Page 54 of Princess Claimed

Ana’s posture remains stiff, her hands still clasped in her lap. She’s upset, probably frightened. I start to stand, planning to remove the space between us so I can comfort her, but Flame beats me to it, landing on the side of her not occupied by Phil.

Flame drapes his arm over Ana’s shoulders, and Phil grunts his disapproval at how much our walls have dropped.

But I don’t have room in my head to deal with Phil’s anger. Instead, I sift through the information clogging my head, trying to pick out comforting pieces to share.

“Are you saying there’s a chance that the demon’s still around?” Phil turns toward Ana. “We need to get you away from here. Far away.”

“We’re not deserting her!” I glare at Phil.

“Did I say that?” He shakes his head.

“She’s safe here in Freetown.” Crusher frowns. “We all are. No one gets in here.”

Phil isn’t trying to get rid of her. Letting that sink in to the quagmire in my mind, I lean forward. “I need to go to New York for a day or two.”

“Have fun,” Phil barks.

“What’s in New York?” Flame’s fingers trace slowly up and down her arm.

Phil’s eyes follow their motion, and he looks like he wants to rip Flame’s fingers right off his hand. And he’s right. Tender touches like that break our code even more than fucking her does.

I force my head back into the matter at hand. “An archivist at DEFTA told me about some ancient texts stored in New York City.” I shake my head. “It’s been a very long time since a demon like this has threatened the earth.”

“A demon like what?” Ana asks, and a tremor traces through her.

I shift forward, my body drawn to hers. “That’s what I need to find out. The sexual nature of the demon’s threats made me think incubi—especially since they’re known to shape shift—but they aren’t known to bring human hosts back from the dead, and we know this demon saved Rasputin’s life more than once.”

“Rasputin…” Ana’s eyes narrow. “Even when I was a child, he was interested in me—sexually.”

“Fucker!” Phil blurts.

Her leg shifts to press against his, and for some reason he doesn’t move his away.

“But when Rasputin had me captive in that house,” she continues, “he wanted to hurt me as much as he wanted to…” Her voice trails off.

Nodding, I exhale a shaky breath. “That could be relevant.” I can only imagine the terror Ana endured. If we hadn’t found her in time… “Some demons gain power from pain.”

She tenses.

I wish I hadn’t said the last part aloud, but it could be a very important element of this puzzle, and it points in an even more terrifying direction. I need to know more.

“The first time I met with Timur in that bathhouse.” Frowning, Crusher shakes his head. “I mean, met with Rasputin. Whoever the fuck it was, the asshole was clearly in pain and begging someone or some thing to release him.”

“Yes.” I swallow—hard. Crusher’s told me this before. “It’s possible this demon gains power through torture.”

“Did the demon torture Timur?” Ana’s voice is soft and thready.

Flame pulls her more tightly against him, stroking her arm.

I shake my head. “I don’t think so. We saw Timur die, and his body was in that backroom at the baths…” I stop myself. Talking about this hurts Ana, and there’s no need to cause her stress with mere speculation.

I run through the things that I know for certain: the demon gains power through causing pain; it gives its host the power to transform into others; it can bring its host back from the dead and grant them a long life. But so far, I haven’t discovered one single demon in the records that has all of these traits.

A picture is forming but, with so many missing pieces, every discovery leads me in a different direction.

I stand. “I need to get to New York.”

Crusher frowns. His hands squeeze his thighs so tightly I fear for his knees. Crusher’s joints will heal, but I don’t want Ana to hear his kneecaps crumbling.

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