Demon Slave by Kiersten Fay Page B

he was already gone. The only
sound left was her own shallow breath and the chatter of her teeth.
Who knows if he would even return for her?
    Suddenly, there was another noise.
Footsteps? Was she imagining it?
    “ D-Dem-m-mon?” she called
again. No response. Gods, it could be any manner of creature that
the demon had left her with. There was a reason why the Cyrellians
avoided these caves.
    The spike of fear had her stumbling toward
what she thought was the exit. Blindly, she inched forward, placing
her arms in front of her. Her legs ran into something and she used
her hands to identify it. A large boulder.
    Feeling her way around it, she attempted to
walk again but came to what must be a cavern wall, or possibly an
even larger bolder.
    Weakness filled her bones along with the
frigid air. Her fingers burned and prickled. She shoved them
against her mouth, blowing as much warm air on them as she could.
When her shivers overtook her, Nadua curled into a ball, hoping
someone would find her in time.
    So
tired .
    Somewhere in her dreary mind she realized
her exhaustion was a bad sign.
    The sound of falling pebbles roused her. Too
cold to be afraid, she waited for some cave dwelling creature to
attack.
    “ Are you
alright?”
    She let out a relieved sigh, though she
didn’t know why. It was the demon. Probably had come back to kill
her. The sound of sticks hitting the floor echoed around her. It
seemed as if the demon was methodically breaking them up and moving
them around in a pile.
    “ This will keep us off the
cold floor.”
    Us?
    “ It’s the best I can do for
now.”
    She heard him stand and move toward her.
Obviously, the demon didn’t have a problem seeing in this darkness,
because there was no running into boulders for him.
    In one easy swoop, he pulled her off the
ground. Nadua didn’t even have the strength to protest. As it was,
her traitorous body instinctively curled into him for the heat he
was giving off.
    After he laid them on what turned out to be
some sort of pallet, he slipped his arms around her. She weakly
tried to push away, but at the moment she couldn’t have pushed a
snowflake off of her.
    “ Put your arm around me,”
he said.
    “ Fuck you!” she managed,
though she did move closer. The heat of his body was already
starting to sooth the chill in her.
    And he smells
good .
    She was losing it.
    “ Use my body for the warmth
you need. I tried to get back to your tent to find those skins you
wear, but there are too many guards. I’ll try again in the morning.
This is what I can offer till then.”
    With her mind reluctant, but her body
screaming for warmth, she placed her arms on his chest, burrowing
into him as close as possible. Thick biceps cradled her.
    Eventually, the worst of her shaking abated,
while her mind began its exhausted descent. Her last thought—which
later she blamed on her delusional state—was how wonderful it felt
to be within his arms.
     
     

Chapter 8
     

     
     
     
    Rising from a heavy sleep,
Nadua adjusted her position on the bed, which, for some reason, was
less comfortable this morning, and snuggled deeper against the
warm... muscular chest? Stiffening, she opened her eyes to a wall of black.
    Her heart jerked as the events from last
night played back in her mind. The side of her face was pressed
intimately against the demon’s bare chest, his musky scent and heat
enveloping her.
    Afraid she’d wake him, Nadua tried to remain
still.
    Unexpectedly, his grip tightened around her.
Panic nearly engulfed her, making her pulse burn through her veins.
She had to get away, get back to camp, signal her soldiers. But how
was she going to do any of that? She wasn’t sure exactly how long
she’d slept, but she assumed there should be some light outside by
now—or perhaps it was already midday—yet the cave was still pitch
black. He must have taken her farther inside than she thought.
    Somehow, Nadua would need to get the demon
to lead her out. Without him, she might