Cora

This is not a Dream

AN: Non-con touching in this chapter

Izroul and Cora stood to the back of the assembled group, waiting in the throne room for the Demon Lord to arrive. 3 hours since the Pig Faun had informed him of the edict had come and went, and still they waited for their father to show.

The morning had been an emotional one, to be sure, but in the best of ways. While he hated that Cora was trapped here, while he hated that HE was trapped here, Izroul could not bring himself to regret her.

He loved her.

Izroul swallowed around that dangerous truth and moved so that his body blocked his girl from view a little more. He hadn't intended to fall in love with the woman, and certainly not this quickly, but how could he not?

She was fury and fire, but underneath the pain, Cora was warm. She was welcoming. She tasted like what he imagined a home should.

His mind wandered to where his brothers stood with each of their own humans and his stomach swooped in fear again at the reception they had received. Hidden away in their rooms, Izroul had somehow managed to forget Cora's beauty all together. It didn't impact him and he didn't care, so he very rarely remembered that she was stunning and that the other incubi didn't know that yet.

Well, they knew now. And while their minds were all with their own girls now and how best to protect them, Cora had caused some concern when they'd first arrived.

Zecaeru, to his credit, hadn't even blinked when he saw his brother with Cora. He'd smiled his goofy smile and introduced himself, shaking Cora's hand like they did in the human plane. It was possible, Izroul thought a little guiltily, that Zecaeru didn't even realize the danger they found themselves in. He wasn't stupid by any means, but he sometimes failed to remember that not everyone thought like him.

He never anticipated pain or horror, didn't assume it was coming the way some of the rest of them did.

Aomaris had nodded at him but hadn't come over. The middle brother been trembling with ineffectual rage, fists clenching and unclenching as he stomped around near the throne. The only thing keeping him in his skin at all seemed to be the tiny girl pacing alongside him with her small palm rubbing circles on his back.

Uzaeris, though, had taken one look at Cora and paled.

"She did not look like this at the market," he'd murmured, offering the woman standing beside his brother the smallest of smiles before turning back to Izroul. "Father will not-"

"-Approve of this," Raestrao finished, moving to stand beside the second eldest with a frown. "You were supposed to have the basest of pets, the lowest he could select, not the top of the line."

Cora, who had apparently had enough of being discussed like she wasn't there, had stepped forward then, sliding smoothly in front of Izroul as if SHE were going to protect HIM.

"Trust me, I AM the worst of pets," she said, snapping her teeth at Raestrao in a way that might have been playful and very much might not have been. "I bite. And I'm standing right here, by the way."

Uzaeris chuckled, but Raestrao flushed before clearing his throat.

"My apologies, Miss," he'd said sincerely. "It was not my intention to make you feel dismissed or ignored. We are simply concerned for our brother, and for you."

Cora had looked stunned for a moment before she moved back to lean into Izroul's side.

"They're like you, aren't you?" she had asked quietly.

"My brothers are the best of men," he'd confirmed. Her defenses had gone down after that and she'd been mostly quiet for the remainder of the conversation.