Chapter 22
“Idon’t like this,” Azreth said. They were walking down the road toward the Roamer camp, which had just come into view beyond the hill ahead of them. Raiya had decided it was safer than Ontag-ul, and she wanted to check on Jai and Madira, too.
She smirked up at Azreth. He wore his glamour, and his face was a familiar shape wrapped in unfamiliar beige skin. “You know, I wasn’t alone when I rescued you from the temple. The night elves and a Paladin were with me, too.”
He looked down at her sharply, his lip curling. “A Paladin?”
“Yes. I wouldn’t have gotten you out without their help.”
“That does not mean you can trust them. If they helped you, they had their own motivations for doing so. They would not have done it if they did not see a benefit for themselves.”
“For some people, doing what you feel is right is a benefit in itself.”
He looked down at her, his brow knitted. “Do not assume others feel the same as you. Keep your baton within reach.”
Raiya brushed her fingers over the handle of the baton tucked into her belt—not because she was worried, but because she liked the feel of it. She had begun adding runes to the shaft and more in the handle, as many as she could fit. It was the most self-indulgent thing she’d ever made, ridiculous and impractical by most standards, but not when you had a demon to power all those runes. It was not finished, but already the baton positively glowed with latent power, and she was intoxicated by it.
Soon after they entered the camp, Fu-lon greeted them—though that may have been overstating things.
“So you got your creature back,” she said to Raiya. Raiya was tense, waiting for her to tell them that he wasn’t welcome in the camp. Azreth glowered at the woman. Fu-lon puffed on her pipe as she thoughtfully looked Azreth up and down. “I didn’t expect that. Well done.”
“Thank you,” Raiya said.
“You’ll be looking for those troublemaker elves, I suppose?”
“I was, actually.”
“Jai won’t stop talking about you.” She heaved a sigh, breathing out a cloud of smoke. “You can stay, but if an army of Paladins come to get him, I’m not going to get in their way. I’ve got nothing against you, but I’m not going to defend one of his kind. You’re on your own. Understand?”
Raiya was stunned. It was more of a welcome than she’d expected. “I understand. Thank you, Matron.”
Fu-lon nodded. “Go talk to Jai.”
Predictably, Jai found them before they found her. She grabbed Raiya’s arm and dragged her toward her tent, practically bouncing with excitement.
“You could have told us you were alive. We thought the cultists might have gotten you,” the girl said as soon as the tent flap closed behind them. Madira was sitting on the floor inside. Startled, he looked up from the bowl of salad he was eating and the book he’d been reading, and his entire body flickered into shadow for a moment—apparently a fear reflex.
“Ash and blood, Jai, you can’t just barge in here with whomever,” he said. “What if I was naked?”
“You’re not,” she said, giving him a withering look.
“I could have been.”
“Shush! Raiya and her you-know-what are here.”
Madira set down his bowl, looking up at them both warily. “So you’re alive, demon?”
“Not so loud!” Jai hissed.
“My name is Azreth.”
Raiya looked up at him. It was the first time she could recall him introducing himself without being prompted.
Madira seemed to hold his breath for a moment, nervous. But then he shrugged. “I did not want to upset Raiya by saying this, but I was certain you would already be dead by the time she got to you.”
“The cultists did not want to kill me,” Azreth said. Everyone went still. His presence commanded attention, but more than that, he had the benefit of being one who rarely spoke. It made people want to listen on the rare occasions when he did. “They coveted my strength. They wanted to make me their servant, force me to be a weapon. They thought they could coerce me with torture. They were wrong.”
“Gods,” Jai murmured.
“I doubt you’ll be welcome at the temple again after this,” Raiya said to Madira. “I’m sorry.”
He shrugged again, though Raiya thought he looked dejected. “It’s not important.”
“What isn’t?” Azreth asked, surprising Raiya again.
“He was using the temple as a surrogate space to pray to the night elf goddess, since she has no temples of her own in Uulantaava,” Raiya said. She wasn’t completely clear on the details of how it worked or what sort of worship their goddess demanded, but she knew that the night elves’ goddess was deeply important to them. “The cultists allowed him access for a time, but I don’t think they’ll welcome him back after what happened yesterday.”
Azreth sat down on his knees in the center of the carpet. “Tell me what happened.”
They all took turns telling him the story. Jai told most of it, very animatedly. Raiya and Madira had to remind her to keep her voice down multiple times.
“Why did you come?” Azreth asked them. Raiya had seen the question coming.
“I had nothing better to do that night,” Madira said coolly.
“No, it’s because we wanted to help,” Jai corrected him.
Raiya saw a crease form between Azreth’s eyebrows. He glanced over at her. She imagined the blue glow of his eyes beneath the brown-eyed human facade.
“I am indebted to you,” he said to the elves. Jai and Madira exchanged raised eyebrows.
“You’re welcome,” Jai said, giving him a tentative smile.
