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Enzo leans close, pupils pinpricks of madness. “With us, of course.”
Fear and excitement dance in my belly. Neither take the lead, they just sway back and forth in time to Enzo’s preposterous suggestion. The two make such ridiculous dance partners.
Linked, but at two ends of the pole. Like the sun and the moon. Two luminaries, linked by the heavens, one the inverse of the other.
Like an angel and four demons.
“With you? What does that mean? You all live in different houses.” Enzo’s face remains impassive, but Bastian’s lights up with a wide, gleeful grin.
No one says anything.
“Besides, there’s nothing wrong with my dorm. Or there wasn’t until someone decided to smash the door in.”
“That’s what happens when you don’t answer the door, little bird,” Enzo replies before linking hands with the other heads.
In a flash, another sheet of magic descends on me. Distantly, a perturbed voice shouts, “That’s a demerit to all houses for blinking indoors!”
It’s not rough like Sera’s. And it works a whole lot better than my middling attempt last week. The transition from the dining hall to here is as easy as walking through a door.
And here is…
It’s the strangest room I’ve ever been in. An enormous space, divided into seating and dining areas. The furniture isn’t ornate or carved the way Celestian tradesmen have perfected. It’s simple and well-made with upholstery that matches the odd curving walls. As if we were in a dome, the walls curve inward as they reach the ceiling. The facade isn’t sanded smooth and painted, it’s jagged and rocky.
As if someone, or something,carved the room from the earth.
Running the length of every wall, and about midway up, is a straight line of built-up earth, rather shelf-like. Except, no booksor decor adorn the shelf. Instead, warm ambient lights glow under the lip of both the top and bottom.
It’s the only light source in the room.
Wherever this is, each of the demons surrounding me is noticeably more relaxed. Enzo’s eyes aren’t so wide. Axe isn’t clenching his jaw. And Bastian isn’t standing like he’s about to march in a demon army.
They feel safe here. Or rather, they think I’ll be safe here.
And given what happened with Vlad, I’m not all that opposed to it.
“Where am I exactly?”
“This is the heir’s house,” Axe says with a wide gesture. “It’s where we live.”
“Ah. How silly of me to assume you lived in the houses you were heads of.”
"Not silly at all,” Bastian says, missing the sarcasm entirely. “The house heads before us lived in the houses. We still have rooms in each of them. But this is the first time the heads are all from the same plane and destined to take over the same business. The headmaster was all too willing to let us live wherever we wanted once my father requested it.”
“And by business, you mean…” I need to hear them say it. I need it to be more than secondhand information from Stevie. I have to be sure they’re in the Syndicate that Sera and I linked to Gael.
“I’ll only be gone a few days. Three at most,” he says, pulling me against his warm hard chest.
“I know. You said that already. I just... I can’t shake this bad feeling, though.”
Gael pets my hair and pulls away to look at me. “I’ll be fine. It’s just a little cross-cultural exchange.” His clear, sky-blue eyes sparkle with his smile. “But if something happens, you can always find me in Blackwood. Just go there.”
I scoff. “Right, like my father would ever let me just spirit myself down to the mortal realm again.”
“Exactly,sha-ræ. And you won’t have to.” Gael smiles at me, and my whole body warms as the part of his soul linked to mine blooms with adoration.
“Mmm, I love it when you do that,” I murmur, and pull him tight against me.
Axe slips a finger under my chin, bringing my attention back to the present. “Oh, don’t play dumb, Dove.”
