The Darkest Surrender (Lords of the Underworld #8)(63)
Author: Gena Showalter

Juliette finally deigned to study him, her soft lavender eyes sweeping over his face and body unhurriedly, languidly, lingering in places they shouldn’t. “Wish and I shall receive. I wanted you to approach me, and so you did. But I must admit, I expected you to do it sooner.”

If she’d truly wanted his attention, by fair means or foul, she would have tried harder to get it. She wouldn’t have waited for him to make a move. Well, if she’d had a pair of balls, she would have. Kaia went after what she wanted, no hesitation. And that, he decided, was exactly how a woman should be. Determined, eager. Sexy.

This one craved revenge, though, her every move designed to help her achieve it. So his approach meant something, he just didn’t know what.

“Why?” he asked, genuinely curious.

She was momentarily taken aback, as if she’d expected him to wax poetic about her beauty, beg for lenience for Kaia, or even grab her up and screw her brainless right here on the table.

“I have something you crave, do I not?”

“Like?”

“The Paring Rod. Yes,” she added at his start of surprise. “I know all about you Lords and your quest for Pandora’s box. I know you need four artifacts to find it, and the Rod is one. Why else do you think I offered it?”

Rather than answer, he asked a question of his own. “How’d you get it?”

A smile bloomed, smug and patronizing. “I never share my secrets.”

Oh, really. He glanced back at Amun. The big, dark warrior was frowning, his features tense. When he caught Strider’s gaze, he gave an abrupt shake of his head. Huh. Could he not read her mind?

That was rare.

For that matter, why hadn’t Sabin used Doubt against her? Or had he tried and, like Amun, failed?

Strider returned his attention to Juliette, keeping Lazarus in his peripheral vision. The f**ker hadn’t spared Strider a glance, was still watching Kaia. “Well, to backtrack a bit, the winner will have something I want,” he lied. He would get his hands on the artifact before that final game. He wouldn’t allow himself to believe otherwise.

“Same thing,” she said with a shrug. “Because, either way, Kaia will win nothing.”

Defeat growled.

Good boy.

Gideon had recently told Strider that it was possible for the demons to escape their bodies and enter others—not permanently and not for long, but just long enough to destroy the person’s mind. Strider would love for Defeat to ravage Juliette, to convince her of her weakness, that she could never hope to win anything.

They’d have to try it. Later. Always later. He dared not risk messing with the unknown now.

“When Kaia loses,” Juliette went on, “I’ll expect you to come to me. And maybe, after you beg, I’ll allow you to please me. And maybe, after you please me, if you can, I’ll let you use my Rod.”

Use my Rod. “That’s what he said,” Strider snickered.

She blinked at him. “That’s what who said?” When he offered no response, she demanded, “What did he say?”

Kaia would have understood the joke. Probably Kaia would have pretended a beer bottle was the Rod and jacked it off while laughing. Gods, he dug her sense of humor.

“Well?” Juliette prompted.

“Nothing,” he said on a sigh. One thing he knew. No matter what happened, he would beg this female for nothing. Were he to seduce her, even to distract her, Kaia would be hurt. Feel rejected all over again. Which was exactly what this vengeful female desired, and that was not a game he would play.

“Well, I don’t care who he is or what he said.” She tossed her hair over one shoulder. “I’m far more beautiful than that redheaded harlot and you will beg for me.”

Anger? No, that was too mild a word for the emotion suddenly sizzling inside his chest. Even Defeat snarled. “Actually, you’re not. There’s no one more beautiful than Kaia. And by the way, she’s not a harlot. She’s mine. And no, I won’t be begging you for anything but your departure.”

Her nostrils flared at the insult. “Is that so? Well, let me ask you a question, Strider, keeper of the demon of Defeat. You are one of the fabled Lords of the Underworld and I have researched you meticulously. You prize victory above all things. So why would you of all warriors choose to be the consort of Kaia the Disappointment?”

That. Was. It. His wee Harpy was getting a new name, pronto. “Kaia is many things to me, but a disappointment isn’t one of them. But riddle me this.” You coldhearted bitch. “Did your consort choose to be with you?” He motioned to the tattooed chains with a tilt of his chin. “’Cause I’m betting he’d shave your head from your neck without a second’s hesitation.”

At last Lazarus attended to those at his table. “You are correct,” he said, and a minute amount of Strider’s hate dulled. Minute being the key word. Strider would still, gladly, shove a dagger through the guy’s heart.

“You just shut your mouth,” Juliette snapped at her consort.

Though glaring, his expression one of molten rage, Lazarus obeyed.

Juliette’s narrowed eyes remained on Strider. “He’s honored to be with me, I tell you.”

Really? “Defensive much?”

Already sharp nails lengthened into claws and black bled into her eyes. Oh, goody. Her Harpy was about to come out and play.

Strider struck while he still could. “Well, I really am honored to be with Kaia, and if you try another stunt like you did at the first game, siccing everyone on her at the same time, I will take it as a personal challenge. In your research, did you discover what happens to those who challenge me?”

More black, the whites of her eyes nearly completely gone. Until Lazarus reached over and patted her hand. That was it. A single pat. The black gradually receded and her nails retracted.

Strider had watched Sabin calm Gwen multiple times, but for the first time he was floored by the power a consort truly had over his Harpy. Floored by how much a Harpy needed that consort.

But Lazarus was clearly a slave, here by force. So why had he calmed the very woman who had enslaved him? Shouldn’t he revel in her upset? And furthermore, how had Juliette captured him? Not once, but twice? The man had once cut his way through a Harpy village and come out the winner. Hell, he was the son of Typhon and a Gorgon, which meant he had powers beyond imagining.

Had he allowed her to capture him? That seemed like the only explanation that made sense. But why would he have done such a thing?