The Demon Lord's Lover
Chapter 20

“We need to talk; there are some things that need to be addressed.” I sit on the bed and cross my legs. Dante sits across from me on the bed and sighs deeply. “I will tell you everything you want to know.” I nod now; what should I ask him first? “Tell me about Celine.” I look at him.

“You jump straight to it, huh? What do you want to know about her? Why do I keep giving her chances? I won’t kill her, and neither should you. The reason why I keep her so close is because of Adria; you saw her eyes, Celine took them from her….” He pauses.

“When I first met Celine, I portrayed myself as her savior. I pretended to have been the person who slew the one who killed her true mate; in actuality, I was the one who killed her true mate. Her stupid mate set my sister up, I don’t know how she hasn’t realized it yet, or she must be good at hiding it.”

“So I kept her close, I guess somewhere along the road she fell for me. I just used her for sex and her skills on the battlefield. Keep your friends close and enemies closer. Bringing you here and introducing you as my mate has upset her, Naila. She wants to kill you. I’m not telling you not to fight her; I don’t want you involved in unnecessary fights.”

I hold my hand up. “I want to fight Celine. I have to test my skills out. Also, are there other crazy females I should concern myself with?” Dante looks up at the ceiling and scratches the back of his neck. “I mean, maybe….” I roll my eyes. What a womanizer, I swear. Oh! I just remembered.

“Dante!” I suddenly shout, and he glares at me. “I am literally in front of you.” I smile, batting my eyes at him. “Can Amber stay here?” His glare turns into a scowl. “I don’t like her, and she is a lower demon. We don’t house her kind here.” I frown. “Why? She is my friend, and I knew her first you can’t hog me.” He growls.

“I am not sure if you are aware, but there is not only an annoying Vampire after you, but there are other Darklords after you as well. I can’t have distractions like ‘friends’ and shit getting in your head.” He sighs, then runs his fingers through his hair. Still very sexy. “She can visit, but she can’t stay. If I don’t kill her, someone here will surely do it.”

I nod then get off the bed. “Is there anything else that you would like to let me know?” Dante shakes his head and walks up to me, looking deeply into my eyes. “If there is anything I remember, I will tell you. Naila, I want you to know I genuinely care about you.” I look at him. Can I believe him? “I uh need to take a shower and change.” I turn away from him, grab my clothes, and head for the bathroom.

After my shower, I wear a black open-back fitted gown; my hair is styled in a bun. I check myself in the mirror. I have to dress like this every day. So annoying. “Naila. The people want to see you.” I raise an eyebrow “what do you mean ’the people?” I asked Dante. He doesn’t answer me and just held me.

“Naila, I want them to accept you. No matter what happens, I will always be here for you.” I look up at his face, his eyes sincere. “I believe you, Dante, I do. I’m just cautious, I guess.” He looks down at me, cups my face, and kisses me. “I know you are. I am the last person I would trust.”

He then takes my hand, and we head to the courtyard. Now this place was HUGE we were once again dead center in front of thousands, ah maybe hundreds of people. “Dante, do you get off on presenting me to large crowds of people?”

I whispered in his ear, pulling him close; my nerves were beginning to act up. He smirks, leaning in and whispering in my ear. “I would love to show you what gets me off, but presenting you to large crowds of people is at the bottom of that list.” He nips my ear, sending a shiver through me.

I turn to face him, and his eyes are darkened with lust; he looks at my lips, licking his own. “Naila, I’m conflicted as to whether we stay or I say screw this crowd and screw you instead.” I can feel my face flushing, and my panties are getting wet. “D-Dante, stop fooling around; this is serious.” He kisses me quickly and pulls back.

“So am I, fucking obligations and shit.” He mumbles under his breath, and I chuckle. After our little moment, he leads me to a regal-looking two-seater sofa on some stage, so we are looking down at the crowd, the murmurs begin, but I block them out. This sofa is surprisingly comfortable. I wiggle in it a bit. My movement causes Dante to look over at me and raise an eyebrow, amused. “But I am the one fooling around.” He licks his lips again and holds my hand.

Leo and Cornelius are standing on either side of us. Leo raises his hand to the crowd, and they begin to quiet down. Once they were quiet, Leo starts to speak. “We are gathered here today to introduce Lady Naila formally.” Dante squeezes my hand a bit, then looks forward. “If there is anyone who has a problem with the new Lady, let’s hear it,” Dante says, leaning forward toward the crowd, then he makes a come here motion to the masses.

Ah, wait for it, this seems like an appropriate time for the Queen Bitch to make an appearance. “I would like to have a word with the both of you,” I called it. I heard Celine say from somewhere in the crowd. I stand up, “Come forth then.” She appears in front of me. “No one in this kingdom or even in the underworld will accept you, Naila; just give up.” I roll my eyes. “Dante won’t accept you, so just give up.” She readies herself to slap me, but I grab her hand mid-motion before she can make contact with my face.

“Dante is going to kill you just like he did the rest, don’t think that just because he marked you that you are completely his.” I twist her hand back and look her straight in the eye. “You want him? Go ahead and take him.” I let go of her hand and step back, crossing my arms. She looks at me, confused. “What are you doing?” I shrug. “Isn’t this what you wanted, for me to concede? Now you don’t know what to do? He is right there for the taking.”

Dante is just sitting there looking at both of us. “Or do you want to challenge me? How does this work? Can we do this now? I’ve been itching to put her in her place since she showed up in front of me.” I said to Dante. He nods his head to Leo, who then clears his throat.

“Ahem, as per the Lady and Celine, we will meet at the arena where they will challenge each other in one hour!” He announced to the crowd. Dante stood up and came to my side. “I am sorry, but I have given you to Miss Celine,” I said to him as he was about to put his hand on my waist. Celine looked at Dante and shrugged. “Are you serious right now, babe?” He asked me, completely ignoring her; I nod.

“I’ll have Leo escort me to the arena.” I turned away from him and walked toward Leo, who is stifling a laugh. Celine held her arm out to Dante, who looked at her like she smelled terrible. “Don’t even think about it.” He stormed off, mumbling something about me being childish, Celine following behind him. “So, where is this arena?”

I asked Leo; he smiled at me, taking my arm into his. “I’ll just teleport us there; if we are gone for too long, Dante might get angry.” I nod and close my eyes; with a whoosh, we arrived at the arena. “Do you hold gladiator fights here?” Leo laughs and nods. “Seriously??!” Leo laughs louder as we made our way to the waiting room when someone grabbed me, pulling me into the shadows.

“What the fuck Dante?!” I yell as he slammed me into his chest. “Leave Leo.” Leo laughs and walks off; Dante then crashed his lips against mine, kissing me hard. I wrap my arms around him and kiss him back just as hard and deep; he groans into the kiss but pulls away. “We can finish this later.” He squeezes my ass and leads me to the waiting room, where Celine is seething once she spots us.