Seven Devils and a Rose

Book 2: Seven Devils and a Rose - Chapter 82

I said, "Not the pool. Felix, I already said I'll let you have a look if you put me down."

The man laughed. "Not a chance, darling. You'll only run away again."

Of course I'd run away, you brute, since I am half naked. To be surrounded by seven men and with me half naked like this was just too much to handle. Yes, I understood that they couldn't see me as a woman due to the spell, but...

I lied. "I promise not to run away."

He finally let me down, and when I landed, I found that I was already in the pool, thigh deep in water. By this point, Aaron, too, was in the pool, with only his pants on and his top bare. I had no idea that he had been undressing himself to join the others.

With both hands clutching my chest, I said, "You brute, Felix. Now I won't let you look at that necklace. Not even a peek." I haughtily turned and started heading back toward the stairs of the pool. But of course, that bastard Felix would have none of it and embraced me, preventing me from escaping, his hands tight about my upper arms.

He said, "Sorry, little elf, but I need to have a look at that necklace now. It's important."

I struggled in his clasp and even went so far as to bite his arm to make him release me. But of course, the man was a demon lord, and within no time, he got me still in his arms, with me all wet from head to toe, chest heaving, and out of breath.

My long hair was damp and wild, the strands clinging to my pale, water-soaked skin.

Felix said, "That's a good boy. Be still now."

Indeed, I stayed still since I was exhausted after our wrestling match in the pool. Well, I wasn't surprised at the outcome—with me being the loser—since our builds and strength were completely different, him at the man-of-steel end of the spectrum and me... Well, I was just your average nineteen-year-old girl.

Felix's hand gently touched the pendant of the necklace, his fingers lightly brushing against my breasts, which in turn made my body run hot.

He lifted the ruby pendant, and it was then Caleb came to stand right in front of me. He said, "It's definitely Yuki's necklace. The one we gave her..."

I was confused and lost as to what this all meant.

The necklace I was wearing belonged to Yuki? As in the Yuki of Yamato, one of the Great Ones that Aria and Brenna had talked about during dinner this evening? But how could that be? I mean, I had found that necklace back at St. James Island on Earth, not here in the Aurora Realm. I had thought that the necklace belonged to one of the two men who had helped Dad renovate the bathhouse back home.

Lord Geoffrey said, "Let us have a look."

Caleb flicked his eyes to me and said, "Can we?"

Still tightly imprisoned in Felix's ironlike arms, I nodded my head. "Go ahead."

Caleb leaned in close until our faces were inches apart, and then he unlocked the necklace from about my neck. As he removed it, I felt something strange happening to me.

A sudden burst of heat started burning around the area of my chest where my heart was. Within an instant, that sensation became stronger and started scorching me. The unbearable, excruciating hotness exploded and radiated, flowing throughout my body like an electric shock. The intensity was so overwhelmingly painful that I felt paralyzed. I couldn't control myself and screamed my head off as my body shook like I was being possessed.

I screamed so loudly and so hard that my throat became sore, my voice cracked, my head spun, and my mind receded into the darkness.

Suddenly, all I saw was the burst of white light around me, and it was spreading, stronger and wider and higher. At the same time, the heat and pain in my body were getting more intense so that tears started brewing in my eyes. I was crying and screaming at the same time. I felt so much agony that I could die.

"Alfie!" I heard voices shouting my name urgently. "Alfie!"

"What the fucking hell is happening?"

"Alfie!" This one sounded scared and worried.

Suddenly, it stopped. Suddenly, the pain eased. Suddenly, it was gone. Just like that.

Exhausted and in tears, I stopped screaming as I collapsed into someone's arms. Is it Felix? I didn't know, and I pretty much didn't care. I felt that dead within that split second of time.

"Alfie!" I heard Felix's voice calling my name urgently, his arms tight around me.

"Alfie!" I heard Caleb's voice as he touched my face to get my attention. He sounded worried. He sounded like he was about to cry.

Imagine that. The almighty tsundere Caleb crying because he was worried about me. That'd be a sight to be seen for sure.

"Alfie!" I heard Lord Geoffrey calling me. "Open your eyes, love."