“Awesome. That’s just… awesome,” the little demon grumbles as he leans into Oriel. “No wonder I have so many friends.”
“You have us.” My gaze is steady as I look at him, hoping that he knows I spoke because I felt it was important.
A shy smile comes over his face, and he looks at me through his floppy hair. “Thanks, big guy, but I think Arces is saying that’s part of my problem.”
“Aye, but it’s not the biggest part. I’m not done with my theorizing yet. More tea?” I blink as the large man pours more tea into Kit’s cup, then hands it to the kid. “Trust me, it will help.”
The new guy’s eyes narrow and he huffs. “Why do all the ancient demons insist on me drinking their tea to solve my problems?”
“Because tea is one of the greatest inventions the humans ever offered,” the Keeper replies seriously. “Plus, it works very well for dispensing various medications and potions that can help patients.”
“Get to the point, for fuck’s sake,” Jasper groans. “Tell us the rest.”
I grin, enjoying his impatience. He forgets that my original question about why they’ve been partnering with talented demons has been thus ignored. “I would like to get home at some point tonight; I agree.”
“So antsy,” Arces says with a sigh. “My theory is that the court attempted to wipe them from Hell because they were a threat and many of them escaped the purge by hiding—either in other realms or in plain sight, by pretending. They’ve been dormant, and their purpose hasn’t been discovered yet because the royals commandeered everyone with seer powers to their private use.”
“You and Jasper have been what? Hunting for them? Since we were kids?” Salem frowns, scratching his head. “That doesn’t seem likely.”
“Ah, but itis,young bear. I met your prince as an incredibly smart, empathetic, newly summoned demon in his first two decades. He hinted even then that his father was… less than optimal, so I kept in touch when I was called to the palace occasionally. We had to keep that hidden, of course, as the king would have me beheaded in a second if he knew I’d breathed a word about the true slaughter that marked the beginning of his reign.”
“Spells, right?” Xerxes chimes in. “You’ve used illusions and spells to keep your communication secret, even from us. Right?”
“Yes.” Jasper looks at the whole caliphate seriously. “Even after we were bonded, I had to protect you. This is beyondourdiscussions of things thatmightbe called treason. It is flat out defiance to locate and help hide demons who may be in violation of Hell’s laws.”
Kit is quiet for a moment, then he meets the prince’s eyes steadily. “I want in.”
To the complete surprise of no one, the little demon I yearn to keep safe just threw himself into the fucking fire again.
Truth Hurts
Kit/Kat
They all look at me like I’ve finally jumped off the cliff of sanity, but I’m serious. I want in because it’sright, but also because whatever the hell I am is probably linked to this extermination. On Earth we’d call it a genocide, and people would pretend that it’s bad unless it’s people who don’t look like them. But in Hell, it was part of their ‘take over strategy’ like some jackass CEOs gaining a competitor’s companies and then dismantling them. I can’t decide which is worse—killing entire swaths of people for hate or for business decisions.
Either way, I want to find out if Jasper and the Keeper have anyone hidden that knows what I am.
“I know it’s dangerous and scary and blah blah blah, guys,” I say as my eyes meet each of theirs. “But you know we’re unsure about my heritage and Zav could not crack things in both realms that he should be able to access. Perhaps that’s because those who have enormous amounts of power have made certain to obstruct those inquiries.” I lean back against the couch, brow arched as I stare them down. “Possible, right?”
Zavida pipes up first, his eyes bright. “Yes! It ispossible. It’s actually possible in alotof ways if we consider that the cover-up could have been instigated by the royalsorthe secret survivors. We know what the royals can do—mostly—but we do not have shit for records of the species whowere eliminated.”
“Son of a bitch,” Jasper mutters as he rubs his hand over his face. “That makes finding your birth info out before the Games start very unlikely. I was hoping you were just like any other lost one, abandoned on the surface to the fuckers up there. But I was incorrect.”
“Aye, Prince. You didn’t consider that he wasn’t raised in an enclave—so I assume because you didn’t bring it up. That means the Society bastards weren’t the ones who buried him.” Arces taps his fingers on the arm of the chair as he thinks. “Someone buried himawayfrom all of that with no records and no one to watch him; I say it was deliberate.”
I frown, my body tensing as I mumble, “You think my parent or parents… left me there to protect me?”
“Perhaps,” he replies easily. “It could have been your birth givers, or friends of theirs, or damn near anyone who didn’t want you to be killed off for more reasons than I can list. The world is full of times when beings make the best decisions they can at the time, even if it doesn’t feel like the right one. I don’t want to get your hopes up that you’re going to find a bunch of old rebels who escaped for this long, kiddo. That might be a pipe dream, but there are those the cranky royals and I suspect have blood outside of the laws.”
Swiveling to look at Jasper, I make an annoyed face. “Is there some reason you didn’t bring me here earlier? Or say anything useful rather than be shitty to me?”
His face gets red, and he looks at his hands, then coughs. “I didn’t realize you were one of them. We had all the talks about you and powers and what’s odd… but somehow, my brain never connectedthistoyou. I don’t know why—maybe because you hide shit and piss me off. Until we started chatting Arces up, it just… didn’t even occur to me.”
Oriel tilts his head, and so does Anton. I know what they’re doing now—they’re doing that bird sense thing where they try to figure out if he’s lying. When O finally sighs and pats my knee, I know he’s decided that Jasper is telling the truth. “Jas, you’ve been kicking KK’s ass from the second he got here. You knew all the pieces, but you couldn’t put them together because you were sure he was a spy.”
Arces bursts out laughing, slapping his leg as the metal-winged bird makes a weird cawing, clinking sound. “Bloody here, boy! Neither your father nor that slimy Darkstar would send a demon as weak as this to watch you. No offense, Kit, but until you emerge, you’re just not the threat those two would require.”
I wave my hand. “None taken. I don’t have the power those villains seek and may never come close. Plus, I have a slew of other issues that practically make living impossible.”
