threat more venomous.
Tears sizzled in my eyes. I couldn’t look away from Stefan. What had been done to him? How had they caught him? He was the Prince of Wrath. The symbols had no effect on him. At least, they hadn’t, but they did now. Glyphs glowed around the shackles rubbing his wrists raw. How was he there? Was he…dead? I couldn’t panic. Panic would get me killed. “Yes, Father.” Think quick and smart.
Asmodeus threw me to the floor. “You will destroy this one’s mind with lust before you join me at court.”
No, no, no… I couldn’t. Not Stefan. Even if I knew how, I couldn’t hurt him.
“Attack me again, and I will summon the blade and take great pleasure in cleaving your half-blood body in two. You killed my bloodspawn—my son. Do not make the mistake of believing I care for you, Daughter. Your power is of my blood. Prove your allegiance.”
Stefan’s lashes fluttered. His beautiful eyes opened, and his crystalline gaze speared my soul. He snarled.
Chapter 6
W ith my father behind me , I levered myself up onto my arms, and Stefan
Larry Niven, Nancy Kress, Mercedes Lackey, Ken Liu, Brad R. Torgersen, C. L. Moore, Tina Gower