Текст книги "The demons queen"

Автор книги: Katee Robert

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Текущая страница: 9 (всего у книги 10 страниц)

CHAPTER 17

EVE

The next three weeks pass in a blur of . . . happiness. Azazel stops keeping me locked up in my room and starts bringing me with him as he takes up Ramanu’s duties. Not all the leaders of the villages we visit are as supportive of him as Alice is, but they clearly respect him and his policies. And his people love him.

We spend each night in his bed, fucking and cuddling and sleeping.

He even has me sit in on his meetings with Nuin and Ziven, where they give their reports on their efforts to locate and capture Brosh. I like them both quite a bit.

Nuin is shorter than me, with deep-purple skin and thin, straight horns like some antelopes. She’s clever and serious, laying out each stage of their search systematically.

Ziven is her opposite in every way. Ne is tall and lanky, with skin nearly the same shade as Azazel’s, curving horns, and a deep laugh that makes me smile no matter the situation. Ne seems to have plenty of experience with finding people who don’t want to be found.

It’s only a matter of time before they find Brosh and this all ends.

That’s what I should want. Azazel has promised to send me home once the danger has passed, which is what I was fighting for from the moment I woke up here.

Even so . . . I find myself hoping that Nuin and Ziven take their time.

The next morning, I wake up to find Azazel standing by the desk in his room, drinking his coffee and reading through an intimidating stack of papers. He’s usually up before I am, but after the disastrous moment the first morning I woke up in his room, he’s always here when I finally manage to roll out of bed.

I walk over, then wrap my arms around him from behind while pressing a kiss to his spine. “Morning.”

“Morning.” He squeezes my hand. “I have to go farther afield this morning, and unfortunately, it’s not safe for you to join me.”

I straighten. It’s on the tip of my tongue to protest, but I can’t truly argue that he’s being overprotective when he’s been working hard to ensure I don’t feel trapped. If he’s laying down this boundary now, then there’s a reason for it. Still . . . “Why?”

“I need to check in on the women with the other territory leaders. Ramanu was doing it regularly, but with them still gone, I prefer to handle this task myself.”

That makes sense. In the weeks since I’ve been here, it’s become increasingly clear how seriously bargainers take their contracts. They don’t fuck around when it comes to their humans’ safety. Since Azazel made the deals with these women, their safety is his responsibility.

I sigh dramatically. “I suppose I can find a way to entertain myself while you’re out flitting about the realm.”

He rises and gives me a quick kiss. “I promise not to be long. I have to leave now, though. I was just waiting for you to wake up.”

It’s sweet, but the warmth in my chest fades as he leaves the room. I take my time getting ready, as if that can stave off the reality of my situation.

Nothing’s really changed. I may have found peace with Azazel, but the moment I’m alone, I can’t quite forget the fact I’m trapped here. Maybe I’d feel differently if I knew exactly what I was doing when I signed that contract, if I went into this with open eyes instead of lies.

I wander about the castle, murmuring to it softly as I do. It hasn’t tried to fuck with me once since showing me what I’ve come to think of as my garden, and sometimes it brings me to new rooms and wings and what I can only describe as secrets. I’m hoping for one of those to distract me while Azazel is gone.

But it’s barely thirty minutes before tension rolls through the halls and I’m abruptly spit out into a new hallway between one step and the next. I spin around, squinting. “You’ve never done that before.” My stomach sloshes a little, but it’s clear the castle wants me to go somewhere.

The floor heaves under my feet, tilting me forward, as if I could have possibly missed its intentions. I stumble. “Okay, okay, I’m going.”

I hurry through the hall to the door at the end and shoulder it open . . . to find the petite redhead from the auction facing off with Azazel. In the few minutes I interacted with her that night, she seemed like the kind of woman who would rather flee than speak a harsh word to someone. Apparently a lot has changed in the last month.

I stand in the doorway, unseen by both of them, as they yell at each other. I can’t quite divine what happened. Azazel says Briar was harmed and asks her if she wants medical care, but she seems intent on the fact that he’s overstepping and misunderstood the situation.

Ramanu appears in the midst of it, and though I’m happy to see them, they have to grab Briar to stop her from jumping at Azazel. She tried to attack him. My jaw is on the floor, and even as my mind tells me to move, to step in, Ramanu muscles the yelling woman out of the room before I can manage to break free of my shock.

The entire thing takes bare minutes.

I give myself a shake and step into the doorway. “What’s going on?”

Azazel looks up and meets my gaze. “I can explain.”

That’s exactly the wrong thing to say. I might have been able to set aside the situation I ended up in because it had only happened to me. Except . . . apparently that wasn’t true. If Briar is this furious . . . If Azazel looks like he’s already about to apologize . . . I take a step back. “What did you do?”

