A Demon's Plaything Read online

  A Demon’s Plaything

  Amelia Hutchins

  Copyright

  Copyright ©February9th2019 Amelia Hutchins

  Smashwords Edition

  Published on Smashwords by Amelia Hutchins.

  ISBN:

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This book in its entirety and in portions is the sole property of Amelia Hutchins.

  A Demon’s Plaything Copyright ©2019 by Amelia Hutchins. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical without the express written permission of the author. The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com Kindle Direct and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  Authored By: Amelia Hutchins

  Copy edited by: E & F Indie Services

  Edited by: E & F Indie Services

  Published in (United States of America)

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  More Books By Amelia Hutchins

  The Fae Chronicles

  Fighting Destiny

  Taunting Destiny

  Escaping Destiny

  Seducing Destiny

  Unraveling Destiny

  Embracing Destiny - Coming Soon (Final Book)

  The Elite Guards

  (Part of the Fae Chronicles)

  A Demon’s Dark Embrace

  Claiming the Dragon King

  A Demon’s Plaything

  A Winter Court

  A Guardian’s Diary

  Stands alone

  Darkest Before Dawn

  Death before Dawn

  Midnight Rising - 2019 (Final Book)

  Playing with Monsters series

  (Part of the Fae Chronicles)

  Playing with Monsters

  Sleeping with Monsters

  Becoming his Monster

  Last Monster Book TBA

  Upcoming Series

  Wicked Knights

  Oh, Holy Knight

  If She’s Wicked 2019

  A Crown of Ashes

  Coming Soon

  Reading Order

  If you’re following the series for the Fae Chronicles, Elite Guards, and Monsters, reading order is as follows.

  Fighting Destiny

  Taunting Destiny

  Escaping Destiny

  Seducing Destiny

  A Demon’s Dark Embrace

  Playing with Monsters

  Unraveling Destiny

  Sleeping with Monsters

  Claiming the Dragon King

  Oh, Holy Knight

  Becoming his Monster

  A Demon’s Plaything

  A Winter Court

  If She’s Wicked 2019 (Full story from Oh, Holy Knight)

  Warning!

  Stop!! Read the warning below before purchasing this book.

  TRIGGER WARNING: This book contains scenes of graphic violence and does have adult language and sexually explicit scenes that may be offensive to some readers. The book does include the subject matter of rape. Rape isn’t a joke, nor is it used for titillation in this book. If you know someone or have been a victim of rape yourself, get help. Don’t let the asshole get away with it because chances are, your attacker will do it to someone else. You’re not alone in this. Thousands of people are raped daily; there are hundreds of people who go free after attacking their victim because the victim is afraid to report or discuss the crime for a variety of reasons. No means no. If you or someone you know has been a victim of rape, get help. RAINN is available in many countries, and is a free confidential hotline. It is free to call and available 24/7 call 1-800-656-HOPE.

  Warning: This book is dark. It’s sexy, hot, and intense. The author is human, you are as well. Is the book perfect? It’s as perfect as I could make it. Are there mistakes? Probably, then again, even New York Times top published books have minimal mistakes because like me, they have human editors. There are words in this book that won’t be found in the standard dictionary, because they were created to set the stage for a paranormal-urban fantasy world. Words such as ‘sift’, ‘glamoured’, and ‘apparate’ are common in paranormal books and give better description to the action in the story than can be found in standard dictionaries. They are intentional and not mistakes.

  About the hero: chances are you may not fall instantly in love with him, that’s because I don’t write men you instantly love; you grow to love them. I don’t believe in instant-love. I write flawed, raw, caveman-like assholes that eventually let you see their redeeming qualities. They are aggressive, assholes, one step above a caveman when we meet them. You may not even like him by the time you finish this book, but I promise you will love him by the end of this series.

  About the heroine: There is a chance, that you might think she’s a bit naïve or weak, but then again who starts out as a badass? Badasses are a product of growth and I am going to put her through hell, and you get to watch her come up swinging every time I knock her on her ass. That’s just how I do things. How she reacts to the set of circumstances she is put through, may not be how you as the reader, or I as the author would react to that same situation. Everyone reacts differently to circumstances and how Ciara responds to her challenges, is how I see her as a character and as a person.

  I don’t write love stories: I write fast paced, knock you on your ass, make you sit on the edge of your seat wondering what happens in the next kind of books. If you’re looking for cookie cutter romance, this isn’t for you. If you can’t handle the ride, un-buckle your seatbelt and get out of the roller-coaster car now. If not, you’ve been warned. If nothing outlined above bothers you, carry on and enjoy the ride!

