Free Ties That Bind: A Muse Urban Fantasy (The Veil Series Book 5) by Pippa DaCosta

his title back. I plucked the edge of the blade against Samien’s neck and watched blood bead. “I’m within my rights to kill you here and now.”
    “You are weak—”
    I jerked my knee up between his legs and smothered his body with mine. The sweet smell of burning demon flesh filled my nostrils. “I was weak. Once.” His eyes rolled back, showing me the white around his irises. Panic. Good. He deserved it. I nuzzled his neck and breathed in his scent. “I have you now. The kill is mine, and no beast here will stop me.” I felt the crowd at my back and knew where each demon stood by the heat alone. None cared for our scuffle in shadows. In fact, it was perfectly normal.
    Samien opened his mouth to issue a cry. I smothered his mouth with a hand and pushed my face close to his. “You are mine. You will do as I say. I own you now. Or I rip out your throat and roast you carcass on the fire as an example to the others here who would think to attack me.” A slither of lust trickled down my spine. I’d do it too. Wetness sizzled dry on my leg. His piss. He nodded or tried to. I should have let him up, but for a few in-between moments, I didn’t move. I felt the race of his heart as it thumped in his chest. Blood throbbed through him. Where his demon skin met mine, his limited power skittered. For once, I was the predator, and I had my catch pinned beneath my claws. Bloodlust surged in place of reasonable thought. I wanted him dead. He’d have killed me. This was just . It was right. But it was stupid, pointless, and typically demon. The human half of me that Samien despised was the half that saved him.
    I shoved back. “Do you still live here in the fortress?”
    “Yes,” he croaked.
    “I will come to you. Tell no beast.”
    He ducked his chin and scuttled off. I raised the blade to my lips and licked its edge, drawing Samien’s scent and taste across my tongue.
    My father’s demon eyes watched me over the heads of the bickering demons. He stood proud and devastating on the steps—wings spread, piercings aglow—and eyed me with a lascivious grin. I licked the blade. Hello, Daddy dearest, just teaching a demon their place… Satisfied, he turned his attention on the crowd, and I returned to my patrol.

Chapter 9
    S amien stopped short of dropping to his knees when I entered his bedchamber, but he was close to it, and that was good enough for me. “Do you work for Asmodeus in this fortress now?” I wasted no time in getting down to business. I certainly wasn’t there because I wanted to be.
    “Yes, and the princes when the court is in session.” He bobbed his head up and down, up and down, uncertain whether to look me in the eye or look away from his new owner.
    “How do they treat you?” I stopped in front of him, hand on hip, wing slightly spread, and sneered. He looked at me like it was a trick question. “Worse or better than Mammon?”
    His gaze dipped, his reply stalling on his gnarled lips. Caught between a rock and hard place: to help me or tell my father everything.
    “I have a proposition. I can return Mammon to his rightful place as your liege, but I need your help.”
    “Mammon is dead,” Samien hissed.
    “No, not quite.” I flashed sharp teeth. “Trust me, Samien. I want Mammon back, and I will make it happen. Until then, I need you to find me the key to the chains in the stalls below the fortress. Do you know the ones?”
    He nodded.
    “Say it.”
    “Yes.”
    “Good. Bring me the key, and when Mammon is restored, I will make sure you are rewarded with your freedom.”
    He blinked, hands wringing. “Asmodeus will kill me should he discover—”
    I had my element wrapped around the warmth inside him before he could finish his sentence. I put some heat into it, just a little shove. He dropped to his knees, coughing and spluttering.
    “What do you think I’ll do?” I crouched down at eye level and pushed more inside. He buckled and collapsed onto his side, burning from the inside