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

63

"Don't move, love. I have you. I'm going to take care of you, Sable. Don't be afraid."

He sounded more afraid than I felt. If I were in a position to deliver that jab, I would have, but disturbingly, his concern comforted me until I was no longer wheezing through a raw throat, clawing for a single breath of air. With his arms enfolding me, I leaned my head against his chest and let go — tried to let go — since there was nothing else I could do. There was no mistaking the frequent whipping and sickeningly wet, thudding noises that popped around me in all directions, but so long as I didn't visualize Lust's bladed tail lacerating and rending warm flesh inches from my body, I could keep my cool. Easy. Easy... I could do this.

The pain drained away ounce by ounce, though the irritating powdery sensation remained all over my lips, chin, and hands. So quick! I'd thought I was dying only seconds ago, but with Lust holding me tightly to his chest and murmuring a long string of uninterrupted, comforting nonsense, the pain and panic was soon so muffled that I could speak again without feeling like my skull was going to split open.

"Lust...?"

"Shhh," he hushed, stroking my hair. "It's all right. You're safe. I've dissipated the magic, it's over now."

"What are you talk..." I choked mid-sentence, straining in vain against the limited air squeezing in and out of my withered lungs. No use. I could manage a word or two at a time, but any more than that, my breathing capacity was toast. "Magic?"

"It seems the siren's calls stirred it up inside you. You gave me quite a scare, love. You Commanded me to sit still and left the cave. Mammon was taking advantage of the rain to scout. I had to break free to get to you in time."

"Huh...?"

"I've told you that you're far stronger than you know, haven't I? Now you have no choice but to believe me. To think that in such an exhausted state, you had the strength to overpower me with your will. It's no mean feat. And look at you now. You've managed to subdue the sirens all on your own again. You realize you harbor hidden power after all, yes?"

Just when I thought I'd regained my senses. Clearly I was still under the magical, muddling influence to be hearing this ridiculousness now. Though I could understand the first bit about Commanding Lust to stay behind while I went gallivanting off into the storm — when I thought about it, it made perfect sense. If the sirens' cries had reached me while I was asleep, I would have been perfectly susceptible to the curse. Lust couldn't hear them, after all. So long as I behaved normally, he wouldn't have known the difference between my waking state and my quasi-hypnotized one, at least at first, and by the time he figured out that I wasn't actually conscious, it must have been too late when I Commanded him to stay where he was. Depending on how long I had been sleeping, it was perfectly plausible that I had recouped enough stamina for it, too. I had been too drained to control Lust before, but after a sound rest...

"Focus, sirens, first," I managed between hitched breaths. "Talk. Later."

"As you wish, love. Come."

"No. Hurts. Let go."

He refused without a word and crushed me into himself even more insistently, pressing the side of my head against his bare chest with a confusingly gentle yet rough compulsiveness. The pain swelling around and inside my mouth had subsided enough that I could endure the pressure from his embrace, but more than that, it was the quick thudding against my ear that took me aback.

Thump, thump, thump went his heart, quick and strong. It was the hurried heartbeat of someone in fear, thump, thump, thump.

He was afraid for me. Lust, deadly Prince of demons, Asmodeus the incubus, was afraid for me.