Page 31 of Drawn to the Demon Duke
Protected?
I’m aprisoner.
I’m pretty sure Dagon agrees. After Glaine stormed toward the stairs, my new shadow moved toward the bars. I could sense him hovering, though I didn’t look at him. He’s had a way worse day than me, only in this mess because of his sense of duty and because Haures has decided that maybe I am his mate, but I can’t help but be a little bitter that, if it wasn’t or him, I might have been able to wash my hands of this whole thing and gone back home to Connecticut.
Is that where I want to be? No. Not really. My obsession with theGrimoire du Sombrahas been such a huge part of my life. It’s like I’msupposedto be here, and though I’d miss Amy and Mindy terribly, from the moment I first started translating the Sombra language printed on the pages, it just seemed right.
Now it’s all wrong…
Dagon agrees with that, too. Mumbling softly from right outside my cell, he told me that he’ll get me out of here.
I can’t see how, though I appreciate the sentiment.
At least someone sees how ridiculous it is to keep the five-foot-six mortal woman in a jail cell, as though she could ever be a danger or a threat to these seven-feet-tall immortal shadow demons.
Dagon has figuredout that I’m not going to be great company tonight. Or maybe he’s a taciturn, quiet sort of hunter who appreciates the silence. Either way, he braces his bulk against the wall opposite of my cell, watching me closely without trying to engage in conversation.
Me? As bad as it sounds, I’m doing my best to pretend he’s not there.
I really don’t know how this is going to work. Will the guards feed him? How will he use that weirdo toilet in the corner of my cell? I have a cot, at least. Is he going to sleep on the floor?
How far will he go to be my own personal guard? What if I want privacy? I don’t have to pee yet, but I will, and I just don’t think I want to peel off my leggings in front of Dagon.
Would Haures care?
Do I want him to?
Ugh!
He’s not your Jareth, Su. He’s a demon, and he’ll leave you here in the oubliette?—
“My lord.” That’s Dagon’s rough voice.
“I’m releasing you for the rest of the eve, Dagon.” Crud. That’s… that’sHaures. “You watch the duchess when I cannot be with her. Tonight, I shall tend to my mate.”
He willwhat?
Even more surprising than his unexpected appearance down in the dungeon, it’s how it seems like he’s really doubling down on this ‘mate’ business. Calling me ‘duchess’? A Correct me if I’m wrong, but a duchess is a duke’s wife. Like Fergie, the new Duchess of York over in England.
I’m his human prisoner. I broke the first law by reading theverus amorspell, and I’ve paid for it these last few days by staying in a cell.
Andnowhe’s calling me ‘duchess’?
He did earlier today. During lunch, right before he told me that I needed to go on a quick quest to find the ashbalm flower.
A duchess doesn’t apologize…
How much do I want a bet that a duke doesn’t, either?
I’d brushed him off then, too annoyed that he treated me like a toy that he could put away, then take off the shelf to play with at his pleasure. I wasn’t a duchess. I wasn’t anything. Sure, there was a bond, but there didn’t need to be.
Even if Iwantedthere to be.
Referring to me as a ‘duchess’ in front of other demons… that’s not all he does, either. I didn’t know what to expect when he said he was going to ‘tend’ to me—and I would be lying if I said that that large silver sword that Glain wielded earlier didn’t pop into my overimaginative brain—but I figured that dinner, at least, was on the table.
Literally.
No. Guiding me to rest my hand on his massive elbow after he opened the cell door and invited me out, the big demon shivered at the contact before leading me up the stairs. Once we hit the hall, he didn’t bring me to the dining area. Instead, we returned to the throne room. Theemptythrone room.
