Princess of Lust (For the Love of Evil) (17 page)

She blinked at him in surprise then gave him a slow smile. “Well, I can begin to see why your Mistress keeps you around.” She smoothed her hands along the black leather dress that clung to her lush figure. “Very good, concubine.”

“Yes, you did well,” Kirin said before placing a kiss on his temple.

Gregor wanted to turn into that kiss, to experience the rush of pleasure that had been absent from his life ever sense Natalia had gone over two weeks ago. Time moved different in Hell, and he found himself going mad with the need to see her. Kirin said it was because of his bond to her as her concubine, but he knew it was because he loved her. Part of his mind tried to tell him he was merely enthralled with her, that his feelings weren’t real, but in his heart of hearts he knew he would love Natalia even if she was the peasant girl he’d thought she was when they first met.

A knock came at the door and Gregor struggled to his feet as three succubi came in. One held a tray of food and his stomach growled in hunger. The one in the middle had blond hair, but the other two had dark hair like Pyriel. All three were stunning enough on their own to rouse any man’s interest and Kirin made a low rumble of approval as they curtsied, displaying mouthwatering amounts of cleavage. Though he was loyal to Natalia with every drop of blood in his body, he’d have to be dead not to appreciate the display of female beauty before him.

Pyriel gave him an amused smile and sauntered over to the blonde succubus, giving her a kiss on each cheek. “Sycha, ladies, thank you for coming.”

His gaze followed the woman with a tray piled high with food and his mouth flooded with saliva at the sight of his favorite meal, roasted lamb in mint sauce. His stomach growled again, reminding him he hadn’t eaten since that morning. Kirin stood and gave the women a bow and Gregor followed suit. He started to cross the room to the meal but Pyriel stepped in his way and stopped him. He went to push her aside but felt a shoulder where there should have been an arm. He stared at her a for a moment before realizing that the succubus was shorter than Natalia, and even though she wore an illusion to look like her, she couldn’t change her actual form beneath.

She shook him off and continued to block his path. “Not yet. You have to earn your meal.”

He bristled and gave her a glare that had turned the men who’d served him on mortal earth into quaking bundles of fear. “I saw through your damn illusion.”

“You saw through it only after you touched me. How is that going to help you next time they make an attempt on you?” She poked a long, wickedly sharp, black-painted fingernail into his chest. “You may think you won’t fall for it again, but what if they wear the face of Raum next, or Kirin? They will do whatever they can in order to separate you from your guards, and you must be able to see through their disguises.”

He wanted to argue with her, wanted to tell her she was full of shit, but that wasn’t the truth. He’d been raised to be a leader of the mafia, trained to be aware of his own weaknesses and ruthlessly weed them out, and he wasn’t going to be weak now. Not when his vulnerabilities could get his beloved Mistress killed. “What do I need to do?”

Kirin sighed and took a seat on the couch again, stretching out as if he expected to be there for a while. The bastard managed to charm one of the dark-haired succubi into feeding him bites of Gregor’s meal. He caught Gregor watching them and winked, turning the act of sliding the fork out of his mouth into a sensual gesture that made Gregor’s balls draw up tight. So far he’d managed to avoid any intimacy with Kirin, but oh, how he wanted the other man. They both knew it was just a matter of time before Gregor gave in, and Kirin seemed to be enjoying the chase, seducing him every chance he got.

“Kirin, behave,” Pyriel said in an amused tone and the other succubi giggled. “Ladies, if you will.”

The three succubi linked hands and began to spin in a circle, reminding Gregor of little girls playing a game. He watched them then shot Pyriel a questioning look but she merely smiled. They spun faster, blond and black hair flying, and began to blur. One minute he watched three succubi, the next—three identical versions of Natalia.

They slowed and stopped, laughing and stumbling a bit. His stomach clenched and his mind rebelled against seeing three perfect versions of his beloved before him. So Pyriel had been right. The only reason he saw behind her illusion was because he’d touched her.

The Succubus Queen gestured to the women. “My ladies will rearrange themselves and you must tell me three times in a row which of them is golden-haired Sycha before you can eat.”

He smiled at her, more a feral baring of the teeth than anything else, and nodded. “Let’s get to work.”

