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“How charming. I’m starting to see why your mother shoved you in here.” Low stab? Probably. I can feel his glare burning a hole in the side of my face.
“Says the woman who’s out here alone. I saw the way my father chased you through that boundary. Why is that?”
“It doesn’t matter,” I whisper, resting my hand on the hilt of my sword.
“I think it does.”
“If you must know, Kai wasn’t going to let me go after Finn, so I locked him in the castle and trapped the Devil within the boundary.” Asmo laughs, gaining a new peppy stride to his gate. I’m sure he appreciated the irony. “It’s not like it matters anymore. Both of them are free and have been for days…”
“Hmmm. That’s why you were upset.”
“I’m not upset,” I snap, gripping my hand tighter.
“Sure, because strong-willed women like you cry for shits and giggles…”
Sucking in a deep breath and letting the smoke roll from my nose, I push down the flames that push against the surface of my skin. “I tire of your voice.”
“And I of your cantankerous attitude. I suppose we’re both in for a wretched night, then… There’s a place I know, another mile or so walk from here. We can camp until morning. It’s best to avoid traveling at night where we can. Especially in these woods.”
11
Alice
Asmo pokes the fire, sending embers and burnt bits swirling through the air. We’ve barely said a word to each other. Even if it was impressive for him to find us something to eat. I feel like I haven’t eaten in ages, even though the hunger pains are dulled compared to the way they were when I was mortal.
I scarfed my portion of the berries and… I’m not entirely sure what the meat is, and figure it best to go in blind. Strangely enough, it tastes like chicken. Slowing my pace, I pull small pieces off, taking my time to savor what’s left.
“Why haven’t you conjured food?” he asks, watching me inhale my food–or rather, try not to.
“Because I’m shit at it. There seem to be a lot of things I suck at lately.” Swallowing my last bite, I wipe my hands on my pants and wrap my arms around my knees in an attempt to ward off the cool air mixing with the heat of the fire. The flames keep my teeth from chattering, but I swear it makes my back feel even colder.
Flicking my eyes up to where Asmo sits opposite of me, on the other side of the fire, he stares vacantly at the flames with his single amber eye. “Why don’t you? Surely you’ve mastered it by now.” He doesn’t answer out loud, just holds up his wrist. “Right… The magic cuff.”
“I’m going to assume, since you didn’t just teleport to Solaria, that you’re shit at that too.”
“You’d assume correctly. That and from what I understand, you have to picture where you’re going and I’ve never been to your precious golden city.”
“It’s far from golden. Trust me. Even the creatures here hate it. The king has made many enemies, and I don’t think there’s many who would be upset should someone finally knock him from his throne.” He sits back, leaning his weight on his propped hands.
“Is that so? Then why fight for him? Sure, some of the creatures had the bands and tried to deflect, but most were pretty blood thirsty.”
His amber eye lifts to stare at me. “Because my father shoved them into the prison world–at least, their ancestors. The only grudge they hold is against him, and the king just happened to offer them a chance at revenge.”
Glancing around the abandoned roman-style temple, I can’t help but gape at the massive columns rising up to the collapsed roof above, still standing tall. Vines swirl and twist around them, hiding most of the cream-colored stone. The once white marble floors are cracked and tipped in places. A large statue of a woman in a toga stands proudly in the center of the room, a stream still running from the outside in, and somehow pumping up through the statue like a fountain. The water trickles down, swirling around the woman’s feet and carries off deeper into the temple.
“What is this place?” I ask, running my fingers over the cool stone.
“It’s what’s left of Aphrodite’s temple. She’s long gone, along with most of her lineage.”
“It’s still shocking to me that she ever existed.”
He cants his head, putting another handful of twigs and broken tree limbs into the fire. “You’re not from here, are you?”
Drawing my gaze back to him, I wonder for a moment if he should know the truth. Though, it doesn’t seem like it matters much. I don’t think it would hurt anything. “No,” I say, confirming his suspicion. “I’m from Earth.”
His eyebrows bounce once, but he doesn’t look away from the flames. “That explains a lot…” Asmo leans forward, matching my position, and resting his arms over his knees. “One of the downsides of my condition,” he points to his white eye, “is I see things I don’t wish to. And honestly, the only reason you got the best of me on that battlefield is because I’d seen you before.”
Asmo scrunches his eyebrows together and the lump in his throat bobs, gulping down the sip of whiskey he takes from his canteen. “I seem to remember you walking through some weird castle. I’d never seen it before and I don’t think it quite belonged in Hell. I wasn’t sure if it was on Earth, or some far distant future. You were standing in front of a mirror and smashed it to pieces.”