“And the Paladin?” Azreth asked. “Where is he now?”
Jai shrugged. “We got separated after the cultists chased us out. We went in one direction, and he ran off in the other.” She turned to Raiya. “The good news is, your husband left town. I overheard some people talking in the market today. Him and those Paladins were seen going north last night.”
He wouldn’t give up so easily. He’d be back. She and Azreth had defied him, and he’d never let them get away with that. But the farther he was from them, the better off they were. She could finally rest for a moment.
“Please don’t talk to anyone else about all of this,” Raiya said to the elves. “The other Roamers might be open-minded, but even they wouldn’t knowingly allow a demon amongst them.”
“It took them months to get used to Madira and me being here, you know,” Jai said, crossing her arms. “It’s a good thing I’m so likable. If Madira was alone, they would’ve kicked him out a long time ago.”
Madira scowled at her.
There wereno tents free this time, so Jai and Madira—mostly Jai—invited them to sleep under theirs. They put up a curtain dividing the space in half, and Raiya arranged a bed using a pile of blankets and furs while Azreth watched. The elves were out, but they’d likely return soon to sleep.
While she prepared their space, rain began to fall, hitting the outside of the tent in a lulling rhythm. The smell of wet earth and moist air joined the smell of camp fires, and Raiya was grateful they’d been allowed a space inside.
Azreth hovered beside her as she stripped to her underclothes and settled into the bed. She couldn’t pinpoint what it was that tipped her off, but she sensed he was unwell.
“It’s been a while since you slept,” she realized. “You must need rest.”
“Not here.”
Raiya pushed herself up onto her elbows. “No one will hurt you here. And I’ll be with you.”
He hesitated, glancing up toward the door flap and then back at her. “I can’t.” She heard a tinge of regret in his voice.
She smiled at him, gathering her courage. It had been a long time since she’d asked a man for platonic touch. She feared rejection. “Then… will you just hold me while I sleep?”
“Are you cold?” he asked, frowning at the blankets, as if questioning their quality.
“No.”
He paused, considering her.
Then he crept closer. “Does it not frighten you to have my arms around you? Does it not make you feel… trapped? In danger?”
“I like having your arms around me.”
He let his glamour drop away. He waited, as if questioning whether she would feel different when the illusion was gone. Raiya took in his dusky skin and elegantly curving horns, the many scars crossing his skin, and the soft glow of his prosthesis.
“Do you know that you’re beautiful?” she asked softly.
He tilted his head at her.
“I suppose you must know that you’re impressive,” she said. “And I suppose demons are designed to seduce mortals, so maybe it goes without saying. But you’re beautiful. I’d bet that you’re uncommonly beautiful even among other demons.” She put her hand on his arm. Corded lengths of muscle moved under her palm as his hand curled into a fist. “You are a marvel to look at. To touch.” She ran her fingertips along his forearm, tracing a vein. Goosebumps appeared in the wake of her touch. Raiya looked up at him. He was frowning faintly.
His hand closed over hers. Hot, rough fingers engulfed hers, but they did so slowly, with caution. He leaned down, his dark hair draping to obscure her view of the tent as his face neared hers. He halted there, inches from her skin, like he’d almost lost his nerve, and then he touched his lips to hers. He did it so lightly that it almost wasn’t there, like a feather brushed across her lips. But he lingered there in absolute silence that was broken only by the pattering of rain outside. There was nothing confident or seductive in this kiss. It was tentative and fearful, and filled with longing.
He pulled away hesitantly. “I am happy to do as you ask,” he murmured, still close.
It took Raiya a few moments to remember what she’d asked of him. To hold her. “Happy?” she echoed.
“Yes.”
Raiya didn’t know if she’d ever seen him happy before.
He unclasped the blanket-cloak hanging over his body and set it aside. Then Raiya’s heart sped up as he removed his sarong, too. She studied his entire body, all his curves and angles and points. He was art. He was perfectly formed, and even the imperfect parts, they were perfect too. He was exactly as the gods—or the eldresses, or the universe, or whomever—had made him. Exactly himself.
Looking at him now, she was filled with an intense desire for him. Not to make love to him, exactly, but to have him, keep him, see him, protect him. The feeling filled her chest in a pleasant and unpleasant bundle, like lead and tiny fluttering birds.
Azreth went still. “What is that?”
She grew self-conscious. “You can feel that?”
“Yes.” He put an arm around her waist as he leaned close, breathing her in.
“Can you feed from it?”
“Yes.” He sounded as surprised as she. “It smells sweet.”
She had thought demons only craved hatred and fear and lust. She knew he felt deeper emotions than those, but she had not thought they would appease his hunger.
He settled in beside her, beneath the blankets. Wrapping his arm around her, he pulled her against him, tucking her head beneath his chin and conforming his thighs to hers.
She slept better than she had in months.