The Demon Lord's Lover
Chapter 21

My hair is a bit messed up, and my lipstick is smeared, which I am sure that’s the look Dante was going for. “You want me to fix your hair?” He asks teasingly. “Yes, seeing as though you’re the one who messed it up in the first place.” He guides me to a seat in front of a mirror, and I sit; he then takes my hair down.

Our eyes meet in the mirror; he brushes my hair slowly while gently running his fingers through my hair. Please don’t stop. Once my hair is presentable, he turns the chair and leans in closely, reaching his thumb out, and he wipes the edge of my lips. “I fixed it. But you have to change out of that dress. They should have an outfit for you back there.”

He points to the door with my name on it. I stand up and make my way there. Oh my goodness. How much sexier can a man get? I was about to lose it in front of everyone. I lean on the door and look at the outfit in front of me. A red bodysuit with a zipper in the front and some Pumas. “Nice.” I pose in front of the mirror when I hear a knock.

“I’m coming in, Naila.” Dante comes in, closing the door behind him; he is staring me up and down. “I got you something to wipe your lips off properly.” He took the warm, wet, damp cloth and pressed it against my top lip then bottom lip. Once he finished, he hugged me. “Celine is going to try and go for the kill, but if you can help it, don’t finish her off. Adria needs her alive to get her sight back.”

He whispers in my ear. “I know you won’t lose, I fucking trained you, and you are your parents’ daughter.” He kissed me deeply and was full of emotion. Whoa, what the “They are waiting for you.” He kisses me again and then led me out of the dressing room to the doors leading to the fighting area. “I can’t wait to rip that off of you later.” He whispers in my ear before heading to the spectating area. Leo walks up to me with a knowing smile. “Right this way M’Lady.”

The stage for the arena was huge. Leo stood next to me. “At the sound of the bell, the fight will start, and you can’t leave until one of you concede or are dead. Now we know what Celine wants if she wins. What do you want?” I shake my head. “I will decide that if I win.” I already knew what I wanted, but I didn’t want to say anything right then and there. He nods with understanding then puts a hand on my shoulder.

“Be careful, Naila.” As soon as he left, the stage began to move upwards. I looked down and saw a bed of spikes. Classic. Regaining my composure, I close my eyes and focus, breathing in, out, in, out, in, and then one nice exhale out. Ding! Ding! I open my eyes. Celine is smiling a few feet in front of me.

“Dante told me he was going to marry me and make me Lady; I was so close to having what I want. But you came along and ruined everything.” She charged at me, throwing a punch which I dodged easily by sidestepping. She goes to kick me, but I blocked it, grab her leg, and tossed her. “Oh, let us see how you are against this….”

She raised her hands, and the ground began to shake; I remained calm, watching her closely. Oh, she is using magic. She then pulled some of the ground up and dropped it quickly, making a vast dust cloud. I closed my eyes, remembering my training; I can see where she was by how her magic flow was moving. She is behind.

I pulled my dagger out, pointing the blade backward, and she went right into it. “You are going to have to do better than that. Scatter.” The dust clouds dissipated. Celine backed away from me. “I didn’t want to resort to this, but I don’t like you, not because you are obsessed with someone who never loved you to begin with but because you use people. Kneel.” Celine went down on her knees.

“This shouldn’t be able to work on me.” She said, but then saw me holding up her necklace. “Oh, it should if I take this weak thing off of you. Who do you take me for?” I make a small fireball in my hand and burn the necklace. I walk up to her and pull the dagger out. “You fight cheap; I fight smart. Now, do you concede?” Celine snickers, “I would never concede to you.” I smile. “Give me your hand.”

I say, reaching out, and against her will, she places her hand in mine. I cut her pinky off, and she cries out in pain. “Are you going to concede? Someone told me not to kill you. So I decided to take a page out of Dante’s book and resort to torture.” I said dryly. Celine shook her head, and two more fingers hit the ground.

Celine no longer had fingers, and the arena was covered with her blood. Her ears were missing as well as her nose and her toes. I don’t know how Dante can do this regularly. I was wiping my dagger on my clothes when I heard Celine saying something as she lost consciousness. “I…concede….” The bell rings, and the stage moves back down. The crowd begins to cheer for me.

Before I walk off the stage, I walk to Celine and stab her. “That’s for Adria.” Then I twist it. “And that is for thinking you could take what’s mine away from me.” I wonder if they respect me now or if they like violence? I head to the back and beeline for the showers. As I come out of the shower room wrapped in a towel, Dante stands by the sink.

“I got you some clothes, they want to hold a celebratory dinner for you later, but my sister wants to see you before that.” His eyes wander my body hungrily. “I will save you for later, don’t worry.” I walk up to him and kiss him; he wraps his arms around me and kisses me back. I want him, and I need him. I deepen the kiss opening my mouth to allow his tongue to enter. His tongue dives in and dances with mine.

Oh, this feels different; he tastes so much better I want to taste more. As I push against him, Dante pulls back. “Naila, as much as I want this, we can’t do this here or now. Get change. I’ll be outside. Calm down before you leave the bathroom. I can’t do this right now.” With that, Dante practically runs out of the bathroom, leaving me dazed, confused, frustrated, and turned on.

The dress I am wearing is an off-the-shoulder blue gown that hugs my body nicely. We are standing outside Adria’s room; Dante isn’t here; Leo said he had an errand to run, but he will replace me at the dinner. Adria walks out of her room, and the first thing I notice is her eyes. Unlike Dantes, hers are blue with a tint of hazel. “It is so nice to see you, and oh my, aren’t you the enchanting one. You look just like your mother.”

She smiled at me and held my hand. “I see why Celine felt so threatened. She was fighting a losing battle.” She tucks my arm under hers, and we head to the dining area we were in before. “I am so glad you can see again. You have beautiful eyes.” As we reach the table, my eyes immediately replace Dantes, but I quickly look away. I take my seat next to him, and Adria sits next to me.

The dinner goes by smoothly, with me being congratulated on defeating Celine and Adria making a toast to seeing again. For the whole time I have been avoiding Dante, I didn’t know what to say to him or how to explain why I went for him that hard. I wasn’t in heat. It must have been adrenaline from the fight.

“Naila, I was wondering if you….” I chug my drink. “I am sorry, Dante, can this wait? I have to use the bathroom, Adria can you show me?” She nods, giving her brother a look, and heads to the bathroom with me. “Naila, why are you acting weird around Dante? Did he do something to you?”

I shake my head and explain what happened earlier on. She throws her head back and laughs. “Is that why you are acting this way?” I look at her, confused. “Naila, you have to accept him as your mate, or you will never fully awaken.”