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His girl?
Um, excuse me.
A sinister smile crossed the demon lord’s lips, but he didn’t bother letting his beastly side to the surface. The grin was terrifying enough. “Go ahead and try it, Venna. I dare you.”
* * *
Ruin’s fingerskept a firm grip on my arm as he steered me back into his house, my feet dragging like they weighed a hundred pounds each. Freedom had been so close only to be yanked away, and I was forced back to my prison.
“Ah, Lord Ruin, Nik informed me that you apprehended Ms. Teague.” Denton marched into the living room, a layer of sweat gleaming on his forehead as if he’d been running around for the last fifteen minutes. Black blood still speckled his lab coat. “My apologies for not catching her before she exited the house.”
“Nothing worth anything is ever gotten or kept easily.” Ruin twisted a lock of my reddish-pink hair around his finger, reminding me too much of Fane doing it the night we’d almost slept together at Logan’s house in the Underworld. “I’ll take her back to her room to cool off.”
I slapped his hand away. “Don’t you mean my cell?”
Ruin’s brow arched as his gaze lifted to the head alchemist behind me. “What is she talking about, Denton?”
The other high demon cleared his throat. “Uh, well, sir, while you were gone, Ms. Teague tried to escape multiple times, so I thought it best to move her to a more secure location.”
“And this secure location is where?” Ruin crossed his arms, and the tension in the room solidified. I could have sliced it with a sword if I had one.
“The lab.” Denton stopped fidgeting and clasped his hands behind his back. “In a private chamber with all the amenities necessary—”
Lord Ruin moved so fast that I almost got whiplash as he grabbed Denton by the throat and lifted him into the air.
“Perhaps it would have been better to secure her room. Oh, I don’t know, maybe put a guard in the hall before you threw her into a cell like a prisoner.”
My scalp prickled in warning at how quickly Ruin could go from charming to deadly. Not even Fane had that much of a split personality. The demon shifter was always a little rough and beastly around the edges, but Ruin was like a piece of smooth silk that could transform into a dagger sharp enough to slice diamonds.
Denton struggled, his fingers clawing at the demon lord’s grip. “Sir… I… thought…”
“Tatum is not a prisoner. She is to be treated kindly.” Ruin finally dropped Denton, smoothing his lab coat as the alchemist gobbled up air. “I suggest you remember that next time I’m away.”
“Yes, sir.” The intense fear pulsating from Denton softened his features and made him look more human than demon.
“Why don’t you return to the lab and prepare a report on the progress.” Ruin secured a button on Denton’s jacket. “I’ll take care of Tatum.”
The alchemist nodded and darted from the room without a second look, leaving me alone with Ruin. I glanced back at the door as my chances of escape dwindled to nothing. Why didn’t I run when he was busy strangling his employee?
“Did you already forget that a dangerous demon princess is hunting you?” Ruin asked as he angled toward me, guessing where my thoughts had gone. “I’m sure she and her oversized pet are still lurking around. I’m impressed you killed Ziva. I’d heard she met her demise, but I had no idea it was you.”
“She had it coming.” The evil hag had attacked me and admitted she liked sucking down children’s souls.
His laughter tickled my spine. “I’m sure, but you couldn’t have picked a worse enemy to make than her sister. Venna’s much worse than Ziva. She’s monumentally disturbed. Vlehull is in for some dark times with her as its sovereign.”
That was just my luck to piss off an even worse demon than Karn or Ziva.
“I’m starving.” Ruin held out his arm for me. “Shall we?”
My top lip curled in derision as I glared at his limb like it was a poisonous snake. “If you think you can suck down a little of my soul, think again. You’ll choke on my fist as I punch your teeth out before you get the chance.”
“I meant food, Tatum.” He chuckled. “Let’s go see what we have in the kitchen.”
I crossed my arms, my feet stuck to the polished floor. “I’d rather go back to my room.”
Ruin scoffed and closed the gap between us, placing his hand on my lower back to propel me forward. “Nonsense. Come with me, and let’s catch up.”
“We’re not friends.” I stepped away from him but kept pace as he walked to the left of the room where another hallway branched out. “We’re not going to have some friendly chat while I’m a prisoner in your home.”
