Hell's Consort

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Archdemon Empress Luna

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"I love Apollyon, Ravin." Luna sobbed as she put off any attraction she had felt for the Archdemon. "You have to accept that."

"I can't." Ravin hugged her, and she sagged against his chest.

"I'm sorry." He said sadly, and Luna hated the pity in his voice. "For so long, I have waited for you to be mine. Now that I have you in my arms, I couldn't bear the thought of letting you go."

Gasping, Luna's chest hitched. "Is this for your sexual pleasure?"

"You know if I only wanted sex, I could get any woman in Hell if I wanted them," Ravin replied as he traced the shape of her lips with his eyes. "I could get them anywhere to sleep with me whether I use Archdemon magic or not, persuading them with my natural charms."

Luna pulled back from his embrace.

"Ravin, I had been living peacefully in the Vampire Realm before you dragged me in Hell and I still don't know what you wanted from me." Luna clenched her fists as she wiped the angry tears from her eyes."

"Tell me the truth, Ravin, and make it as clear as day." She asked, scowling at him. "What do you want me to do for you now that I am here?"

"I want you to perform your responsibilities as a wife of an Archdemon, Amare."

"Bullshit." She sneered at how laughable it was. "I don't need to perform any wifely duties for anyone else other than my husband."

Luna waved a dismissive hand. "Give me another logical reason."

"I want you to follow my orders and never challenge me."

She grimaced.

"We are blood-bonded, Archdemon."  The more he conversed with Ravin, the more she was convinced that the man was a psychopath--a dark, sexual Archdemon psychopath who killed children. "I am not part of your legion. We are equals."

Leaning closer, Luna clasped her fingers around his throat.

She stared into his dark amber eyes as he felt his Adam's apple bobbed up and down. "If you say that again, I would make sure you can't produce Archdemon heirs."

He angled his head closer as if he was about to kiss her. "I want to learn how to love you, and I expected to be loved back."

"That's the mistake of your kind, Ravin." Releasing his neck, Luna held her breath as she pushed him off her. "You expect--and feel entitled even—that you could get what you want."

The Archdemon was comfortable invading her personal space.

She would not let him kiss her again.

She needed to think about her husband and her baby.

"If you love someone, you should let them go if they can't reciprocate."

"You will reciprocate."

The sensual web snapped.

"No." Her voice quaked with anger as she rocked back and forth. "If you love someone, you should think about what makes them happy and make their wishes come true. If they wish to be free, then you let them.

"If they love you, they will find their way back to you." She said in frustration. "You deserve someone who will love you back as you said."

"Archdemons don't love, Amare." Ravin shrugged with nonchalance. "Love is a gift from Heaven." He smiled an effortless smile, and Luna's heart thudded with the unwanted effect. "This is why we possess bodies because we don't have anything to call ours because everything will be taken away from us in the end."

There was a pounding in her ears.

"Ravin. Don't you see?!" Clenching and unclenching his fists, Luna fought to urge to punch him in his beautiful face. "Of course, everything will be taken away from you if it didn't belong to you in the first place!"

"But you belong to me." He tilted his head and said smoothly, "I will learn to love, and you will help me."

'Goddess.' Luna sighed a dejected sigh. 'Somebody help this Archdemon!'

"You must return  me if you loved me." Luna gave him a shrewd glance as she lightly pressed a palm on his cheek.

She tried to bring out a seductive, mesmerizing voice with Archdemon Magic to use it against Ravin. "Prove it to me how much you love me, Ravin."

"Ah~" He purred, chuckling.

"Amare is a fledgeling Archdemon trying to play tricks on me." Clicking his tongue, Ravin caressed her face with his knuckles as if her beauty utterly enthralled him. "I'm sorry, but those poor attempts wouldn't work."

"Are you implying that I was faking my tears?" Luna's eyes widened at his preposterous implication.

Baring her teeth, her voice rose in anger, "How dare you, Ravin?"

She crossed her arms, and the bastard had dared to glance down at her cleavage. "You are a monster!"

"I wouldn't go that far. I didn't imply that you were faking your tears. I didn't say anything of the sort." Ravin argued.

He rubbed his chin in contemplation. "Now that you mentioned it yourself, mayhap those were real fake tears to manipulate me."

A pause. "Women, no matter what race, use that technique all the time when they don't get what they want."

Narrowing her eyes at him, Luna declared. "You are a fucking asshole. I think you have surrounded yourself with scheming female Archdemons that you can't determine the difference between fake and real."

His deep baritone was sensual. "It was a jest."

"What?!"

Luna was pissed off because Ravin's jests sounded like he meant it, or was she guilty of doing it?

Was she turning into an evil Archdemon?

How could the Archdemon of Gluttony make her feel all sorts of emotion in such a short span?

"The blood bond between us still existed." He said out-of-the-blue and Luna raised an eyebrow.

"So, was Apollyon." She stated a matter-of-factly.

Jutting her chin, she added, "The Vampire King is my priority in this blood bond."

"Don't be so sure about that." He shot a quick look on her fingers, but she ignored it.

"What do you mean?"

Luna's arms were starting to ache a little from holding the coverlet together to hide her breasts from the predatory gleam of Ravin's eyes.

Ravin said drily, "One of the three soul ties you have with your mates had been cut."