"So is everyone here," I answered, shrugging. "Not everyone is careful. So yes, I'd like it if you tied me up. If Con and Antin fucked me at the same time, or if just you and I lay here together, touching and kissing, talking. I want to know you, and I like the little you've shared so far."
Constantine stared down at me for a long time, his body lowering to the mattress, pressed close against my side. He wasn't scorching hot like Eston, but he warmed the longer we touched.
"I am here at the command of another," Constantine said slowly.
I sucked in a slow breath, considering my next words carefully. Constantine's disbelief in my interest reminded me of Hunter, and it made me more determined than ever to prove how worthy I found him. Lies wouldn't cut it, not with this demon.
"Birsha," I said, and Constantine jerked his head in a rough nod.
"I did not go to him…voluntarily. Although his houses offer me a considerable outlet, his preference for Con's skills is clear," Constantine said, frowning. "I fought the orders to come here, of being reminded how objectionable most find me. And yet...I am more feared by Birsha's terrified, trapped animals than by anyone here."
Which wasn't saying much, considering almost everyone but me still avoided his company.
"What do you mean, you didn't go to him voluntarily?" I asked, reaching for him, tracing the muscles of his throat under my fingertips as his lips pressed flat and his entire body tensed. Not at my touch though…something internal. "You can't say?" I guessed.
He relaxed slightly. "I haven't hurt anyone here. Aside from you," he said.
"Good, I'd be very jealous if you had," I said, my mood brightening as a surprised little smile curled up the corners of his lips. I would ask more about these terms he was bound by, but first…"And Antin?"
Constantine's smile grew again, a rare warmth of expression transforming his eerily beautiful features. "Received a request."
"From whom?" I asked, sitting up and glaring at the door.
"They were denied," Constantine said. I hiccuped with surprise as he pulled me closer, rolling back until I was seated on top of him. "You know Birsha's name because you know he is likely responsible for the death of the human girls?"
I nodded, freezing at the reminder that Constantine seemed aware of what I was, or at least wasn't, in spite of not saying so directly.
"I had no knowledge of his plans when I came here, and nothing has been shared with me when I ask. If he discovers what you are, he will almost certainly take steps to acquire you for his collection," Constantine said, gaze growing dark as he sat up slowly. "And if I am asked…"
My breath froze in my chest, my eyes growing wide. "He asked about me."
Constantine blinked, shook his head. "No…no, I would've been forced to speak. I said nothing, sweet creature, I swear it to you."
"No, Constantine. He asked Mr. Reddy about me," I whispered.
Constantine's eyes flashed, and his hands gripped my hips for a moment before his head dipped down. "Then I've given away my own interest to him and put you in danger."
I reached up to the horns framing his head, studied their texture from tip to root, where Constantine hummed at my touch. Sensitive then, like Ronan.
"You don't care about the human girls, do you?" I asked.
Constantine lifted his head and hesitated, nodding it side to side in ambivalence. I was a little disappointed but not surprised. Humans were coveted by some monsters and dismissed by others. And I doubt many had given Constantine a reason to feel especially protective.
"Would you help us, though? If I asked you to? Or are you loyal to Birsha?"
He growled and shuddered under my touch. "Not loyal, the opposite. But I'm not free to act against him, as much as I might wish, even for my own selfish reason," he said, frowning. "I would help, if I were able."
Understanding trickled in slowly, little whispers of information I wasn't meant to know, not as a human girl in a monster's world. But they'd reached my ears, and I'd never had cause to wonder about the laws of demon blood until now. My breath hitched, and my hands slid down the sides of his smooth face to his jaw. "Constantine, are you bound?"
A demon could be held against its will by a witch or warlock. All it took was finding the demon's mark, their talisman, and I supposed the skill in magic to perform the summoning. It was absolute possession, an almost complete loss of the demon's will, as far as the summoner commanded it. Horrifying.
"Not by Birsha's hand," Constantine said, flinching again.
My hands tightened briefly before I realized, and I pushed them down his back, drawing him roughly against me. Constantine was bound.
"Where is the talisman?" I hissed. "Who is the summoner?"
Constantine's face turned, his breath rustling against my throat. "I would rather remain bound for another century than involve you in that net, sweet creature. You are my only haven, after so long."
I let out a wounded sound, tried to pull away. "But—"
Constantine's arms tightened around me, kept me close. "I'll speak with Mr. Reddy. Offer the little I know and am able to share."
"Wait, I don't want you risking yourself for—"
Constantine shifted, his mouth sliding over mine, his tongue catching and twisting around my own, my body arching into his as that returning current of power raced through me.
I whined as he pulled away, opened my mouth to continue the argument, but Constantine spoke before I could.
"I've considered your theme for this week, and I have an idea you might enjoy," Constantine said.
"You can't distract me from this—"
"As Con and Antin, I can choose whether or not to use my gifts on myself."
My mouth remained hanging open, but no words came out in response. Don't let him distract you, this is important. And yet, what could I do? Constantine would be bound to serve and certainly bound to secrecy. No warlock who kept a demon for a century would be idiot enough to miss that step.
"So with that in mind, perhaps it would be time for you to make demands of me on stage," Constantine said.
I was a little embarrassed by how readily my mind offered up suggestions in the wake of such a serious conversation.
"You'll speak to Mr. Reddy?" I asked.