Chapter Twenty-One
“ZARMENUS!”
The voice is so loud I can hear it bouncing around my skull. I startle awake just in time to see my dorm room door burst open. Burning cinders float through the air, flaring orange before disappearing.
A tall, demonic figure stands in the doorway. Maleilius. He’s in his human form, but his eyes are a burning shade of orange, and wisps of flames are coming off the top of his head and his suit.
“Dad?” asks Zarmenus. “What are you doing here?”
Maleilius waves a hand, one that’s adorned with rings studded with jewels, and our door slams shut.
Across the room, Zarmenus gets out of bed and pulls on a shirt.
It’s only now that I realize I am in a room with the king of Hell while only wearing my boxers.
I pull my blanket higher, covering as much as possible.
Luckily for me, Maleilius isn’t here for me. He approaches his son and throws a bundle of magazines down onto his desk. They land with a heavy thud.
“Explain yourself,” says Maleilius.
I grab my shirt from yesterday and pull it over my shoulders.
I put it on the wrong way around, but it’ll have to do.
The two demons are in a face-off, giving me a chance to get out of bed and put on some pants.
I try to do it as quietly as possible, but both still pause to watch me scurry across to the closet.
“I can’t control what they say about me,” says Zarmenus.
“Nobody asked you to,” growls Maleilius. His voice has a slight demonic echo to it, revealing his true nature. “I asked you to control yourself.”
The floorboard beneath me creaks as I step into my chinos, and the pair turn to face me. Smoke is now rising off both of them.
“I’ll give you two some space,” I say.
I don’t feel as if I am in any danger, but Zarmenus is clearly in trouble, and I don’t want to be around to listen while he gets disciplined by his father. I grab the door handle and yelp, recoiling my hand. The metal was burning hot, and has left an angry red mark on my palm.
“You should stay,” says Maleilius. “Zarmenus has always cared too much about what other people think of him. An audience might make him come to his senses.”
The demon king gives me a stern look, then nods toward the couch. Nursing my hand, I go back and sit down.
“Your mother is beside herself,” says Maleilius. “She said she didn’t know what she would do if she had to see you, and I think we’d all agree we prefer Point University the way it is, not as a flaming crater. Thank darkness for her self-control.”
Zarmenus flips through the stack of magazines. They’re all tabloid trash, the kinds they sell at newsstands or supermarkets, like the one I saw at the coffee shop. Only these ones are painting Zarmenus in a far less favorable light.
The headlines are all pretty, ahem, damning, even if they are accurate.
HELL BOY GOES WILD
DEMON PRINCE LOSES CONTROL
ZARMENUS HAVING HELL OF A TIME
As unserious as the titles are, Maleilius is clearly bothered by them. The flames on his face are growing bigger with every passing second.
“It seems you’ve forgotten,” says Maleilius, “you aren’t here to have fun.”
Zarmenus rolls his eyes.
“Don’t you roll your eyes at me!”
Zarmenus’s shoulders slump, and he starts picking at his fingernail. “Sorry.”
“You’re here,” growls Maleilius. He might’ve been cheerful the first time I met him, but this time there’s no mistaking him for the king of Hell.
“To set a good example. To show humans that we are good, honest people. We are up against thousands of years of preconceptions, and it’s up to you to show the humans who we really are. ”
“I know.”
“You are not here to be some irresponsible party boy!”
“I know, Dad, I’m sorry.”
“I don’t even recognize you,” says Maleilius. “Who is this boy that I’m looking at? Who is this?”
He points at one of the magazines. As his black nail touches the paper, it catches fire for a second, sending smoke twirling up into the air. The flames vanish as quickly as they appeared.
“People change at college,” says Zarmenus. “Right, Owen?”
I find my throat is totally dry, making it hard to speak.
“Er, yup.”
Did I seriously just say “yup” in front of demonic royalty?
“In any case,” says Maleilius, “this needs to stop. You’re confirming long-held biases and prejudices and it can’t go on for a second longer.” He moves closer so he towers over his son, who flinches.
“Do you understand?” he asks.
I’ve never seen Zarmenus like this. He’s normally brash and overconfident, like nothing ever bothers him. But this clearly does. I get not enjoying being scolded by a parent, but it seems like this runs deeper.
“I’m sorry,” says Zarmenus. “I’ll be better.”
“I know you will be,” says Maleilius, and he puts his hand on his son’s cheek.
I keep expecting Zarmenus to be more like the boy I’ve been sharing a room with all this time: for him to bite back or roll his eyes and say something snarky.
“It’s your last chance. You will settle down and get people to fall in love with you, is that very clear? ”
“Crystal,” says Zarmenus, whose voice is shaking.
“Look at Owen,” says Maleilius. “Look how good he is. Why can’t you be more like him?”
I try to make myself as small as possible.
“Speaking of Owen,” says Zarmenus. “I have some news.”
Maleilius’s eyebrows knit together.
“I didn’t think I’d tell you like this,” says Zarmenus. “But I actually have settled down. As of last night, in fact.”
“Oh?”
Zarmenus rises from his bed and walks over to the couch.
He sits down beside me, leaving practically no space between us.
I go completely still. We’ve never been this close.
The air around him is hotter than normal, like he’s radiating dry heat.
I want to move away, but surprise—and the careful, skeptical stare of the king of Hell—keeps me locked into place.
What is he doing? Why is he roping me into this?
God, I really should’ve switched rooms. Even if I’d had a terrible roommate then, I doubt they would rope me into whatever it is that Zarmenus has planned.
Not that it even seems like he does have a plan.
It seems to me like he’s scrambling for some sort of way to take the heat off himself.
“I should say we have news.”
Zarmenus puts his hand on my leg, right above my knee. His palm feels burning hot even through my pants. He squeezes, acting like this is something he does all the time.
“Dad, Owen isn’t just my roommate. Not anymore.”
I don’t like where he’s going with this. I don’t like it one bit.
“He’s also my boyfriend.”