The Devil's Temptation!

“A mate?”

Levi nodded, not looking her way as his own gaze were focused on the chessboard, making him oblivious to her sour expression, “yes, Roshan has to pick a mate since he’ll need a strong lady to stand by his side when he rules Viscarrian, after he lost his last ma-” his voice suddenly trailed off the last minute when he realized he nearly made mention of Aveline and his shoulders tensed. Only then did he lift his head to look at Anna who was still staring at him, waiting for him to finish.

Annalise had a rough guess on what he wanted to make mention of, if she guessed it right, Levi was about mentioning Roshan’s last mate, but strangely, he’s not saying a word now.

“Did Roshan have a mate before?” Since Levi had suddenly lost his voice, Anna wasn’t going to let that question slide and even Gemma tilted her head up to look at Levi, waiting for him to respond and the poor demon felt trapped.

“Uhm...I....I don’t know...if...” Levi could feel a sweat roll down his neck as his tongue suddenly twisted in his mouth, he was clueless on what excuse to come up with and just staring at Anna as she anticipated his response -could it be she knows Roshan’s last mate??

Does she know about Aveline??

“Why do you ask?” He quickly turned the tables around Anna, reversing the question at her and the already anticipating Anna was completely taken aback by it, leaving her mute.

“Oh..uhm..” she straightened herself, looking away to avoid meeting Levi’s quizzical stare and she tried not to think too much since Demons are fond of reading people’s minds.

.....

She rubbed the back of her neck while letting out a nervous laugh, not completely sure if she should show the locket to Levi or not, or maybe Azazel? “I was just curious.” To say she was curious was an understatement, she was anxious to figure out if Roshan had a mate or not. Not only that, even Roshan can’t recall if he once had a mate, which is very queer to her.

“But.... Why does he need a mate now?” She could hear the displeasure in her own voice and really wished there was someone who can shut her up before she says something stupid.

Everything that happened last night was supposed to be a one time thing, with no feelings attached and she made that decision very clear to herself, but after experiencing the blissful feeling of being with him, just thinking about another woman ending up in his arms like that and getting to do all those things with him made her want to throw something at the devil himself.

She didn’t want to remember the feelings, she didn’t want to remember his touch but even her body tends to betray her in the worst ways. What was he doing to her??

Her hands crumpled the sheets as she tried to keep her vexation intact, absentmindedly nibbling her bottom lip and she silently hissed when it stung her.

“Are you okay?” Levi’s voice broke Anna from her train of thought, startling her at the same time. When she looked at him, it turns out both Gemma and Levi were staring at her and she quickly released her gripping fingers from the sheets, letting a smile light her lips.

“I’m fine.”

~

Sitting in the solar room, Roshan interestingly toyed with a dice as he threw them up in the air, only to catch them back in his hands and stare at the number it landed on in case it reached a six, but to his disappointment it didn’t, leading him to toss it up again.

Azazel stared at the demon who seemed to be in a good mood for once, which is both weird and frightening. His darkened aura was pleasantly calm today and the white-haired Enigma wasn’t sure if he should take that as a green or a red light.

“Where were you yesterday?” He finally threw the question at the glacier who just kept tossing the dice and catching it back in his hands. His face looked lighter than most days and Azazel hated to admit that his brother was looking way handsome than him at the moment.

“I went to torture an imprudent scumbag in Euphrasia,” came the glacier’s response, “sadly I couldn’t kill him myself, but it was fun seeing him cower like a fool.” A playful smile adorned his lips but Azazel wasn’t in the mood to deal with Roshan’s unserious attitude at the moment.

“Okay, I believe that but what happened after, did you really spend the night with your maid?” As much as he knew the truth already, he wanted to hear it from Roshan’s own mouth.

Roshan threw his head back, closing his eyes and looking even more relaxed, “what’s it to you?”

“When are you going to realize that falling in love with that human will only bring you trouble?” In case Roshan didn’t notice it, Azazel did. If he went to Euphrasia he could have easily come up with a disguise and sneak in to see if truly they hold the valerian sword, the sword that can easily cost him his life but this brother of his is just–

The glacier smiled his brother’s way, as though he just finished reading Azazel’s thoughts and he hadn’t forgotten about the sword, he could never forget it even if he wanted to.

If there was one thing he learnt from his late mother was patience, it’s always best to let the sleeping dog lie before making a strike. He had completely forgotten about the morals she taught him but after spending time with the annoying woman, she made him realize a few things without knowing it herself.

“She is a trouble magnet.” He added, only to earn a frown from Azazel.

“Roshan!”

“Fine.” He rolled his eyes and sat straight, “it was nothing serious okay? No emotions attached. We were both in need of it and so we went for it.” He explained and anybody watching them at the moment would picture them as a husband trying to convince his wife that he wasn’t having feelings for another woman.

Azazel eyed him suspiciously, still not believing his words to a hundred percent, “really? Are you sure there are no emotions attached to it? You can’t lie to me, the mating mark is still on her.”

“It’ll fade, like I said, we never took it extreme so the mark will fade.”

“Good.” It was only after his reassurance that Azazel’s demeanor finally calmed. Roshan who equally had a piece of scolding to give his brother decided to change his mind. He wanted to ask his brother about Aveline, about the locket, about the strange memories he’s been having recently but something told him to figure out himself.

When he woke up in the temple, he knew a part of his memory was missing because he couldn’t remember most of the things that happened except for the killing of his parents and how he suffered, but he didn’t bother because the only thing that rang in his head was revenging their deaths and his punishment.

Clearing his throat and pushing that thought aside, he also had to confront his brother on something else.

“I have one question though?”

Azazel raised a brow at him, “which is?”

“Gretta is facing hard labor, is she not?” He finally popped the question at the white-haired Enigma, leaving his pulchritudinous face to gradually pale to a slightly noticeable rate and he quickly turned away, avoiding Roshan’s knowing stare.

“And who told you?”

“I’m not so dumb that I won’t figure it out myself. She’s equally responsible for the poisoned drink and those acts of hers the other day were mind blowing, don’t you think? I mean it’s pretty shocking to see Gretta stand up for a ‘maid’ as she would put it and so my suspicioun grew.”

“Roshan...”

“It’s actually good to act like a fool so you can fool a fool, that’s why I had the letters Gretta claimed to have found in Freya’s chamber be looked into further and if Freya really made those notes, then the ink would have proven it, but I guess Gretta wasn’t too smart on that part.”

“Let her be Roshan, she’s already facing punishment.”

“That is not my business,” he heartlessly skipped it, “but a murder for murder makes two equals right?”

“Don’t.”

“I’ll give it a second thought.”

“You are unbearable!”

“Just say you love me.” He winked.

Meanwhile, in Lady Odette’s chamber, the cunning woman had ordered a maid to call Annalise from her chambers and it didn’t take too long for Anna to show up as she bowed politely in front of her.

“Greetings.”

Lady Odette really thought she could hide her hostility towards the human girl but after seeing her show up in her chambers, it became difficult to control the sneer that was spreading across her red lips.

“Anna dear.” She began in a very calm tone that didn’t sit well with Anna’s instinct.

“You asked for me.”

“Yes I did.” She took a sip of her white wine before keeping it on the table and turning her attention to Annalise.

“It’s about Gretta.” She began, “If you aren’t busy, I need you to follow me to the dungeon.”