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I blinked, and swore the lights were closer. No, they really were—I could hear the shuffle of footsteps now, like fabric dragging over the floor.
"Holy shit," Taj blurted when the creatures came into the light of our fire. The demons were barely three feet tall, draped in brown robes from their necks to the floor, with hoods pulled over their faces and only gleaming violet eyes visible within them. "They're not dead. They're really not dead."
"Guessing this is your long lost race of demons," I rasped, freaked out anew by my unfamiliar voice. I shook hard as I watched the robed demons come within three feet of us, closing in from every hallway until we were encircled by them.
I lifted my shaking hand and wreathed it in fire, but Arkan commanded,"Wait.They're not attacking."
If anyone except my mates had told me to wait, I'd have ignored them. But I trusted Arkan. With my life, apparently.
"What are they—" Taj began, angling himself protectively at my side. I was still splayed on the floor like a fool. "Holy shit."
I stared, mouth open when the Thenawist demons reached up for their hoods, pushed them off their heads, and bared—
"They're so cute," I squealed, ignoring my hoarse voice.
The demons were tiny, and covered in brown fur in various shades, with fuzzy faces and rounded bear ears. They were real life teddy bears.
"Wait, what?" I blurted when the teddy bears dropped to one knee on the floor and chanted a phrase over and over. It sounded like gibberish to my ears—ghadaweiss yeohgi eh.
"Are they summoning a monster?" I whispered to my mates. "Are they going to barbecue us and feast on our delicious flesh?"6
Taj laughed, a light, rumbling sound that made me even more frantic. Glad he found some amusement in the situation, because I fucking hadn't. He was a lunatic.
"It's one phrase over and over," Arkan murmured, a furrow between his pale brows as he returned to his flesh and blood state and looked at me for a long time. "They keep sayingthe goddess is here."
A bewildered laugh bubbled up my throat, shock blasting through my chest.
The goddess is here…
And they were all on one knee, their purple shining eyes fixed onme.Not like they wanted to kill me like everyone in that warehouse in London, but like … they were in awe. Reverent.
"Right," I breathed, nodding my massive head. "Cool. Makes sense."
Now was a very uncool time to faint, but of course that was what I did.
11
I'd survived torture dressed up as ‘training’ and grown up alongside a sadistic serial killer. I'd fought a monster and witnessed my mates stabbed, slashed, and cut apart. But being called a goddess by a long-lost race of demons was what made me pass out?
Wow.
There went all my street cred. Just think of my reputation—Aveline Lachesi, who kills indiscriminately and is famously the mate of a crazy powerful circle and the devil himself, faints at teddy bear demons worshipping her.
"I'm a badass," I slurred, bolting upright when I came back around.
"’Course you are, pretty killer," Taj agreed, his arms winding around my shoulders when my head almost crashed back to the unforgiving stone floor under me.1
Arkan spoke gibberish that sounded likestayba, ghadaweiss espuryn.
"Is that French?" I murmured, Taj helping me sit up until I could see the teddy bear demons crowding around me. "Ugh, I can't believe I fainted."
"You're under immense stress, and your mate is missing. You're allowed to be affected by that," Arkan soothed, giving me a long, soul-settling look before he began crowd control on the demons.
"Why are you a goddess, but I'm not a god?" Taj muttered under his breath.
I smirked and elbowed him. Jesus, he was all muscle in this form. Even with my elbow all demonic, I was pretty sure I got a bruise. "Don't be jealous, Taj. Just think—you can brag about being a goddess's mate."
Taj tilted his head, as if that hadn't occurred to him. "Come on, I'll help you up. Then you can tell your new worshippers to lead us to Herallan's entrance."