“Sol became . . . overzealous . . . and removed Briar’s birth control pendant without prior discussion. He’s forfeited his territory as a result.”

I blink. Removing the birth control pendant without talking about it first is kind of a big deal. Except, I can’t get Briar’s fury out of my head. I would never tell someone who’s a victim how they have to respond, but she was protesting in a way that makes me think he read the situation wrong. “From what she says, that’s not the full story.” It was hard to get the full context with how short and angry the fight was, but clearly Briar was angry at Azazel, not Sol.

He bristles visibly. “Not you too.”

It’s amazing how quickly the peace of the last three weeks melts away, leaving only anger. I stare up at him, my heart crumbling in my chest. “Because no one knows better than the great Azazel, right?”

His brows slam down. “That’s not what I said.”

“You didn’t have to say it.” I shake my head. “Your actions speak louder than whatever defense you’re currently trying to come up with.” Because there’s always a defense. He might apologize, might take responsibility later, but in the moment, he uses whatever justification necessary to do what he wants.

He scrubs a hand over his head. “Eve, please.”

Please. As if I’m the one being ridiculous right now. “I need time to think.” I turn around and walk away. He’s learned enough not to follow me, not to chase me down and battle his way forward.

The moment I turn the corner, I whisper, “Take me to her, please.”

A few more turns, a few flights of stairs—as if the castle is truly testing whether I want this—and I’m deposited before a door nearly identical to the room I haven’t bothered to visit in weeks.

I almost turn around right then and there. It’s been so nice letting myself enjoy Azazel. With a little more time, I may have even convinced myself to let down the last of my barriers, to fall for him for real.

Or to admit to myself that I already have.

That, more than anything, makes me lift my hand to knock on the door. I’m not a person who turns away from hard truths, even if they threaten the little bubble I’ve allowed myself to be wrapped up in.

The door clicks open but not because anyone is on the other side. The castle again. I glance around. “Thank you.”

The redhead—Briar—is sitting on the bed, her head in her hands. She straightens as I step into the room, her angry expression fading to one of confusion. “You . . .”

“Eve.” I press my hand to my chest. “Sorry to intrude.”

“No.” She shakes her head, tear tracks on her pretty face. “It’s probably best I’m not alone right now. I was just about to start trying to break down the door.” She eyes it with suspicion. “It was locked just a minute ago.”

“The castle has a strange sense of humor sometimes.” I ease the door shut behind me, confident that I’m not about to be locked in again. The castle and I have an understanding, one that feels independent of Azazel.

Something to consider later.

“The castle. Right.” Briar frowns. “I guess I do remember some of that from when I was here before.” She shakes her head. “Regardless, I need Azazel to stop and listen to me. He walked into a conversation that was none of his business and took things out of context. Sol would never put me in danger intentionally. Yes, we didn’t exactly have a conversation about the birth control pendant before he bit it off, but if I hadn’t wanted him to do it, he wouldn’t have done it.”

The passion in her voice makes my heart ache. “You sound like you love him.”

Briar gives me a wobbly smile. “He’s the best man I’ve ever known.”

And Azazel just dropped a bomb on their relationship, so to speak. High-handed doesn’t begin to cover it. It’s impossible to avoid comparing myself to Briar, even though the situation is different. The current danger against her sounds like it was perceived instead of real. Regardless, Azazel didn’t stop to ask questions or find another way. He just took her . . . like he took me.

We chat for a little while. I came here to find out answers, and it quickly becomes clear that Briar truly is in love with Sol. They had a bit of a rocky start, because of the trauma from her past relationship and his awkward nobility, but it seems like things are going swimmingly now.

At least until Azazel ruined it all.

I don’t know how to feel. I truly don’t. It’s not a simple situation, and I can’t pretend that my time with him hasn’t changed things for me, at least a little.

I’m not a coward, though. As tempting as it is to retreat to my room to clear my head, that would be a shitty way to go about navigating this. So I don’t. I go to his.

He appears in the doorway a few minutes after me. I don’t know if that’s intentional on his part or if the castle had its way with him, but he doesn’t immediately approach me. The distance can be measured in feet, but it feels like he might as well be standing on another planet. I cross my arms over my chest. “You fucked up.”

“I disagree.” His face gives me nothing. “She just needs time to understand.”

I flinch. That’s not what I expected him to say. I should have. “Like I needed time to understand? Because Daddy Azazel knows best?” I laugh harshly. “Right. Of course. Why would I assume you’ve learned anything at all? What’s your motivation to change? All you had to do was wait me out and I fell for you, legs spread.”

“Don’t.” He takes a step toward me. “Don’t do that, Eve. That’s not what this is. That’s not what we are.”

“Isn’t it?” I whisper.

