Page 15 of Prince of Ruin
“What’s wrong?” Soft footsteps stalked her, like a hound on the scent of something. Maybe he could scent the lies twisting off her. “Something catch your eye?”
He knew.
“I just….” It was hard to find her way back to the story. What had she been saying?
“You just?” He stood behind her and Sera froze. “What do you see?”
“She’s on her knees.” The detail floored her. “She’s backed into a corner, desperate, trying to save herself from some unseen punishment.”
Is this how he saw her?
Is this how he wanted to see her?
“The interesting thing is that you shouldn’t be able to see it,” Azazel whispered, and the second he let his fingertips trail down her spine, she knew the mistake she’d made.
The painting had been warded.
There were only a few beings that could stare right through those wards without being distracted by them.
She tried to spin around, but he held her there, hands harsh on her hips.
“Once upon a time a demon fell in love with an angel.” His voice was like velvet over her skin, but she could sense the threat within the words.
It took all her strength to swallow down the rush of feeling those words conjured. “Love? Can a demon truly love anything other than himself?”
Those gloved hands brushed against the curve of her hips. “You know nothing of the world, little one. Loves makes us all fools. But only once.”
“What happened?” she whispered, because a part of her needed to know.
His breath whispered over the back of her neck. “It ended. Badly. She betrayed him and left him for dead.”
That wasn’t how the story went.
Sera closed her eyes. A shiver ran through her.
“He swore vengeance.” Those hands shifted up, caressing the softness of her breasts. “But she had vanished and when Heaven fell, her body was nowhere to be found.”
“You looked for her?”
“Oh, I looked for her.”
Sera stared at the painting, her stomach churning. Not with dread. Heat melted between her thighs. “Maybe there was a reason she betrayed him.”
“Because she was a filthy, rotten liar.”
His fingers found her nipple and pinched.
Sera gasped, clapping a hand over his. But she didn’t pull away.
She couldn’t have, even if she’d wanted to.
“You remind me of her,” he breathed, his hand skimming up her throat.
Sera took a sharp breath. He couldn’t know. He couldn’t.
But what if some part of him sensed the truth?
“Do I?”
