Chapter 18 Asta
His idea is just crazy enough that it might work, though I don't think it’s much better.
Kai had come to me yesterday with a possible solution to our problems. Not all of them, but a few, and that was a start.
Lucifer told him the contract was binding and that in order for us to break it, we would need to find something…bigger.
It sounds impossible, but of course, with him bringing the idea to me, he already had that worked out.
Mates.
Fated mates aren’t something any of us understands. They are a gift from the universe that neither God nor Lucifer has any say in.
Celestial, if you will.
The only problem…
None of us is certain that Bast and Aeri are mates. All we have to go on is Bast’s word, and while I think he might believe that to be true, nobody has any proof.
Demons have walked the earth for a long time, and I’ve never heard of one finding a mate. That’s why we believed it was a punishment from the universe itself.
Worse still is that even if they are mates, we don’t know what the hell that means.
Is that alone enough to override the contract? If they mate, will it be null and void? And how does one trigger a mate bond?
I’d never cared much about mates even before the fall.
The divine almost always have mates, but most tend to be mortal; those who had other divines as their mates have long since found them.
Seeing that most mortals don’t live long, most divine don’t even bother venturing to find them, instead waiting to see if they will go to Heaven once their time on Earth is over.
I’d never looked for my mate on Earth or in Heaven; as far as I was concerned, a mate wasn’t something I wanted or needed.
I can’t recall any of the others caring much one way or the other, either.
Maybe no demon had ever had a mate because they didn’t care to look for them. After all, I don’t know many demons besides us who go around seeking the mortals out.
The only use I’ve ever had for them was to ensure they covered our scent while topside.
Fuck, how had everything ended up so twisted?
“Bast,” I call to him down the hall as he moves away from Aerilyn’s door.
It’s rare to see him leave, but it does happen. I’m not sure if I’m grateful for that or disappointed that I don’t get to slip in and take a look at her for myself.
Kai said she had a rough night. Rome is pushing harder, probably in an attempt to draw her back to him. He’s brainwashed her and tied it up in a bow to call it “love,” but we all know it’s a lie.
Or most of us do.
Aeri seems to believe it, or at least she does about ninety-seven percent of the time. There are rare glimpses of the old her that shine through every once in a while. Aeri knows what Rome is, but she’s not in the driver's seat anymore.
Bast turns back to look at me, and I see a lightness shine in his eyes that’s been missing the last few months.
Something has changed.
“Hey, Asta. I was just headed down to the kitchen to grab something to eat,” he tells me as I fall into step beside him. Considering we don’t have to eat the way mortals do, I’m assuming the food is more for her than him.
I fill him in on Kai’s musing about mates possibly being something powerful enough to break the contract, and a smile pulls to his lips, full and real. I can’t remember the last time I saw Bast smile. For the last few hundred years, he’s been more withdrawn and quiet.
Whether the mortal is his mate or not, there's no denying she’s good for him; Talian as well, if I’m being honest.
“I mean, it makes sense in the logical aspect, but who’s to say mating is logical?
” He shrugs, but I can tell by the look on his face that he isn’t done.
Bast loves knowledge; learning new, even pointless things, has been his pride and joy for hundreds, if not thousands, of years now, and I have a strong suspicion that if he didn’t feel like Aeri needed him, he would be down in the library helping Kai comb through every book here.
“I’ve never heard of what makes mates, mates, though, have you?” he asks, glancing at me as we walk down the main grand stairs.
“I haven’t,” I say with a shake of my head. “I’d never cared to pay attention before.”
How annoying.
Bast laughs, shaking his head as well. “Yeah, me neither. How ironic.”
Ironic isn’t the word I would use at all; maybe maddening, that seems more fitting.
“Speaking of ironic things, why has a demon, who is fully capable of summoning food into the room, walked all the way here, leaving the mortal alone?”
The tips of his ears turn red, and suddenly, he’s looking anywhere but at me.
Call me crazy, but this is the reaction I was more prepared to see around Aerilyn. But while he seems more than content around the tiny female mortal, this clearly has something to do with her.
“Um…” We make it into the grand hall, and I get the feeling he’s looking for an escape.
There isn’t one, not if he wants to be able to bring her food.