It’s suddenly all too much. I skirt around him to the bathroom and make quick work of getting ready for bed. He doesn’t say a word as he does the same. Or when we strip down and climb into bed. Or when he wraps a cautious arm around my waist and tugs me back into the curve of his body.

“I love you, Eve.”

My chest feels too tight. I love you too. I don’t say it aloud. I can’t say it aloud. I wish hearing those words from him were enough to ward off the dread churning through my stomach.

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CHAPTER 18

AZAZEL

I’m not surprised when Sol arrives in my castle three days later. To be fully truthful, I’m relieved. Eve’s been spending every free moment with Briar, and with each hour that passes, I can feel the space between us growing. While I understand that fixing the problem with Briar and Sol won’t fix the one between Eve and me, it can’t hurt. Right?

I stare at the exhausted dragon standing in my office and resign myself to a stressful day. “Shut the door.” I glare before he has a chance to speak. “If you start roaring, I will kick you out of here so fast, you might not survive the portal out.”

Historically, Sol has been the most even-tempered of the other territory leaders. There’s none of that present. He has to visibly wrestle his anger and worry under control before he can speak. “Is Briar okay?”

As if I would ever hurt her. But I decide to throw him a small kindness, no matter how little he deserves it after that stunt with her birth control pendant. “That little hellcat nearly took my face off.”

He freezes. He doesn’t seem to even breathe. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“I did, but . . .” I understand his confusion. I suspect Briar has never come at him the way she came at me that first day back in the castle. He shakes his head sharply. “You’ve made a mistake.”

“That’s what she keeps saying.” I press my claws to my temples, suddenly tired of it all. I just want to see Eve. I just want to figure out how to fix what I’ve broken. “Sit down.”

Sol shifts a little, then finally sinks into the chair in front of my desk. When he speaks, he’s managed to moderate his tone to sound more like himself. “When I signed my particular contract with you, I thought then that it made perfect sense. You wanted to expand the bargainer demon territory.” The words are slow. His dark eyes see far too much.

Ah well. They were going to figure it out eventually. “You have something to say. Say it.”

“I had some time to think while traveling. Several years ago, you said you wanted peace between the territories. I didn’t believe you. None of us did.”

He’s almost there. I give him a long look. “I fail to see what influence your belief—or lack thereof—has to do with me or our current circumstances.”

“It made sense that you’d set up a spiderweb with four neat little traps that will put you in charge of the entire realm. I didn’t question it.” He leans forward. “But you don’t want my territory, do you? You don’t want any of ours.”

There it is. Took you long enough. “You wouldn’t believe the gift without the strings attached. So I made them hefty ones.” I shrug. “Even if I took all four territories, I wouldn’t hold them indefinitely. Your respective peoples are too powerful and too stubborn. It’s more trouble than it’s worth.”

Sol isn’t particularly young, but he looks it right now. He’s absolutely crestfallen. “Then why take Briar?”

“That, I was not fucking around with. I realize the rest of you think we keep the humans here as our playthings and see them as little more than toys to be used and discarded when the deals are up. That’s not how it works. A contract is sacred.”

He hesitates, then finally huffs out a breath. “I owe you an apology.”

“I truly couldn’t care less what you think of me.” It’s mostly true. “But you harmed one of mine, and that I will not forgive.”

“Briar is not yours. She’s my wife.”

“Your wife by my leave.”

The door swings open behind him, and he leaps out of my chair, fully expecting an attack. It’s not one of mine slipping through the door. It’s Briar, her hair pulled back into a complicated twist, wearing a deep-gray dress that looks absolutely devastating on her. I narrow my eyes. No doubt Eve is to credit for this timely appearance.

She catches sight of her husband and stops short. “Sol?”

“Briar.” Gods, he’s so in love with her that it makes me feel like a voyeur being in the same room as them.

She starts to move toward me, but I fling out a hand. “I swear to the gods, if you throw yourself into his arms right now, I will send you back to the human realm.”

Briar spins on me and gives a truly impressive snarl. “You’re so high-handed, it’s no wonder Eve doesn’t want you!”

I flinch. I can’t help it. She’s speaking words I know for truth, with such conviction that they would convince me even if I had doubts. I’m suddenly exhausted. It’s clear these two love each other, and equally clear that Sol committed no harm against Briar. It takes a little while to get them out of my office and on their way home. It passes in a blur. All I can think of are Briar’s words.

No wonder Eve doesn’t want you.

I sit in my office for a long time after they leave, thinking of nothing at all. I love Eve. I’ve loved her for years, even as I resigned myself to always occupying a specific space in her life. Manipulating her into signing a contract was shitty. I could have explained the situation. Or I could have gone over her head to Pope and explained what they needed to know of the danger. They could have sent her into hiding.

I’ve been selfish and just as much an overbearing asshole as she’s claimed.