***

The clump of their boots hitting stone floors echoed through the arched ceiling of the hallway leading to his and Natalia’s private suite. Located on one of the highest levels of the royal tower, it afforded magnificent views of Hell. Normally, Gregor enjoyed looking out the window, examining the patchwork of colors that made up this portion of Hell, but it was now dark outside and a familiar and unwelcome presence waited for him in his suite.

“Raum’s here,” Kirin said in a rough voice. “Something is wrong.”

The men glanced at each other and sprinted the last hundred feet to the enormous door of the waiting room. In that brief amount of time, Gregor imagined a hundred, no a thousand, horrible things that could have happened to Natalia. They’d had no contact with her since she went to London and yesterday, word from Tanth had reached them about the attack by another angel. Gregor knew she was still alive because their bond as concubine and Mistress remained intact, but other than that no one had any idea where she was.

Kirin reached the door first and slammed it open, narrowly missing hitting Raum, on the other side, in the face.

Before either man could say a word, Gregor had Raum’s black dragon skin tunic fisted in his grip. “Where is she? What happened? What’s wrong?”

Standing a few inches taller than him, Raum gave a bone-rattling growl and gripped his hand into the back of Gregor’s hair, holding him immobile as he stole a long, slow kiss. Stunned, Gregor tried to fight back the surge of lust that went through him but it was impossible beneath the skilled assault of the demon’s mouth. He trembled, struggling against the onslaught of sensations as his grip on Raum’s tunic went from pulling closer to weakly trying to shove him away.

As quickly as he’d grabbed him, Raum released him and stepped back, citron and aqua streaks flowing through his green eyes. He abruptly turned his back on Gregor and pulled Kirin into his arms, repeating the kiss. Gregor watched them, trying to tell himself that his throbbing erection was because of Raum’s magic, not a true reaction of his body. That excuse burned up like a flimsy piece of paper before the bonfire of heat Kirin and Raum generated together.

When they broke their kiss, Raum reached and gently brushed a tear from Kirin’s cheek. The tenderness, the love in that one gesture made him feel so alone. “What the hell is going on?”

Raum turned back toward him, the blue of his skin glimmering faintly in the light of the will-o’-the-wisps floating about the ceiling. “I’ve been called to battle. Belal’s armies are gathering at the border and I must be there to lead my legions for the High Prince.”

All the spit in Gregor’s mouth dried up and he gripped the back of a cream and gold high-backed chair near him. His mind raced through the villages and towns near the border, the faces of the people inhabiting them making his heart sink. He’d spent most of his time with Raum and Kirin while Natalia had been gone and had joined them when they went from town to town, checking on the defenses of each and going through their evacuation plans. Most of all, he remembered the children. He straightened and looked out the window at the dark countryside, focusing on little bits of light in the gloom here and there from the windows of houses. “I’ll need a few supplies from the coven, but I’ll be ready to go—”

“You’re not coming with me,” Raum said in a tight voice. “Neither of you are.”

Kirin started to protest but Raum gently placed a finger over his lips, stilling him. “I know you’ve ridden into battle with me before, my beloved, but not this time.”

Gregor pushed away from the chair. “He doesn’t need to stay here and babysit me. We can both go with you.”

“No.”

Kirin took a step away from Raum. “Master, please, let us come with you. You know my advice on the battlefield has never been wrong, and while Gregor may be young, he’s a brilliant tactician.”

“No,” Raum said again in a soft voice.

Kirin shot Gregor a desperate look and he understood his friend’s pain all too well. “Look, Raum, we both know I don’t care for you, but I swear I would never betray you in battle. You can trust me.”

Raum gave him a small smile with a hint of his earlier heat. “I know I can trust you. That’s why I’m leaving you my most precious possession to protect.” He pulled Kirin into his arms, closing his eyes and pressing the swarthy man’s face to his chest. “Kirin, you have to stay here with Gregor. Natalia is going to need both of you when she comes back, and you’re the only ones I trust with her safety. ”

Gregor started to protest but Kirin’s ragged voice startled him into silence. “Is it really that bad?”

“Yes.”

Kirin audibly swallowed and hugged Raum so tightly the veins on his arms stood out. “I love you.”

