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Primrose’s silver eyes fluttered shut. The muscles in her jaw flexed as she struggled to contain her own surge of annoyance. Only when she’d kept a lungful of fresh air trapped in her lungs for a few seconds did she finally turn on her heel to deliver a glare that had every single person in the room flinching - myself included. “That isn’t necessary, Tydinn. We have guests.”
His upper lip curled immediately to expose the same type of fangs as Asher. “They’re not guests, zia. They’re pests and none of them belong here.” He jabbed a finger at the direction he’d come. “Why don’t you follow everyone else out and leave us in peace?”
“Tydinn.”
Although that was enough to stop any further words from coming out of Tydinn’s mouth, he didn’t even seem to contemplate backing down. He simply straightened his back with his nostrils flaring.
“Come, boy.” Primrose’s performing companion slapped a hand down on his shoulder, forcing him to turn away from us. His brown eyes narrowed into thin slits when Tyinn immediately started to resist. He simply dug his finger into the young man, forcing the desired action anyway. “You need to go help with the animals if you want to stew over something that’s long been forgiven.”
I tensed as Tydinn released a snarl that left every part of my body cold. If it wasn’t for Asher being right beside me, I would’ve succumbed to the urge to bolt. A pissed-off demon wasn’t one I wanted to be nearby, especially if they saw me as nothing more than a pest.
Granted, that insult was probably mostly directed at the men in my party.
“Who’s forgiven his betrayal, Kythinn?” Tydinn jerked against his hold despite the feeble attempt of actually breaking free. He eventually allowed himself to be pulled away, but that didn’t mean he was willing to go quietly. Adding another snarl over his shoulder at us, he added, “I know I haven’t! Fucking lying bastard.”
Asher simply stared after him without his expression changing at all. Only the slight shift in his jaw revealed just how much the insults had bothered him. Yet, he was so accustomed to concealing what was brewing within him that it didn’t show on the surface unless someone was specifically looking for it.
Primrose returned her attention to us with a weary sigh. “I apologize, il mio ragazzo. Tydinn has never grown out of his wild card phase, it seems. Come. Let us go out back and catch up. It has been so long since you’ve come to see us last.” With a curl of her finger, she gestured for us to follow.
Although Aydin had inched around in case he needed to step in, he was fully content to bring up the rear this time. The tension had already leaked out of his body. This cluster of demons he knew and he was already lost in his own thoughts. As far as he was concerned, any history that was still only partially buried wasn’t his problem.
The air didn’t grow light until Primrose took us through a thin blanket draped over a doorway, concealing an open tent attached to the back. It was such a simple area, yet I couldn’t overlook the amount of love that haunted the silk material and the wooden benches lining up the space. It was even complete with a large pit burning within a ring of stone nearby, its presence beating back the chill of the desert.
I didn’t realize Asher had pulled away from me until I absently hugged myself. “It’s so peaceful out here,” I murmured.
The prince paused, quickly taking note of the subtle shivers. All it took was for me to blink once before he had his suit jacket shrugged off and tucked around my shoulders once again. “I’m glad to see that much hasn’t changed.”
“Very little has strayed from what you remember, Asher.” Primrose gestured for us to take seats close to the burning pit while she moved on to open a trunk nearby. From the small runes that would occasionally light up with a bright white glow, it was obvious that it was enchanted. All she had to do was open the lid for me to see a cluster of fog escaping from within it.
I had no problem with taking the seat closest to the pit, sinking down onto the bench with a relieved sigh. “I don’t think I’ve ever been on my feet as much as I have been today,” I remarked with a sly smirk at my demon.
Asher responded with a quizzical look of his own.
Only Primrose seemed to detect there was an underlying meaning to those words aside from the possible sexual angle the men seemed stuck on. The edges of her lips twitched until a pleased smile stretched across her face. “I could sense something very unique about you from the moment the show started tonight. When Xiather mentioned we had special guests sitting in the stands…it helped me hone in on your energy.” She straightened with a large ball of dough wrapped in seran wrap cradled in her palms. “Do me a favor, il mio ragazzo. Split this up for the three of you.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I’m not hungry.” Aydin plopped down close to the main tent with an irritable huff. “His little pet over there kept flicking popcorn at me during the entire show. I’ve lost my appetite.”
Turning my head, I threw a glare in his direction. “I get that you work for a demon lord, but do you really have to keep that log up your ass all the time? You can relax, you know.”
The demon responded with a slight curve to his upper lip. “Relaxing in times of war is a reckless move, Quinn. The faster you learn that, the faster you’ll adjust to our little corner of the world.”
The last thing I expected was for the nimble young woman to immediately shift the dough onto one hand and use the free one to hold up a finger at the irritable demon tucked into the corner. “Uh uh! If you keep this behavior up, I will send you to help Tydinn to clean the stables. We don’t need this negative energy at my circus.”
Asher’s lips twitched. He came around the table and took the seat across from me, gesturing for her to hand him the large ball of dough. His fingers had barely curled around it when the air directly in front of his body shimmered and a large wooden tray formed. “I don’t think Aydin has quite gotten used to Quinn’s blossoming personality. He’s more accustomed to dealing with Archer on a daily basis.”
The other demon responded by rolling his eyes, grumbling, “At least I don’t have to worry about anything being thrown at me…”
“You’re no fun, Aydin.”
Primrose was on Aydin before the demon had a chance to do more than release a snarl and lunge onto his feet. She snapped her fingers to get his attention. “Go help Tydinn. The mundane work will work you through that rage that you can’t quite seem to let go of. You’ll return to me, hungry and tired.”
My mouth immediately snapped shut with a surge of shame tearing through me. While it was fun to poke at Aydin and test the limits of just how far I could push before he snapped, I didn’t like the fact that I had essentially gotten him in trouble. While he stormed off, snarling under his breath in his native tongue, it only took me a quick check to realize Asher was struggling not to laugh. I immediately honed in on him with narrowed eyes. “Were you just letting me wing it until he lost his shit?”
Asher worked on getting the wrap off of the dough before he started wiggling his fingers to separate it. “You’ll come to see that what makes most of the demons tick is their relentless determination to maintain constant focus, pet. Especially for those that work beneath a demon lord. Every single one tied to me demands extremely high standards. They’re not trained to handle teasing like you’ve been doing tonight.”
“So why did you let me keep going?” I hissed.
The edges of his lips curled. “To see how he could handle a unique situation like that. Things are changing within the empire, pet. I have no intention of running it like my father did.”
