Demon in the Machine by Lise MacTague

Author:Lise MacTague [MacTague, Lise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781594935671
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2018-05-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

Isabella blinked at the face staring at her. The resemblance to Briar was unmistakable, especially through the cheekbones and the sensual lips. Briar didn’t have the jet-black horns that curved back proudly from this woman’s forehead, and Isabella thought perhaps she’d caught a glimpse of pointed ears.

“You’re a pretty one, aren’t you?” The demon wet her lips with the tip of her tongue. “Are you perhaps the one responsible for my daughter’s current state? Come closer so I can get a better look at you.” She leered deliciously, one eyebrow arched high on her forehead.

Isabella took a step forward without meaning to. When she realized she’d taken a step, she forced herself to stop, trembling as her body fought not to answer the demon’s call.

“Mother!” Briar stepped up next to her, taking the full force of her mother’s regard and shouldering Isabella away.

Glad though she was to no longer be the object of the demon’s attention, Isabella still longed to gaze upon her. Sweat trickled cold down her back. She clenched her hands until the knuckles ached and her nails scored the tender flesh of her palms. The pain gave her something else to focus on and she bit her lip in an attempt to further clear her head. The sharpness of her teeth reminded her how Briar had bitten her on the thigh while they made love. Arousal built hot and demanding within her; she watched the side of Briar’s face, the way her lips moved as she said something savage to her mother. Her eyebrows pulled together highlighting the fierceness of her eyes. This was the one Isabella needed, not the one in the mirror who tried to use her own body against her.

“What do you want?” Briar was saying. “I’m extremely busy.”

“I’m quite aware of that. Too busy to take care of yourself, it would seem.” The demon looked Briar up and down, critically this time, not the lascivious inspection Isabella had been subjected to. “Why have you been using so much magic?”

“How do you know that?”

“Briar, dearest, your flavor is all over the magic we’ve been receiving. You don’t expect a mother to know her daughter’s signature?”

“Do you mean to tell me you monitor the bore for the signature of each of your children?”

“Of course not.” Briar’s mother didn’t even have the grace to appear embarrassed. “The others are all pure-blood. They haven’t the same impediments you do.”

“They don’t have the same value, you mean.”

“I don’t understand why you refuse to have even one child. Think of the power a child of yours could bring to our family.”

“My childhood was quite horrific enough. I won’t subject another to it. If I ever have a child, you will have nothing to do with it.”

The demon gestured irritably. Her fingers were tipped with immaculate black claws that made those on the imps look dull by comparison. Isabella watched them with sick fascination.

“I am quite well, Mother. Now if you would be so kind as to depart.”

“Briar.” Gone were the pouts and outrageous flirtation.

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