Page 69 of Realm of the Wicked

I looked into the dark closet and nodded. ‘It’s okay.’ I stepped inside, staring up at him.

‘Stay quiet.’ He leaned in, pressing one last kiss to my lips, and then swung the bookshelf shut. ‘Silas. What can I do for you?’

With the door shut, the only light came through the smallest crack at the floor. Otherwise, the room was pitch-black. I shuffled until my back touched the wall, the cool stone grounding me.

‘Cute. You know why I’m here. Clarissa couldn’t be bothered to drag herself out of Hell so she sent me.’

I breathed as quietly as I could, my heart racing. Damien had this handled.

Damien laughed quietly. ‘I don’t know why you listen to her.’

‘What’s my other option? Listening to you and having to socialize in the human realm? No, thanks.’ I could almost hear Silas roll his eyes in his silence. ‘Where is she?’

Damien’s footsteps drifted away from the bookshelf and I pressed my hand against the door, not wanting to be alone. When he spoke, his voice was cold. ‘I sent her back to the human realm. I was bored of her. So many emotions. If you’d like to go collect her, I can take you, though.’

‘Oh? Did you take her yourself, or did she find one of your many anomalies you refuse to get rid of?’

‘I took her myself, obviously.’

Silas barked out a laugh. ‘That kind of lie might work for Clarissa, but you know I’m not going to buy that shit. Humans aren’t usually my thing, but she’s a nice piece of ass. Worth putting up with a few emotions, surely.’

My hands tightened into fists. Don’t react. Don’t react. Keep quiet. Damien has this under control.

A low growl escaped Damien, and he quickly cut it off. ‘We had our fun.’

‘So why not just give her over to Clarissa and be done with it? You know she’s like a damned dog with a bone. She’s not going to give this girl up.’

Footsteps, heavier than Damien’s, drew closer to my hiding place. I shuffled away from the door, pressing myself as far back as I could, certain Silas would hear my echoing heartbeat.

‘I’ve made this much of an effort. Might as well see it through. Besides, isn’t it fun to watch Clarissa not get her way?’

Quiet thuds came from the other side of the door, and I made myself as small as possible. Silas was going through the books. Shit. ‘Yeah, if you aren’t on the receiving end of her bad mood. Which you seem to have a knack for putting her into.’

‘A talent I’m quite proud of. Now would you like me to take you to the human realm and we can collect Stella together, or do you have enough information to run back home now?’

Go away. Go away. Go away.

‘Like you’ll trick me into going there.’ He sighed, and his voice drifted away from the bookshelf. I felt like I could breathe again, just once. ‘Look. I might not like you, but I’m fucking tired of Clarissa being miserable. Just bring her the fucking girl, and we can all be done with this.’

Damien’s silence was answer enough.

I pressed my hands to my eyes, counting backward from ten. Over and over. Maybe if I counted enough times, all of this would disappear, and it would just be Damien and me.

Light peeked in through my fingers, and Damien was there, pulling my hands away from my face. ‘I’m sorry, Stella. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean a word of what I said.’

‘I know.’ The realization shot through me that I hadn’t once thought he was telling the truth about any of it. ‘You told me you can’t trick Hell. You told Silas I was back in the human realm.’

‘You can’t.’ Damien pulled me into his arms and I rested my head on his chest. ‘And I did. But like I said, Silas is lazy. I just needed him to leave. I needed to buy us more time.’

I pushed him away, the truth bubbling to the surface. ‘I’m scared this is all temporary. That one day, I’ll wake up, and my soul will be gone and I won’t remember anything about my life any more. I won’t remember Grace, or Archie, or you, or how old I was when I learned to ride my bike, and that terrifies me.’

He tugged me back to his chest. ‘You didn’t learn to ride a bike until you were twelve.’

I froze, midway to pushing him away again. ‘What?’

Damien slid his hands down, holding my wrists hostage, a vice I wasn’t sure I wanted to escape. ‘You didn’t learn to ride a bike until you were twelve. Your favorite color is yellow, but for some reason, you tell everyone it’s blue. You hate cooking, but you can never decide where to order from, so you usually cook. You hate socks, winter, and days where the weather can’t make up its mind.’

I stared up at him, unblinking, my heart hammering in my chest.