Free The Devil's Due by Jenna Black Page B

hadn’t had the same emotional intensity.
    “I know Adam will be unhappy,” Lugh said, “but he will understand it’s for the greater good.”
    I thought I’d been angry before. Now I knew what angry really was. “You cold-blooded, cold-hearted bastard! What about Dominic, huh? You’ll just volunteer to sacrifice him for the common good?” I dragged up the hem of my skirts and petticoats or whatever the hell it was I was wearing and stomped up the steps to the dais until I could glare down at Lugh. “How dare you?” I suppose I’d gotten over being awed by his kingly mien. I dropped my handful of skirts and seriously considered throwing a punch, fat lot of good it would do. But it might give me a little outlet for the rage and hurt and, yes, fear that boiled in my gut. Every time I started to think of Lugh as a pretty decent guy, I’d get some kind of a reminder that he was a demon, and that demons don’t think like humans.
    “Calm down,” Lugh said, looking up at me and showing no outward reaction to my outburst.
    I doubt there was anything he could have said that would have calmed me less. I decided to throw that punch after all. He made no attempt to avoid it, but then it wasn’t like I could hurt him. His head jerked back with the impact, and his crown slid sideways, but his facial expression didn’t change.
    “When you’re through having your temper tantrum, let me know and I’ll finish saying my piece.” He crossed his arms over his chest and affected a pose of exaggerated patience.
    I was sorely tempted to continue my “temper tantrum,” as he called it, but I fought that temptation. Maybe I’d misunderstood what he was trying to say. Maybe he wasn’t planning to offer up Dominic like a sacrificial lamb.
    Nah. That was exactly what he’d meant, and I knew it. But as satisfying as yelling, screaming, and otherwise making a fool of myself might be, I knew it wouldn’t do me—or Dom—a bit of good.
    I sucked in as much air as I could manage, my head feeling light and fizzy from lack of oxygen. “Get me out of this damn corset,” I snarled at Lugh.
    Once the words left my mouth, I wished I could suck them back in. Whenever I complained about the way he’d dressed me, I always seemed to end up in something worse. I braced myself for something embarrassingly flimsy, but for once he declined to torment me.
    My breathing came easier, and when I glanced cautiously down at myself, I saw that I was now dressed in loose, comfy gray sweats. The outfit didn’t exactly blend in with the grand hall or Lugh’s kingly red and gold, but it was definitely more me than the Marie Antoinette getup. I clamped my jaws together to stop myself from saying anything else as I glared at Lugh, who remained calmly seated on his throne.
    When he was satisfied that I wasn’t going to light into him anymore, he spoke again.
    “Adam is one of my subjects. If I command him to step aside while Saul takes his lover, he will do it.”
    If I ground my teeth any harder, they would break. However, I managed to keep my temper in check, waiting for him to finish.
    “However, Dominic is not one of my subjects, and I have no authority to give him orders. I will request that he agree to host Saul once more, but in the end, it will be his decision.”
    Dominic, like most legal demon hosts, had a hero complex. He might agree to take Saul back even if he knew it would mean losing what he now had with Adam. And even if losing him would break Adam’s heart. But I wasn’t one of Lugh’s subjects. Perhaps I could conveniently “forget” to mention his request.
    Lugh shook his head at me. “Would you rather I take over the next time you’re asleep and give Adam a call myself?”
    My heart sank at the thought. “You’re probably doing that right this moment, aren’t you?” It would hardly be the first time.
    Slowly, Lugh unfolded from his throne, forcing me to take a couple of steps back to maintain my personal space. I’m a