Free Prince of Demons 2: The Order of the Black Swan by Victoria Danann

might be called.
    While she ran through the ramifications, she felt a moist snuffling at the hand that hung by her side. When she looked down, she saw a large shaggy dog-like creature looking up and wagging its tail. When it raised its head to grin at her, she saw fangs the size of a sabre tooth tiger. She screamed and started backing away.
    The canine looked around, uncertain about how to react to that behavior as the arc of its tail wag waned.
    “Female!” said Peregrination. “Do not make that noise again!”
    “Perry!” said Brave. “You will not talk to Lana like that. She’s never seen straithgard before.”
    “That’s a straithgard?” she asked, pointing at the animal. The straithgard looked up and, seeing that she was referring to him, gave a hopeful tail wag and took a couple of steps toward her. She held up her hand and said, “Stop!”
    “Oh for…” Perry said. “Tinker. Go sit with Brave.”
    The straithgard turned and trotted to Brave’s chair where it promptly flopped down on its side.
    “Was that chasing us?”
    “Yeah, this one and others. But to them it was just an outing. A run. If they had caught us, they would have just drowned us in kisses.”
    When Lana finally spoke again, it was to say simply, “Take me back.”
    She turned away from Brave and refused to look at him or acknowledge him in any way. She began saying, “Take me back,” like a chant, partly to let her wishes be known and partly to drown out anything he had to say.
    At length, when it became conspicuously clear to Brave that she was going to refuse to hear anything he said, he hefted her to his shoulder in a roar of frustration and stormed from the Regent Chamber.
    The walk to the subterranean level where the dungeon had recently been constructed was not without punishment to Brave. She screamed. She kicked. She beat at his rear end with fists and squirmed so that it was almost impossible to hold onto her. All the while she was turning the air blue with every manner of curse and epithet, most of which he understood, some which he did not. The phrase “cock sucking son of a javelina whore” pierced through to his sense of humor.
    When Lana heard him laugh, she threw herself upright in a rage and grabbed onto his ears. Brave reacted by setting her against the wall. He attempted to kiss her senseless. She bit his tongue and drew blood. While he was reacting to that with incredulity, she tried to knee him in the balls.
    Some demon boys came upon them in the hallway and laughed at the Prince’s difficulty until they got a look at the glare Brave was shooting their way. They disappeared in a hurry.
    Brave managed to get Lana onto his shoulder and start forward again.
    “Where are you taking me?” She was so incensed she sounded possessed.
    “To a place where you’ll be forced to listen to reason.”
    “Reason!” she screamed. “Listen to reason? I hate you. Bruce.”
    He stumbled to a stop. “Brave.”
    “Oh yeah? If you’re so “brave”, put me down and face me like a man.”
    The second he put her down she spun and raced away from him. He ran her down and lifted her onto his shoulder again, panting. A demon couple had come upon the scene and stopped, staring.
    “May I be of assistance, Your Eminence?” asked the male.
    “No!” Brave wheeled on the would-be assistant. “Thank you,” he said more calmly trying to be as dignified as one can be with a screaming banshee over his shoulder. “I’ve got this,” he said just as she reared up and socked him in the side of the head.
    The demon couple looked at each other.
    “We’re going now,” said Brave.
    In another five minutes, they came to a stop. As Lana was being dislodged she looked around and saw that she was being redeposited into the same cell where she’d first awakened. She grabbed at Brave, but he was too quick. The door was closed and locked with him on the other side before the blood had begun to resume its normal course with her head up