Free Demon Slave (Shadow Quest Book 2) by Kiersten Fay

feeling of his palm on her thigh, holding her still for his examination. 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