Chapter 38
Lucifer
Nelly was being a perfect brat, and Tiamat had taken a shine to him.
That was not an ideal combination given that Nelly would benefit greatly from exposure—so much more exposure—to me, without any distractions from Tiamat.
She’d inevitably end up doting on him and spoiling him without caring that right now, he needed me the most.
As I neatly parallel parked Trony’s hybrid, I realized this was basically a holiday romance plot.
I was the prince-consort-to-be, the ugly duckling who had recently come to court.
There, I’d have to sway the boneheaded swan prince so he could convince his dragon queen mother to let him—me—be with the boneheaded swan prince, who was Nelly.
“What’re you smiling about?” Nelly asked, his nostrils flaring.
“Oh, nothing. Is this close enough to where you want to go?”
He shrugged and huffed out a cute little sound of annoyance. “Sure. Whatever.”
“That’s good to know, Nelly.”
I smiled as I pulled the hand brake. In this version of the romance, I already had my butt plug in Nelly, and it was working on him. He’d been blushing at almost every other word out of my mouth, so despite the copious vomiting the previous night, we were getting somewhere.
“Thanks for the ride.” Nelly unbuckled his seat belt and hurried out of the car without even waiting for a response.
I got out too and opened the back door for Soul. Nelly was already sprinting across the street as if he was afraid I might slap him on the ass. He knew me so well already. Soul walked up next to me and barked after Nelly as he wove through what was mostly touristy pedestrians.
“I wonder what he wants here too,” I told the hellpoodle. “He could’ve stayed in my bed all day. He could’ve gotten me to give him my cock with only minimal begging.” I smiled after Nelly. “I’m a nice boyfriend that way.”
But Nelly had other ideas for some inexplicable reason, and like a stubborn swan prince, he had commanded I take him to Chymical Street.
Chymical Street was always a tourist attraction in any larger city.
Magic users had, at some point in history, started using symbols for some of the classic skills they provided: eyes for any kind of psychic services, a leaf and a flower for herb magic users, three waves running parallel for healers, a three-pointed star for casters, and a pentagram for casters who also broke hexes and enchantments.
Recently, the community had refined their symbols and added colors to distinguish the more specialized brands of each trade. All the different banners and flags made Chymical Street a colorful place, one that presumably looked fantastic in vacation photographs.
Nelly wasn’t a tourist though, and seeing him so eager to be here made me curious. After all, the alternative was getting more of my attention, and given that he had demanded we fuck… Well. All I could do for the time being was follow the holiday romance plot he’d laid out for me.
I watched as he ducked into an herbalist’s after passing by a few other storefronts. I shrugged. If this was the place he chose for deepening our romance, so be it.
“No biting humans, Soul,” I told the poodle as I followed my shrewd boyfriend across the street. The poodle gave an agreeable bark. She made a fine hellhound indeed. A good hellpoodle.
The poodle eagerly walked into the herbalist’s ahead of me while I sniffed the air.
It was heavy with the scent of henbane, dried marigolds, various fungi, a good selection of ash, and even tea leaves; the kind you could tell the tourists were magic even if they were just tea.
The shop itself had opted for a cream interior rather than a more classical dark oak design.
It made the whole space feel less cramped than your average herbalist.
“Lily? I haven’t seen her here in a while. Is everything okay?” the herbalist, or more likely the herbalist’s assistant, asked. The kid looked barely out of her braces, but she had a good amount of power under those red curls.
Nelly instantly got defensive. “I can’t really say.” He was such a bad liar, and worse at hiding stuff. “Do you know if… Was anything happening in her life?”
The young herbalist cocked her head. “Like…boyfriends or family stuff?”
Nelly nodded. “Yeah, like that.”
The girl shrugged. “I sold her a rose and honey tincture, and we chatted. She said she was going on a second date, but she was a realist, and then she gave me some personal advice. Job advice. She’s such a good listener, you know?”
I decided I liked this herbalist, even if she was still a bit green behind her green thumb.
I’d send Trony to hire the girl to do some work in the garden.
I wanted more bees there, and butterflies.
Nelly might need some herbs and roots and things down the line, assuming he used such means rather than blunt force magic for anything other than necromancy.
I took a closer look at some ginger root that was hanging from the ceiling and sprouting green while Nelly nodded. “I see. She didn’t mention a name or anything more than that?”
“No, sorry.” The girl shrugged. “She’s okay though, right? I mean, she’s Lily. She’s always okay.”
Poor thing. Soul had walked up to Nelly and was now barking up at the girl behind the counter. Nelly glanced at me before looking away. “Sorry, but I really can’t say. Like I said, I’m just a consultant, and this is ongoing.”
From her expression, the girl feared the worst. I didn’t know who Lily was, but knowing where Nelly worked and what he did, she wasn’t okay. Personally, I’d have told the apprentice.
The young herbalist just nodded and smiled at Soul. “I have carrot jerky.”
“Excuse me?” Nelly looked confused.
The girl pointed. “For your dog. She’s a cutie. You’re together?” She looked at me and her cheeks glowed. Understandable. I’d taken a lot of care with my hair this morning to please my stubborn prince.
“No. No-oh,” the aforementioned prince said.
“He’s my boyfriend,” I told the girl, making sure my voice was rumbly and warm. I walked up to Nelly, and before he could get away, I put my hand on his ass and squeezed.
From the sharp intake of breath and the way a muscle in his neck ticked, he’d enjoyed that.
The girl, meanwhile, had gone around the counter and was holding out a strip of dried carrot to Soul, who sniffed it critically since it wasn’t the dried carrion meat of her enemies.
The poodle decided that didn’t matter and bit into the dried vegetable with gusto.
I smiled at the herbalist. “May I ask your name?” Trony would get so pissed if I just gave her a physical description of the herbalist I wanted to hire instead of a name.
This way, she’d be able to compliment me on my forethought instead, maybe even where Nelly could hear and be impressed by how others saw me.
“Mina Belamy.” The herbalist’s apprentice grinned at me, and that name—Mina, like from Dracula—was a sign if ever I’d seen one.
“Not your boyfriend,” Nelly mumbled as if he’d realized that he hadn’t complained about anything or been contrary in over ten minutes.
He stepped away from me, but the way he’d blushed when I’d touched him—mmm.
If he’d finally stop fighting so hard on every level, he’d be just the sweetest human, and maybe he’d even stop being so caustic to everyone and everything around him.
“Babe,” I said, speaking in a low voice and almost into his ear.
“W-we’re leaving.” Nelly was clearly fighting for composure, and Trony was getting flowers for buying me those butt plugs.
Young Mina ruffled Soul’s fur and held out another slice of carrot jerky for the poodle, which she took. Nelly walked past the jars of dried willow bark and mint leaves, heading for the door.
“Thank you for your kindness, Mina,” I told her.
“You bet. Always happy to help a magic user in law enforcement.”
Nelly mumbled his thanks too, though he seemed in a hurry to leave.
I followed him outside. Not surprisingly, my boyfriend had crossed the street yet again, and unless I was mistaken, he was hunching over, trying to vanish in the crowd. Soul caught up and stopped next to me. She gave a disapproving bark.
“I have no idea why he’s being this way either. Does he really think I wouldn’t be able to track him like pomegranate seeds on Trony’s floors? It’s silly, but if my lord swan prince wishes to play…”
I shrugged, and Soul and I followed Nelly across the street. After all, every holiday romance had a fun outing that ended in awkwardness for one of the two lovers, and I was the Devil. I didn’t do awkward.