Page 7 of Into the Abyss
Get it together, Amalia, or you’ll dietoday.
Lifting my chin, I pushed aside my lust andstared defiantly back at the demon as an arrogant smirk curved hisfull lips. I could pretend he didn’t intrigue me, but heknewhe did. Well, of course he did, I wore my emotions onmy face and in my eyes. If I spent enough time with my captors, itwouldn’t take them long to figure that out.
The fact I wore my emotions openly foreveryone to see hadn’t been an issue in Hell, but now it was acurse.
The demon with the black hair holding thewoman stepped closer to us, drawing my attention to them. I didn’tneed my empath ability to know he loved the woman; I recognizedlove when I saw it. Even if I hadn’t been an empath, the jinn wereadept at reading emotions.
Then, I saw the marks on his neck and hersand caught their mingled scents.
Chosen!No wonder he was so desolate;he probably felt like a big part of him was dying.
My heart twisted as his sorrow beat againstme, and yet again I cursed my empath ability. Some might see myability to feel another’s emotions as a weapon; I saw it as aburden but one I couldn’t rid myself of as I’d been born with theFault that ran through the jinn lines.
Behind the seal, being one of the Faulteddidn’t matter as jinn had empathy toward each other, but most ofthem felt nothing for anyone outside our breed of demon. Outsidethe seal, with so many more emotions and other creatures to dealwith, my empath ability made me feel weaker than most of the otherjinn as I didn’t possess their ruthlessness.
There were other Faulted jinn who were alsoempaths, but they’d branched off and gone their own way a fewmonths after being freed from Hell. I’d yearned to go with them, asI fit in more with the Faulted than the jinn I remained with, but Iwasn’t ready to leave my parents.
And now I was in this mess because of myempath ability—which was stronger than the rest of the Faulteddespite my young age—and what my family did to the palitons today.I had no idea how to get out of it either.
Even if I could get out of it, I couldn’tleave this demon in such misery. I couldn’t stand the idea of aChosen losing their mate. My parents were Chosen. I’d grown upsurrounded by their love, and if something happened to one of them,the other would die.
I may not completely fit in with my parents,and they may not understand me, but we deeply loved each other.
“Who are you?” I asked the man on mychest.
His smile somehow managed to be arrogant andseductive all at once. This guy knew exactly how gorgeous he was,which only made me want to kick him more.
“I think the better question is,whoareyou?” he asked.
“I am Amalia, and you?”
“Pretty name,” he murmured.
The liquid silver of his eyes deepened to anearly black hue when they latched onto my mouth. My breath caughtas my body reacted to the desire he emanated. I contemplated tryingto wiggle out from under him again, but I wouldn’t succeed, and Imight only arouse him further.
“Stop flirting with her, Magnimus!” thedemon holding the woman barked.
“Magnimus,” I muttered.
Magnimus sat further back as he tilted hishead to survey me. “I prefer to be called Magnus,” he said.
“Magnus,” I repeated the familiar name. Hewas a close friend of the king, but that was all I knew abouthim.
My eyes flickered to the demon with thelethal talons who looked about to gut Magnus and me.
“That is Corson,” Magnus said.
Corson was one of the king’ssecond-in-command, I knew.
“Fix this!” Corson snarled at me.
“I can’t,” I whispered.
“Yes, you can! Undo whatever you sick fucksdid and bring her back tome!” Corson commanded.
Taking a deep breath, I focused on Magnus.He was far more rational than Corson, and I suspected he would beeasier to deal with. “Please, let me up.”
Magnus snorted with laughter. “I don’t thinkso.”
