Read Online Ties That Bind: A Muse Urban Fantasy (The Veil Series Book 5) by Pippa DaCosta - Free Book Online Page A

the burns, and beat my wing, trying to fight free. His lips parted, face twisting in pain. He lifted a hand, caught my hip, and dug in. In a tumble of chains, wings, fire, and soiled ice, he pinned me beneath him.
    “No, Stefan—no!”
    He wasn’t Stefan. I wasn’t sure what I’d created, but nothing of Stefan’s spark remained in his eyes. He wedged a knee between my legs and pried them apart. I wasn’t even sure if there was anything conscious left in his rabid glare. No, no! I couldn’t let this happen, for him, for me. His growl resonated. Those dull eyes didn’t even know me, not really. Lust had hold of him. I’d had a taste of what lust could do when my brother had used it against me. It had dropped me to my knees, emptied out my humanity, and turned me into a creature of need.
    “Don’t.” I shoved at him, twisted, and bucked. He reared up over me. His brilliance snuffed out. His skin burned, wings ragged and stained. And there was nothing in his eyes, nothing at all.
    I cracked a fist across his jaw, once, twice. He snarled, snatched at my wrist, and pinned it down, but I twisted as he grappled with my other arm and worked my leg free. With a vicious jerk, I brought my knee up between his legs and hit him hard. His cry was all beast, a terrible sound. I tore my arm free of his grip, plunged my claws into his side, and shoved him back as he reeled from my assault.
    I scurried out from under him, away from the reach of the chains. He lunged. The chains snapped taut, yanking him off his feet inches from where I sat. He snapped and snarled, twisted and howled. And I watched, unable to look away. It was…horrible. Lust made my gift for destruction look heaven sent. Lust was ugly. Stefan—burned, soiled—snarled and chittered. He sawed at his own wrists, digging his claws in and then used his teeth, and in every second, his gray eyes flicked back to me, marking me.
    I turned away. The longer I stayed, the more damage I’d do. At the door, his howls barreled through the dungeon, beating against my back. I gulped the disgust down and turned away from the madness I’d drowned him in. He spat and snarled demon nonsense. Hands clamped over my ears, I blocked it out, blocked the noise, the horrible guilt, the gut-twisting fear that he wouldn’t come back from this. What had I done to him?
    “Father!” I dropped my hands and lifted my chin.
    The door opened, and Asmodeus’s yellow eyed-glare slid over me. He pushed me aside at the sound of Stefan’s rapid snarls and growls. I gritted my teeth so tightly that pain flared through my jaw. I had to withstand this. If I buckled now, Stefan’s anguish would be for nothing.
    I stopped outside the stall as Asmodeus admired the twisted, broken thing I’d turned Stefan into. Bile burned my throat. I swallowed it and gulped down the surge of guilt with it.
    Asmodeus turned his head toward me. He’d see me standing tall, my face blank, eyes bright with flame because that was the mask I wore. Inside, I screamed and raged. I poured every measure of hatred for my father into thoughts of how I’d be the one to destroy him. My claws twitched with the thought of sinking them into my father’s crimson flesh. I’d tear him to pieces. And soon.
    “Daughter…” He growled and unfurled a huge hand, urging me to take it. “You will sit beside me, as demonkin, as a member of the Court, as the Mother of Destruction, Daughter of Lust. Welcome.”
    I’d become a monster. I settled my hand in his and met his glare. While Stefan’s snarls and groans cut into me, I smiled up at my father and considered all the ways I’d destroy him. I would find Jerry and restore the veil. I’d sacrificed my love for it. Nothing would stand in my way.

Chapter 8
    T he ripe netherworld air drifted about the courtyard, bringing with it the scents of burned rubber, countless demons, cooked meat, and things I didn’t want to dwell on long enough to give them a name. I couldn’t move for all