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I stiffened. “Does your father care that I’m a random girl you picked up at the bar? What if he doesn’t believe we’re actually in a relationship?”
He nodded. “That’s why this is just the first of many events you’ll be attending with me. This will take some work.”
“What?” I replayed his words, making sure I heard them right. “You mean I’ll have to attendmultipleevents with you? That wasn’t our deal!”
“Our deal was that I’d show you the world if you help me fool my father. Fooling him will take time.”
I silently cursed at myself for being so ignorant. I should have known a deal with a demon wouldn’t be so simple.
“Your mother won’t find out,” Alek said after a second. “Us demons like our secrets. There are no cameras, no photos. These events are very exclusive. Anyone bringing a guest, like me, has to receive my father’s approval. And he’s not very generous, if you can imagine.”
His voice morphed to a whisper as he finished the sentence. Natalie had emphasized that particular fact about demons and their secrecy, but it was a relief to hear it from Alek.
Although, I knew the itching paranoia would never completely vanish. There were too many questions still echoing in my head—ones I couldn’t really explain to Alek. Not if my mother was just someone who worked with goddesses.
What if there are spies within the demon society? What if my mother has people reporting directly to her? What if someone has been following me this entire time?
A cool hand fell onto my wrist. “Relax, Lyra,” Alek said. “I can feel you worrying from over here.”
I took a long breath, but my exhale was audibly shaky.
“Your mother is really that strict?”
Where did I even start? “I’ve just begun to get on her good side,” I sighed, which wasn’t entirely a lie. “I don’t want to screw anything up.”
Alekzander’s brows drew together, but he didn’t push any further.
Twenty minutes later, we pulled up to a massive glass building. Alekzander straightened in his seat and brushed his shirt down, ensuring there were no wrinkles.
It was bizarre to see a demon prince so disheveled. Alek was clearly strong and powerful, and after what I saw in the bar yesterday, I knew he held respect. Yet here he was, nervous to see his own father. Half of me wondered what had happened between the two of them to get to this point. It had to be something.
“Ready?” he asked. I nodded. “Let’s go.”
The driver swung the door open, and the silence of the car was immediately flooded with the roar of the crowd. Dozens of people suddenly started shouting Alekzander’s name.
He held his hand out for me to join him.
This was it. This would be the moment that the public saw Alek was no longer on the market for a suitor. This would change everything for him, and it would be the start of me upholding my deal. The last twenty-four hours had completely changed everything for me, and this was going to be my new normal.
You’re not the same Lyra you used to be,I reminded myself.You can do this.
I grabbed his hand and stood up out of the limousine.
When I moved to let go of his hand, though, he only squeezed tighter. “Here goes nothing,” he whispered to me.
I took a long breath and attempted to relax. The screaming never stopped, nor did the amount of people yelling his name. I held my hand up to my face, attempting to hide from the dozens of eyes lingering on our every move.
“Who is that?” I heard a few people say. The crowd then filled with murmurs and whispers as to who the demon prince had shown up with.
“A human, maybe?” a few guessed. “She can’t be that important if we’ve never seen her here before.”
Alekzander pulled me close to him as we walked toward the large glass doors. I was suddenly grateful for how tall he was; he easily towered over every other person in the crowd, which made it easy to maneuver through them.
“Let me do the talking,” he reminded me.As if that would be an issue.
And then we were inside.
Long, black diamond chandeliers hung from the towering ceilings of the ballroom. Ice sculptures and circular tables surrounded by red velvet chairs littered the space ahead, accompanied by a massive stage with a throne centered upon it.
