“For you sweetie? I’ll play along, for now…” He chuckled quietly, eyes glinting with mischief.
“Why even bring a demon?” Jaden interrupted again. “You’ll risk the squad, the mission, and for what?”
I couldn’t blame Jaden, for him to not trust a demon out of nowhere, let alone that the demon wouldn’t want to betray me because I simply said so? To an outsider, I could see how we weren’t convincing at all.
“Because thisguyhappens to know the way,” Ashley clarified, refraining from calling out Malakai’s true nature. “He’s also got a thing for Ethalyn so… But I’m not going to apologize for shooting you when you bit my girl and pretended to be the bad guy.”
“Fair,” Malakai shrugged, not bothered at all.
“He did what!?” Jaden narrowed his eyes on us.
“Izera won’t be happy about us letting Malakai tag along,” Lionel sighed, scratching his head.
“Good thing Izera wasn’t invited, then,” Ashley sneered.
“Is there anyone youdon’thave beef with?” Eve cut through, crossing her arms.
Ashley darted her eyes towards Nate, meeting his gaze for a brief moment before looking away.
“Probably not,” she muttered.
“Well shit… That’s what this journey is for right?” Jaden tried smiling at her. “Uniting the people?”
“An optimist, a rare breed,” Ashley snickered, practically beaming at him.
CHAPTER
3
The forest was still half-asleep when we left the camp. The fog hung low to the ground, and the early birdsong could be heard over the creak of worn boots on roots. The smell of moss and damp ash reached my senses, like the world was holding its breath.
“Could younotdrag your feet?” I asked over my shoulder, voice sharper than the morning chill.
“I would,” Malakai drawled. “If you asked politely.”
He said it with a grin that I couldhear, even without looking back, as the rope that looped around his wrists tugged gently in my hand. Every time I tried to ignore it, he’d give the faintest pull, a reminder that he was there, that he was enjoying every damned second of this.
“You’re lucky I didn’t gag you too,” I muttered.
“That’s… an image,” he said, voice low, wickedly amused.
“Gross,” Ashley cut in from somewhere behind us, loud enough to make the birds scatter. “Can wenotstart the day with demon-boy flirting?”
“Technically,” Malakai said, “I’m half demon. You should be grateful, the other half is the only thing keeping me polite.”
“Well, it needs to work harder,” she said, tossing an unlit bomb up and down in her hand. The easy grin on her face took the bite out of her words.
Nate chuckled under his breath, the sound soft and tired. It used to be louder, more alive.
Before…
Well, we don’t talk aboutbefore.
“You okay, Nate?” I asked quietly.
He shrugged, eyes down. “Yeah. Just admiring about how peaceful it is beforesomeonedecides to blow something up.”
“That’s my line.” Lionel sighed.
