Free Demon Slave by Kiersten Fay

Luckily,
the demon didn’t seem to notice how fast her heart was beating,
although to her it seemed like the sound of it should be echoing
off the cavern walls.
    “ You heal well. I can see
it’s almost fully closed.”
    “ See. It’s fine.” She tried
to remove her leg but he held her firm, still not hurting, but
keeping her in place.
    As his thumb rubbed her inner thigh, their
eyes met. “You really do have lovely legs.”
    Jaw dropped, she shuddered at his touch. But
as quickly as it appeared, his heated expression morphed into
something unreadable and he let her go.
    He moved toward a darkened passageway and
ordered, “Stay put while I get your furs.”
    “ Wait! Take me with you,
demon! Don’t leave me in this cave!”
    Halting by the chamber’s exit, he glanced
over his shoulder. “The fire should last until I return.”
    Then he was gone. No sound for her to follow
into the dark, not that she didn’t try. With a few new scrapes to
show for her effort, she returned to the flames, once again chilled
to the bone.
    After her teeth stopped chattering, she
slumped on the same rock he’d been sitting on and was instantly
slammed by a vision.
    As with most her visions, it was like being
jolted into another realm, then a fuzzy image appeared, coating her
sight, and morphing into something more tangible.
    Years ago, she was used to her sight
suddenly not belonging to her, but since she hadn’t had a vision in
quite a while, it startled her at first. She forced herself to calm
and allowed the vision to take over.
    Menacing red eyes, fangs seeking blood, a
face twisted in a snarl. An army of her men held the demon back as
he tried with all his might to get to her. The depth of his gaze
was hollow, both unseeing and focused through their unwavering
panic and rage. Nadua’s heart lurched as his body sliced through
the line.
    A blinding white light broke the vision,
leaving her stunned and gasping. Her nails were digging into the
rock beneath her.
    Slowly, the disorientation that came with
every vision dissipated. It had been decades since she’d had a
vision so intense. She could almost feel the need for bloodshed
rolling off the demon.
    Though the vision had been short, the
message was clear. Sometime in the future, the demon was going to
try to kill her.
     

Chapter 9
     

     
     
     
    The tail end of twilight kissed the sky.
Darkening shadows were encouraged by heavy cloud cover.
    On the way to the Cyrellian camp, Marik had
mused about the stubbornness of women. Well, one woman in
particular.
    Nadua had her mind set on not believing him.
Why? He’d been a bit rough when spiriting her away, but that was
only because she had been fighting him so fiercely.
    He’d feared all her thrashing had reopened
her wound but it looked to be healing as it should.
    Unfortunately, being that close to her,
touching her, had caused his desire to make its vicious return. He
would have loved to take things further, but was sure she wouldn’t
appreciate his reaction to her. Not when she resisted the truth of
his words so persistently.
    He supposed being informed by a stranger
that someone she trusted was scheming against her could be hard to
accept. Marik wondered how close Nadua was with Tamir. A spike of
irritation sprang to life inside him. He hoped she had better taste
than that, but she’d already proven her judge of character to be a
bit skewed.
    With far too much ease, Marik slipped into
camp. Nadua’s tent was as he had left it, minus the crackling fire.
The furs he came for were draped over a line that ran the length of
the enclosure. It looked as if she had attempted to wash them.
Their scent was not as bad as before, but was still strong enough
to mask her natural fragrance, a fragrance that had kept him up all
night fighting the need to roll her to her back and warm her body
in other ways.
    A frustrated sigh escaped him. It would be a
shame to cover up that physique, but necessary. Not only because
she needed