I push to my feet with a sigh and go in search of my woman. Except she’s not mine. She never will be. No matter what she feels for me—and I know Eve well enough at this point to understand that she does have feelings for me in some capacity—my deception will always stand between us and any future we could attempt.

For once, the castle is feeling kind. I only have to climb a single set of stairs before it spills me out into what I’ve come to consider Eve’s Garden. She’s here, knitting away at a blue garment. She’s fast, needles clacking steadily even as her gaze is on something a million miles away. It’s clearly a sweater, the fabric spilling over her lap. This mundane act of creation is a beautiful kind of magic as far as I’m concerned. I can’t wait to see it finished.

If I do right by her, it never will be.

“Briar went home with Sol.” When she doesn’t immediately respond, I clear my throat. “I, uh, might have acted too hastily in that situation.”

Her gaze flicks to my face, finally focusing on me, and there’s such deep sadness there that I nearly hit my knees and beg for forgiveness. It won’t make a difference. I’ve apologized, and she’s rightly called me on the truth that I wouldn’t do anything differently. She won’t believe that my regret has taken hold enough for this apology to be true. I’ve given her no reason to.

Even so, I can’t stop myself from moving closer. “I’ll make things right.”

Her lips twist. “Some things you can’t make right, Azazel. No matter how hard you try.” She finishes a row and carefully sets her knitting aside. “But I’m glad you saw reason when it comes to Briar and Sol. I think I’d like to meet him properly at some point. After hearing about him for the last few days, I feel like I know him.”

My throat is so tight, I can barely get the words out. “I think Briar would welcome any chance to see you again.” And then I do fall to my knees, because how can I not? “I’m sorry, Eve. Truly sorry.”

She reaches out and cups my cheek. I would welcome her fury, her spite. Instead, she just smiles sadly. “I know you are.” It feels like she’s saying goodbye. She’s touching me, but she’s retreating all the same.

It makes me want to clasp her to me all the more, to hold her so tightly, she wouldn’t dream of leaving. Which just proves I’m exactly the monster she believes me to be. I close my eyes. “With Ramanu back, we’re closing in on Brosh.”

“Azazel.” She waits until I open my eyes to continue. “What difference does it make? I understand the situation well enough. If you kill or imprison him, it will just start a blood feud within your family. I won’t be any safer then.” She drops her hand and sits back. “You know, if you’d come to me with honesty, I probably would have signed the contract.”

I stare. “No, you wouldn’t have. You were happy in your life.”

Her smile dims. “Not happy.”

“Content, then. You’ve said before that you liked your job. You have Pope. You . . .”

Eve clears her throat. “You know I grew up in foster care.” She continues before I have a chance to respond. “I was one of the privileged ones. Nothing bad ever happened to me.” Her eyes shine in the fading light streaking through the trees around us. “But no one ever chose me.”

I choose you.

I know better than to say it aloud. It’s not the right time. She won’t welcome it.

“That’s part of what I like about the sex work. My clients choose me. They do more than choose me. They go out of their way to have me. They pay extravagant amounts of money, they beg Pope for the privilege, they do their best to ensure I never have cause to turn them away.”

“Eve.”

“So, yes, I like my job. I like the challenge of providing their perfect fantasy. I like the money—gods, I like the money. I love the freedom my life allows me. Or what it allowed me.” Her lower lip quivers. “But what I really like—what I crave—is being chosen.”

Gods, she’s tearing my heart right out of my chest. “I’ll make it right. I swear I will.”

It’s like she doesn’t hear me. “You were my favorite. Did you know that? All those years ago, you picked me out of a lineup, and then afterward, you only wanted me.” A single tear slips free. “I asked Pope, you know. If you were contracting any of the others. I was jealous.” Her laugh is a little wet. “But you never did. You chose me that night and then you kept choosing me.”

“I only ever wanted you,” I whisper. I remember that first night. Pope is particular about their clientele and their people, and so they hosted an event. A trial run for both new clients and new sex workers on their staff. I had gone, sure that I saw my opportunity to make a deal with Eve slipping away. That’s all that was supposed to happen that night. An offer.

Instead, I saw her standing in that line of people, proud and beautiful and a tiny bit unsure but trying not to show it. And I knew I wouldn’t be offering a contract. I knew she was beyond me, but I wanted her in whatever way she’d allow. Becoming her client was the simplest and most honest way forward. Until I lied and ruined everything.

“I know.” She wipes away her tear and visibly pulls herself together. “That’s a heady thing, Azazel. So, yeah, if you’d come to me with a contract and an explanation . . . I might not have believed you at first, but I can’t pretend I would have turned you away entirely.”

“I’m sorry.” I don’t know what else to say. Bargainers may be able to jump realms, may be able to manipulate the timing of such jumps, but we can’t actually time travel. I can’t go back and do things differently. I can’t fix anything.

“Me too.”

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