If anything, he’ll be even more cornered when he walks into the kitchen to retrieve their meal from the imps.
With a sigh, his shoulders slump, and I know he’s realizing what I had.
“Things were getting a little…” he trails off as if searching for the right word. “Tense?”
Why did that sound more like a question than an answer?
“What?”
“I believe the master is referring to sex!” a female imp shouts from near the other end of the hall, where she’s dragging out scraps toward the back door.
For a moment, I’m confused on multiple fronts—that is, until she pushes open the door and I hear the very distinct growl of hellhounds.
The imp tosses the scraps before pulling the door closed as quickly as possible, letting out a sigh of relief when she presses her back to the door as the sound of their growls and snapping jaws sounds from beyond the door.
Those beasts are feral, and the imp has every right to be terrified.
I’ve heard they’ve eaten more than their fair share of castle employees over the years.
The only one safe from them is Lucifer. While I could kill them if needed, it would take a lot out of me, and honestly, I’m not sure I could take them three on one.
Not to mention, they listen to Lucifer, much like mortal pet dogs do.
Why must they all have pets?
“What?” I ask the imp, shaking all thought of the ravaging beasts away in favor of finishing our previous conversation that had just been interrupted.
She looks uncomfortable as she looks between us, and I wonder if she’s just now realizing who it is she spoke to.
“He was referring to sex, sir,” she says in a low voice, her gaze remaining stuck to the floor.
I had heard her right.
I turn to Bast, and where his ears were slightly pink a moment ago, they are now so red it only makes sense she was right. Not to mention, he isn’t actively denying it.
Bast looks up at me slowly as if he really doesn’t want to, but I get the feeling he can feel my eyes as they bore into him.
“You know, in this state she cannot truly consent?” I ask before I can think better of it. I don’t even know why I said it.
What do I care if she consents? This is Hell. I am a demon. And she is just another mortal woman Bast is currently obsessed with.
In a few hundred years from now, none of this will matter.
“No, not like that.” Bast holds up his hands as if to pacify me, and it’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him I don’t actually care and leave, but even as I open my mouth, I can’t make the words come out.
Damn this mortal.
“She kissed me. I knew now wasn’t a good time, so I left.”
The urge to reach out and pull his heart from his chest grates on my nerves.
I shouldn't care.
I don’t care! But even as I tell myself that, I know it's a lie.
But why do I care?
I begin to walk away, unsure where I’m going but knowing that the distance between us is for the best. Bast wouldn’t die if I ripped his heart out; the most that would happen is he would be sent back down to his ring of Hell and have to climb his way back up.
It would probably take a few days tops, but that’s time we don’t have to waste, and without him here, who would sit with the mortal?
I could.
No!
Beyond my own mental break, Bast didn’t actually do anything wrong. Just because my head is a mess is no reason to punish him.
I don’t make it far before a thought occurs to me and makes me pause.
Fuck.
I don’t like it, but…
“Maybe let it be like that?” I say without turning back to face him. The words taste bitter in my mouth, but even as I say it, I know this has a chance to work.
Mates are a tying of two souls after all; maybe his being close to her will help to coax that bond into existence?
“What?” Bast asks, and I whip around to find a look of confusion on his face. I can’t blame him; it’s not as if I’m being very forthcoming with the information, and my emotions are all over the place.
I take a breath to calm myself before I try again. “Perhaps being intimate with her will help to form a bond? Especially if it’s something she is comfortable initiating.” I swallow down the strange feeling that saying those words makes me feel, watching Bast closely.
He nods, a smile pulling at his lips, and if he notices my discomfort, he doesn’t say anything.
“That would make sense. Maybe some kind of meaningful connection, which would explain why no demons have mates.” He’s excited by the idea, and I nod along. It does make sense, and I wish I could share in his excitement. “I’ll let you know if it works!”
And just like that, he’s off, dashing to the kitchen and quickly coming back out with a tray full of food, only to disappear from the hall, the smile never leaving his lips.
The faster we can free her from Rome, the better, because having the mortal here is slowly driving me to the brink of insanity.
I make my way through the hall and out into the courtyard, passing the imp on my way. Whatever she sees on my face is enough to have her running the other way.
If only the mortal had the same instincts.