Chapter 16

Sixteen

~ Alaric ~

Imake my way to an abandoned building down the street and slide into the darkness between the stone walls. Enchantress. That’s what I’d called the demon princess when she’d been close to me, her small form trapped beneath my body. I think about my knee pressed against her and the way her lips had parted, need flushing her face. Gods her scent had all but driven me mad as the desire to take her made me start to unravel.

I clench my hands into fists, leaning against the cool stone of the building and letting it ground me. I can’t lose control. Not now when I’m finally close to getting revenge for my brother. I’ve killed females before. As a member of the Drozac, when I’m given a kill order I don’t ask questions. I find my target and I end them efficiently and quietly, but this female… The moment we’d locked eyes in the ballroom, I’d known she was different. Sticking to the shadows, I’ve been observing her ever since she left the ancient theater. Even without speaking to her, it was clear she’s a temptress.Just the sight of her always made my blood pound harder. I shouldn’t have been surprised. I expected no less from the daughter of the feared demon king himself.

Look we’re going to have to figure this out. You must know I’m your mate. Her poisonous words repeat in my mind, but I purge the lie. I won’t let her get the better of me. Whatever my reaction to the female, we can’t be mates. It’s well-known that those sworn to the order of the Drozac don’t get mates. We give up that right when we chant our oaths and send our vows to Lady Fate herself. And now it’s been over a decade that I’ve waited for this moment. For this chance to make things right. Blood for blood.

I think about the shifter thief and archangel prince who have been staying close to the princess. They believe they’re her matesgoing by what I’ve picked up from their conversations, but it’s hard to know whether she’s simply enchanted them as well. Either way, an uncomfortable feeling swirls in my gut at the idea of the three of them together, and I clench my fists tighter. No, those males aren’t her mates, and neither am I. She’s just keeping us under her spell. Maybe she isn’t even half angel but half witch. My scowl deepens at the thought. The only beings I hate more than the demons are the witches…and the leaders of the order of the Drozac.

My chest squeezes as I picture my twin brother, West’s, face. Only the elite are chosen to be members of the Drozac, the guild of assassins in Rostof, and I remember the day West was selected. The tattooed figures who’d appeared on our doorstep with the message of his selection looked like they’d walked straight from the shadow realm, but West had been ecstatic. He’d believed their propaganda and the idea that it was an honor to be among the chosen. I’d begged him not to complete the ritual. Not to sign up for the order, but he did it anyway. In the years that followed, when he’d finally seen the true heart of the order and realized his mistake, it was too late.

Despite swearing his allegiance and agreeing to disown all ties to family and friends, he defied the order in secret, meeting up with me once every year after the harvest. For one night, he’d allow himself to laugh with me like we were young again.

Until he never turned up. It took me a year to break into the highly defended assassin guild tower and find the information that detailed his demise. He’d been on a mission in Seral to kill one of the higher clan leaders. It had been a case of bad luck that King Dalton had made an unexpected appearance at the clan house right as West was about to make the killing blow. The clan leader was saved, and my brother was murdered instead.

That night in the tower, my eyes had devoured the words on the papers, rage boiling within me as I read on, and I’d stayed longer than I knew I should. At that point I didn’t care. When they found me, I took down four assassins until one of the masters brought me to my knees.

I thought my life would end then. I wanted it to end, but instead of executing me, they assessed the carnage in my wake and offered me something I couldn’t refuse instead. Revenge. All I had to do was take the oath to become a member of the Drozac and one day I would get my revenge on King Dalton and the demons. So for decades I trained and carried out orders without question. Because only one thing mattered, and it wasn’t the lives of the cruel nobles that I took.

When word of the demon king’s invitation spread throughout Rostof, I was the one who approached the masters with a proposal for a kill order. It wasn’t how the process was usually carried out, but I’d long-since known there were issues between the giants and demons, with the last round of negotiations going poorly. If I take out the demon princess, Seral will be thrown into chaos, and then I’ll take out King Dalton when he’s stricken with grief.

Except I hadn’t counted on the fact that the demon princess isn’t just a demon. She’s more than that, and whatever powers she wields, it’s starting to make me question everything I thought I knew. Even as an intense hatred makes my body sweat, I can still smell her on my skin, and her scent is like a weapon disarming me. Fuck. I shake my head as if to clear it and push off from the wall. It doesn’t matter how my body responds to her enchantments, her life is mine.