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“Babe,” Sheryl says, leaning over the bar, her own ample bosom pushed against the surface. “We’ve worked together for how many years now? And you have never once hugged me. Or kissed me on the lips. Even when we’ve been drunk together.”
I shrug, attempting to play coy.
“Maybe demons are a bit more welcoming than we previously thought …” I trail off.
“Fess up, woman!”
I tell Sheryl about what happened after I was taken into the demon realm, the inheritance, the connection to the coin, and, of course, Systorak. Lovely Systorak.
“What, isn’t that the creature who burst into the hut?” Sheryl inquires.
I nod, gulping down the ale, which tastes delicious after so many weeks of demon wine.
“The very same one,” I confess. “He’s a lot gentler than he seems … and tender.” I bite my lip, cascades of longing moving through my body like a wave, and Sheryl notices instantly.
“You’re getting fucked by a demon!” she gasps. “That’s why you look like you’re walking on water.”
I cover my mouth as hysterical laughter moves through me. It is all real, unabashed, jovial contentment.
“It’s not just the sex,” I say as my laughter fades. “Which is the best I’ve ever had, by the way … I feel like there might be something else too.”
Sheryl cocks an eyebrow, smiling.
“Something long-term?” she inquires, voice low and serious. “The dreaded L-word?”
I shrug, looking away, once more longing for Systorak.
“I don’t know exactly. But he’s always had my back. Even took a few risks for my sake. I’ve never been so nervous and yet excited to be around someone.”
Sheryl and I chat for a few more hours before it’s time for me to return. I want to keep my promise to Systorak so he knows he can trust me, so I say goodbye to Sheryl, letting her know I don’t know when I will visit again.
“The tavern is in good hands,” she says to me and winks.
I kiss her on the cheek and return through the portal. It is somewhat abrasive, yet I feel it is something I could get used to. I land back in the demon realm, feeling the ash crunch under my feet.
“Fuck!”
I lean over to heave, yet once more, nothing comes up. Once I am able to stand, I realize that Systorak isn’t there.
I look around and amble through the ashen fields. It isn’t likely that he forgot, but maybe I stayed longer than I realized. I find my way back to the tower with no sign of the demon, and I feel a sense of doom in the depths of my gut.
Eventually, I find Durr outside my personal bedroom, informing me of the worst-case scenario. My mouth drops open as I realize Systorak has been abducted.
SEVENTEEN
SYSTORAK
It isn’t easy to kidnap a demon like me and live to tell the tale. I am generally able to detect the tangiest of scents, the subtlest, even the plainest that blend into a surrounding. I also have four strong arms that can crack stone upon a single strike. If you were smart, you wouldn’t mess with me.
But somehow, Lord Egretz used his minions and the little bit of intellect I saw in his eyes on the ballroom dance floor to climb up the tower and subdue me when Lana had gone back to her realm. I had been pacing in Lana’s room, absorbing her scent, when ten or twelve of the fuckers crawled through the open window and latched onto me.
They were demons with eight legs that spun a thousand tiny little webs around my body until I was incapacitated and secured. They then proceeded to carry me back to Lord Egretz’s keep, with me struggling and hollering the entire time, feeling both foolish and frustrated at being accosted.
I was certainly distracted with thoughts of Lana, my heart palpitating in my chest like never before, considering when and how I was going to tell her the truth about everything that had happened … about the assassin and my part in it, about the threats to our lives … all while keeping her trust and affection.
I had been off my game, and it landed me here … in this dingy, dusty hole of a prison that sits below Lord Egretz’s lair.
The cell is small, with slits of light coming through the tiny window at the back of the keep. The metal is made of the finest, strongest iron this realm can create, preventing me from tearing it from the ground and fleeing back to the portal to let Lana know everything.