  A Demon’s Plaything

  Chapter One

  Lilith watched the moon rising high into the ebony sky, her ice blue eyes following it until it bathed the Night Court in shadows, shadows she loved and preferred over people. The night was hers to rule, to devour the light of any who dared to enter her fortress. All but one man was brazen enough to cross her path, and he was the King and her father.

  It was what had forced her to be here tonight, unwilling. Once a year he would summon her here, give her a list of her princess duties, and then she’d retire to her mother’s castle, the Castle of Shadows. It was her sanctuary away from the court she hated and loathed. Plus, the growing list of princes
from other castes or courts was a never-ending nightmare, one she wanted to avoid at all cost. Unlike her many sisters who wanted to marry for hierarchy and their place in it.

  Lilith, though, she was the legal heir by court law. The highest prize that none had the balls to try for. She was her father’s heir by right, his only legitimate child. She was also the only one who didn’t want the burden of the crown he wore, not that she’d made that notion well-known.

  “The king is ready for you, Princess Lilith,” Lothian muttered as his dark, heavy gaze gave her a withering once-over.

  She swiped at an invisible piece of lint on her midnight colored dress and righted her quiver that was slung over her shoulder. “Any idea why I’m here earlier than normal?” she queried, her ice blue eyes slowly settling on his as she sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and waited for his answer.

  “That is something only he can tell you, if you’ll just follow me,” he indicated with a wave of his arm towards the high, double doors that were glinted with moonstones. “He awaits you.”

  She frowned, her face tightening with concernment as she took the lead, dismissing the guard who had to be as old as the castle stones and yet didn’t look a single day over thirty. A benefit of being immortal, un-aging beauty that gave them a certain flawlessness humans and other creatures prayed or sold their soul for.

  Inside the braziers were lit, the room was bathed in light and beauty as the heady scent of the midnight blue citrus trees bloomed. Her footsteps were light over the moonstones that covered the floor in a delicate pattern of the Tree of Life, from which Faery drew its power. A giant picture of the Stag covered the wall behind the raised dais of her father’s throne; his gentle matching eyes found her and softened as she approached.

  “Lilith,” he uttered thickly with sadness, as if she was a mere child instead of a full-grown woman. “Every year you look more like her.”

  Her mother. Liliana of the Shadow Court, who the Horde had slain for fun when her father had refused the tithe they’d demanded. Only where her mother’s eyes had been as dark as the shadows, Lilith’s were ice blue, a gift from her father’s bloodline and the mark of the true heir to his court.

  “I wouldn’t know what she looked like, now would I?” she asked, her seething tone mocking him for his weakness to protect her mother against the Horde. Her father had taken down everything of her mother’s, including the pictures that had once filled this palace. He allowed no memory of her to remain, not even her daughter.

  “You have only to look into the mirror to find her,” he admonished, hurt filling his words as he watched her slow approach. “I’ve called you here to inform you of your betrothal,” he said after a moment.

  “I have no plan to marry anyone,” she countered icily, her heart thundering as his words registered in her mind.

  “The tithe is due, Lilith. As it is, the Horde has been merciful enough to allow a marriage in its place, since once again, we cannot afford to pay it. I don’t need to remind you what happens when you fail to pay the tithe to them, do I? You will marry a prince. A brother to the king, and become the first Night Court princess to raise our standards, to rise above being a lesser Fae, and birth a high born child into our court. It isn’t a choice. You will do this.”

  “No, I will not,” she hissed, her eyes burning with liquid blue flames. “They took from us, and now they demand we give more?” she scoffed. “And you, you bow to no one. You’re the King of the Night Court, we don’t need to raise our place in the courts, they all fear us, and they fear me. We have always ruled through that fear, and so we shall continue.”

  “They’re offering the other courts a similar bargain, and when they accept it, they will also rise in power. You’re the last remaining heir to the Court of Shadows, and my heir to the Night Court, Lilith. You will do this!”

  “Marry him off to one of the others who will bow at his feet and worship him, not me. They murdered my mother! You cannot ask me to do this!”

  “You will do this because I am the king and your father. You will do this, or you will be removed to allow the heir brands to pass to my next child. I cannot allow what happened before to happen again.”

  “The only way to do that is to kill me,” she chuckled and then paused as she took in the warriors who waited for her next move, hands ready on their weapons as they watched her. “Which you’d do because power means everything to you, doesn’t it?”

