Contractually Yours Alpha (Riley)

Chapter Two Hundred and Onenoveldrama

My thoughts drifted to Ash. Could he have been stupid enough to come back here with Daemon present?

Something told me Daemon wouldn't be pleased about me seeing him behind his back.

A small sense of relief washed over me when I realized the footsteps approaching weren't from a man. There was something feminine, something familiar about them.

It was Empress Julia.

Of course, I would recognize the sound of her footsteps; I had spent over a decade of my life listening to them.

Daemon seemed genuinely surprised. "How did you find this place?" he asked.

"I can't say. You see, it's a small secret, Trian-I guess that's the name you stole."

Daemon's eyes drifted from her face to the object she held in her hand: the Nexus Amulet. She had somehow gotten it out of the transparent glass container- perhaps that explained the noise that had alerted us we weren't alone.

"Give it to me," Daemon all but growled.

"Tsk, tsk. Not so fast."

Daemon looked like he was about to lunge for her.

"You won't get to me fast enough, Trian. I'll be gone before you even move an inch, and I'll be taking the jewel with me."

"You shouldn't be able to find this place," Daemon muttered to himself, as if in denial. That only made Julia's

smile widen.

"But here I am," she said in a singsong voice.

I could feel the tension thickening in the air.

"You did a good job fooling me, Daemon. We had no idea that the very person we were searching for was living under our roof. I have to say, I'm more than impressed. More than that, you even got me to trust you. I can't believe we actually... had sex-though, that wasn't part of the bad stuff." She said, her voice laced with a small, seductive smile. Despite myself, I felt a twinge of jealousy, even knowing this had all been part of his plan to gain

her trust.

"I can't say the same." He responded, and Julia's smile vanished.

"All my years on earth, no one had ever made me feel so stupid," she muttered. I was about to throw in something like 'You and me both,' but I knew this wasn't the right time for that.

"I put the Demon Overlord to guard the Chosen. Wow, was I stupid. But you didn't just fool me-you fooled us all. Here I thought a good-looking man was wasting away in the pit, only you weren't there. You saw an opening and you took it. What I can't understand is why you kept her alive, even with the knowledge that she could bring about your downfall.”

She paused, as if expecting a response from Daemon. When none came, she continued.

"Well, let's cut to the chase. The amulet, for the girl."

"That's a trade I'm not willing to make." Daemon responds

“That's sad. I know there are a lot of people who would want this jewel-people who would do just anything for

Chapter Two Hundred and One

1. it. And from what I know, your 'people' are not very pleased with the way you choose to handle things. I don't think they support the idea of keeping her alive and bedding her when you're supposed to kill her."

Earlier, I had been curious about what happened next. Daemon had told me to take things one step at a time, and that advice had never made as much sense as it did right now. Suddenly, I wasn't interested in knowing what came next. I would have given anything for things to return to how they had been just a few minutes earlier-and maybe then, I could have tried to enjoy the meal.

Chapter Two Hundred and Two