“And I love you. I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you standing in the middle of the gladiator arena, sweaty, beaten half to death, but still handsome enough to steal the beauty from the sun.”

Gregor swallowed hard and hated the tears that clogged his throat. A month ago, he’d have been throwing a party at the thought of Raum dying, but now, after having spent so much time with the demon, away from Natalia, he had to admit he’d grown rather…fond of him. Before he could second-guess himself, he went to their side and slowly wrapped his arms around each of them, holding the demon and the damned soul close.

Neither man said anything, but Raum gently slipped one arm out of Kirin’s embrace and wrapped it around Gregor, pulling him nearer. Kirin grabbed his hand and clung to it, so tightly that he could feel the slight tremors running through the other man. While he wasn’t going to be professing his undying love to the demon anytime soon, he had to admit that he valued their contentious friendship. He should step away, should hate the intimacy of their embrace, but he missed the simple pleasure of holding someone and being held.

Raum shifted and the sheaf of his long, white hair brushed over the back of Gregor’s hand. On impulse, he gave into a secret desire he’d been battling for a long time. Moving slowly, hoping Raum didn’t notice, he gently stroked Raum’s hair. It was as soft as silk, as soft as the sensual press of a woman’s skin, an odd feeling because the body beneath was as hard as rock. When the demon made no comment, he let the strands of his hair run like liquid satin through his fingertips.

To his surprise, it was Kirin who broke their embrace and Gregor almost leaped away, feeling guilty, aroused, and confused—his usual state around Raum. Desperate for some type of distance to rebuild his emotional walls, he moved around to the other side of the room and pretended to browse the bookshelf while Raum and Kirin spoke in a language he knew from Kirin was an ancient dialect of Greek. Kirin had taught him a few swear words and some marching songs in the long-dead language so he knew a word or two but not enough to understand them. The one word he did understand, spoken over and over, was
agape—love
.

Before he met Natalia, he’d thought he knew what love was, but he’d been wrong. Nothing he’d ever experienced could prepare him for the utter joy that came from being with her, and the heartache when she was gone. If someone had told him two years ago he’d be moved to tears by the thought of anyone harming his beloved, he would have thought they were crazy. He couldn’t understand the concept of loving someone more than he loved himself. It was as if Natalia carried around a piece of his heart with her.

And now, so did Raum. While his feelings for the demon weren’t the same as they were for Natalia, he could admit to himself he cared for the general. More importantly, Natalia loved Raum, and if anything were to happen to him, it would hurt her immensely. And, if he were to be completely honest with himself, it would hurt him as well.

A warm hand on his shoulder pulled him out of his deep thoughts and he turned to find Raum studying him intently. Kirin stood behind him with a worried look on his face and when their eyes met, he seemed to be pleading with him about something. Raum’s voice came out in a deep, almost seductive growl.

“Gregor, I have an immense favor to ask of you, and I don’t think you’ll like it, but I ask you to try to see past your hate of me and consider it.”

Gritting his teeth, he stepped away from the other man’s hand and nodded. Damn manipulative demons. “What is it?”

“I want to do a blood exchange with you.”

Gregor gaped at him as anger seared through his veins. “No fucking way! I’m Natalia’s concubine, no one else’s.”

Kirin’s nostrils flared and he gripped Gregor’s wrist in a surprisingly harsh hold. “He’s not asking you to be his concubine, you arrogant ass, he’s asking you to do a blood exchange so he can protect you. By drinking his blood, you’ll gain a small amount of his strength, strength my Master will then lose. He’ll also be able to speak to you in your mind across great distances and enter your dreams.”

A burn heated his cheeks and he refused to acknowledge it was a blush. “I knew that.” He hadn’t, and he could plainly see on the other men’s faces they didn’t believe him. Trying to regain his footing, he turned his glare on Raum. “Won’t you have access to my thoughts? I don’t want you mucking around in my head.”

Raum rolled his eyes and some of the tension went out of the air. “As tempting as it is to ‘muck’ about your mind, I believe I’ll be able to restrain myself.”

“Swear it.” Kirin growled but Gregor twisted his arm free from his grip. “Swear you won’t invade my thoughts or try to influence me.”