  “I will not cower before the other courts, Lilith. I have not been kind to them, as I have held both titles until a time you came to power, and still, I held your title so that you could hide away to mourn a mother you never knew. The Horde took from everyone, everyone! They took my mate, the love of my life from this very room, and slaughtered her before my eyes. I have known pain at their hands, and yet even I can forgive. The new king’s rule is blessed by the Goddess herself. You carry the blood of Artemis in your veins, and the blood of the darkest courts. You will do this for this court, and after you’ve secured a child, you can decide your own fate, daughter. Life is made by those who know when to bow, and when to strike. Now is the time to bow. The lands are dying and we with them. They wage war against those who trespass against this world, and I gave my word that I would do what was needed to help them. You don’t have to like this, but you will do this or else so help me, girl. After a time, you will be free to leave him and the child. If you choose to retire to your mother’s ruined castle, I will honor your wishes.”

  “And who am I to marry?” she growled.

  “Whoever the Horde King sends to take your hand. You will be a good wife to him, one year and one day; that is how long you will endure his touch!”

  “You cannot mean it, not after everything they have done to us!”

  “You have to pick your battles, daughter. This isn’t one I care to wage and neither can you. It’s not about what we have already lost which cannot be changed, it’s about surviving. With the Horde tied to our line, no other caste would dare trespass against us. I’m tired of fighting with you, with the others who seek to take what our family has created here. For once in your life, do as I have asked of you. Once you have secured a child, you can do whatever you desire. They have given me their word on it.”

  “Why would they do this now when the war is at their front gates?” she asked, her heart pounding so hard against her chest that it ached. The thunderous beat of it deafened his words as she swallowed the bile that threatened to escape through her lips.

  “Because the tithe is due and we cannot pay it. This was their offer; your hand and all debt this court and your mother’s owe, are erased.” His words echoed in her ears, the reminder of the last tithe stung, piercing her chest as she watched him age before her eyes.

  “My mother’s entire court was wiped out by them, or did you forget to remind them of that small detail?”

  “Not all of them, daughter,” he informed gently as he pushed his blue-white hair away from his bronzed flesh. “You have the bloodline of both of our courts, and the combined heir markings upon your flesh. You are the Queen of the Shadows and the Princess of the Night Court. As the Shadow Court was cleansed, you were protected by the Elite Guards, even if you didn’t know it. The new king was younger then, and he spared you what his father intended. You would have been added to his harem, used to secure his hold on this court as he had done to the others. This tithe is different, the world is different, Lilith. Don’t fight me on this one, I beg of you.”

  “It isn’t that easy with them,” she muttered as her palms sweat and her stomach churned. She was Lilith, born of two royal courts and heir to two thrones. She didn’t want to bow willingly to any Horde heathen as long as air filled her lungs.

  They didn’t deserve the right to her mother’s lands, not after they’d beaten her and slaughtered an entire court of people for not paying the tithe. Her father had borrowed and taken from the Shadow Court, leavin
g them open to attack unknowingly, and her mother had paid for it in blood. And now he expected her to marry some High Fae prince of the Horde? This was straight bullshit.

  “They come soon. You are to be here when the moon reaches its zenith in four days. Do you understand? Because even if I have to bind your hands and pluck your tongue from your mouth, you will agree to give the king’s brother one year and one day of your life. You’re immortal; one year with him is nothing to you.”

  “Yes, father.”

  “Lilith, do not do anything to upset them. We cannot continue living as we have been. Not with Winter waging war against us as Summer and Autumn reach for more land.”

  “We are the court they fear, yet you bow so easily, old man. I am the Queen of Shadows, the only remaining member of the Shadow Court, and I will cower before no man, ever.”

  “You’d let them destroy this court? Because I assure you, daughter, that is what the price would be if you upset them. They may not wish to do it, but they would because the Horde would demand it of them. So take tonight, and enjoy your freedom while you can. Don’t make me force my hand against you.”

  “And what about what I want?” she asked, her hands shaking as anger took hold of her. “What about what they’ve done to my court?”

  “There is no Court of Shadows, but it wasn’t only the Horde who destroyed it, Lilith. It was involved in other things, things they shouldn’t have been.”

  “It was the Horde who murdered my court, and his children,” she pointed out as she pretended to examine her nails.

  “And had they not tried to take down the Horde, he wouldn’t have been in the Shadow Court. I understand your anger, trust me. I do. Your mother was the love of my life, my mate. What she did saved us all, and I have never forgiven myself for what happened,” he said with a deflating sigh as he stared into the eyes that were so akin to his own.