Sinners' Kingdom #1: The Book of Lust (Complete)

43

I had to trust that Lust knew where to go after he took a good, long look from the crest of a tall hill — what felt like a tall hill anyway, considering how steeply it had risen and how long he had climbed it for. It was frustrating being in the dark and letting him take the reins a hundred percent. Not only because it bruised my pride and I became more and more uneasy about the way he squeezed me against himself, but because this was bound to affect the contract dominance. I had already been battling him tooth and nail before this fiasco, all too aware that he was toying with me half the time and barely even trying to assert control, yet I still struggled — but now? The contract definitely favored him. I was helpless if he refused to take the lead, and we both knew it.

Any sympathy for him I might have accidentally stumbled on vaporized in no time. Lust's personal conflicts with the other Princes weren't my business, and if I softened my attitude toward him because of something so trivial, I might as well kiss my contract mastery goodbye. He would have me drooling over his dick within the hour if I didn't figure out how to reassert my authority.

"What did you see?" I asked, putting all the professionalism I possibly could into my tone to compensate for how he carried me like a pet canary on his arm. "Food can wait, but I need shelter and fresh water first. Did you not see any villages or anything? No people?"

"Unfortunately, none, my love, but this end of the island looks lower in elevation, so I'll have to find a better vantage point once we cross through the valley. A great deal of hilly terrain and vegetation. The greenery is thick here."

"Thick? Jungle thick? Or just woodsy?"

"Closer to a jungle's density, challenging but not entirely impassable, I think. Even though it's quite... tall."

What was that? The smallest hesitation right there, like he didn't know how exactly to describe what he saw. Well, he was a long-lived demon and must have seen plenty of Earth in his wanderings, but I doubted there was anything like the Amazon rainforest in the hellish pits of the Infernal Realm. This might be just as foreign to him as it was to me. In fact, if I could just see, I might know more about where we were than he did. I didn't do too badly in world geography when I was in school. If only...

Ugh. Being bitter solved nothing. If I was so upset about my eyes, then maybe I should be figuring out a way to get my sight back.

"Hey, about my eyes. They were the price of the teleporting spell, right?"

"... Yes, love."

"Then shouldn't that be permanent? But you said it was reversible, or something."

He hitched me a little closer, his arrowed tail coming up to press upon my upper back and make me lean against him. It was annoyingly controlling and definitely not a chaste gesture, since the tip of his tail traced down the back of the robe and swirled a little against the small of my back, right above my ass, but I reached back and swatted it away in lieu of starting another argument. Focus.

"The price paid for my magic is different from the sort you're thinking about, love. The cost of a spell that a witch is most concerned with is ordinarily a bargain, yes? With a demon or other spirit familiar. The contracted servant can set whatever price the witch is willing to pay, and the contract holds that obligation in trust while it is not yet fulfilled. In return, the servant will provide his services, not too different from a shopkeeper selling his wares to a customer. There are no set rules for what that price is, as long as both agree to it."

"Right." Except for the tabula rasa, I thought privately.

"But I'm not accessing a foreign magic, only mine, and there's no negotiation of any price. It's simply that there are conditions that must be met to execute the spell, a pure exchange of energy, converting it from one form to another with the necessary catalyst. To create fire, you need kindling. My transference is the same way, needing a reflection. It doesn't demand the intrinsic value of your sight."