Chapter 37
Seren
I’ve never been more frustrated with my demon.
I’ve also never felt more tenderness for him, and the confusion of it all is a hell of a thing to handle as I take his hand again and let him lead me toward the demon court.
Carved right into the side of the mountain, the gates soar above us, impressive and awe-inspiring.
Just outside them, two more armed sentries keep watch.
The younger of the pair narrows his eyes at Callum as we approach, looking at him like the two of them have met before.
“I know, I know,” Callum grumbles. “But if you’d just take a message to—”
“No need,” the older says, laying his hand on the stone. “The lordling Nighfall has already put in a word for you. You’re welcome in.”
The stone rumbles with magick at his touch. Groaning and shifting right before our eyes, a doorway parts in the middle of the gate, with a path sloping downward into the heart of the mountain.
“My thanks,” Callum says, not sounding all that thankful as he leads me forward.
As darkness closes over us, I pull my wide eyes from the unbelievable path ahead back to where the two guards are still at their posts.
“What was that all about?”
“They’re very particular about who they let into the court,” he grumbles.
“Keeping the troublemakers out?”
He glances at me, surprised, like he didn’t expect me to tease him, and the weary lines on his face ease a little.
“Something like that.”
I wish I could make the rest of them disappear.
What he told me earlier about his parents, their debts, everything he’s done and sacrificed to make sure his mom is taken care of, still echoes in my mind.
He said it like he was confessing his guilt on a witness stand, like he was on the block and I was the executioner holding the blade.
I don’t understand what the problem is.
He’s got a past, sure, and problems to figure out. But don’t we all?
Goddess knows I’m not exactly the prime example for having my life together.
So why he thinks he needs to beat himself up about it, why he thinks it would have changed the way I see him, I have no idea.
Besides, that’s not even the most important thing out of everything he told me.
You’re the other half of my soul, Seren, whether or not you feel it, too.
Even just remembering, my throat feels tight.
I barely had time to process it before the guard found us, and I still don’t know exactly what to say or what to think.
I don’t know how to explain I do feel it, too.
Maybe it’s different because I’m a human and he’s a demon. Maybe the way we feel the magick is different, or maybe it just took me a little longer to come around to it.
But now that I’m here…
“Are you alright?”
I must have been lost in my thoughts for longer than I realized, because when I meet Callum’s gaze, those weary, concerned lines are back.
“Fine,” I reassure him, squeezing his hand.
There’s really no reason for me to still be holding it.
Even as we walk further down the entrance hall leading deeper into the demon court, the way ahead is brightly lit with torches, and there doesn’t appear to be any danger.
The demons we pass seem friendly enough, or just busily on their way to whatever important business they’re at court to do.
Even so, I don’t drop his hand.
I like having the warmth of him against me, even if the vibe between us is still so weird right now.
I like having him as an anchor point, to have him right by my side as we enter the court together.
It’s an anchor I need more than ever as the corridor ahead of us opens into the most breathtaking space I’ve ever seen.
The entire center of the mountain is hollow.
In the massive, cavernous space, balconies line the walls in a staggering number of stories that go up and up and up all the way to a small opening at the very top, open to the night sky above.
Demons fly from level to level, walk along the ledges and through stone arches that lead down tunnels carved deeper into the mountain.
The whole place reminds me of a giant beehive, a bustle of activity and motion, the beating heart of this realm.
Callum squeezes my hand. “Impressive, isn’t it?”
“You could say that,” I breathe, craning my neck to see every inch of it.
There’s too much to look at, too much to see. I could spend hours right here marveling at the wonder of it.
“There’s someone I meant to speak with,” Callum says, eyes roving the space. “He might have a place for us to—”
“Callum!”
A handsome, golden-haired demon crosses the center of the atrium, one hand raised in greeting. He’s not as broad as Callum, but their height is almost an even match, and it’s just about the only similar thing about him.
This demon looks much younger, and is wearing a wide grin in contrast to Callum’s perpetual frown. A bit of blond scruff hides a rakish dimple in his chin, and his crimson eyes sparkle with good humor as he reaches us and claps Callum on the shoulder.
“I heard from the guards you were looking for me.”
“Aye,” Callum says. “We were.”
At the mention of a we, I lean out from where I stand on Callum’s other side. The blond demon notices me for the first time, and his smile grows even wider.
“And you brought a guest?”
“Seren,” Callum says, “this is Finn. Finn, this is Seren. She’s—”
“His mate.” I claim him before he can claim me. Or before he can say something else meant to protect me, to keep the truth between us hidden.
Fuck it, I want the world to know.
Even if all of this crashes and burns tomorrow, I want them to know.
Even though I’m still a little mad at him and still have no idea what our return trip to Faerie is going to bring, I want them to know.
What can I say?
Impulse control’s still not my strong suit, but once I commit, I commit. For better or worse.
Finn’s eyes widen and bounce almost comically fast back and forth between us.
“Congratulations!” he says when he finally picks his jaw up off the floor. “When did… when did this happen? Where did it happen? I wasn’t aware there were any new witches arrived at court.”
“Recently,” Callum said. “And we met… elsewhere.”
I arch a brow. “That’s one way to put it.”
“How would you put it?” Finn asks, a devilish smile on his lips.
“He chased me through a forest in the Middle.”
Callum huffs a breath. “And then you paralyzed me with your witchmagick.”
“Oh, right, because you did nothing to deserve that.”
His tail winds around my waist and pulls me closer to him. “Aye, I did a thing or two to deserve it.”
Something dangerously near my heart twists painfully at the tenderness in his voice. Finn’s gaze grows more curious, speculative, studying both of us for a few heartbeats before he recovers.
“I’m hosting a small get-together tonight,” Finn says, clapping his hands together. “And you’re both invited.”
Callum gives me a look, one I immediately recognize as a set of silent questions.
Am I too tired? Do I want to find a bed somewhere instead of socializing? What can he do to make it better?
More tenderness, aching at the center of me. More affection for this wonderful, frustrating demon.
“We’ve had a long day,” Callum says slowly. “We should probably find somewhere to—”
“We’d love to come.”
Finn’s grin widens in delight. “Oh, I’m going to like you, aren’t I?”
“It’s impossible not to,” Callum grumbles, but Finn is already leading us down one of the corridors branching off the atrium.
I take Callum’s hand in mine as we follow. “How many times do I get to go to a party in the demon realm?”
“I’ll take you to as many parties as you want. Preferably when we’re not both dead on our feet.”
“No,” Finn says cheerfully. “He won’t. Callum is notoriously difficult to persuade to have any fun at all.”
“Color me surprised,” I murmur, and Callum grumbles again.
“Some of us have more important responsibilities to attend to.”
“Ah yes,” Finn teases, taking a left turn down another well-lit hall, torches guiding our way past a series of large wooden doors set into the stone. “Hunting down thieves and criminals across the realms.”
“Exactly,” Callum retorts. “While you’re here doing… what exactly?”
Finn just laughs, unbothered. “Having the time of my life on my father’s money?”
“Sounds about right.”
There’s no malice between the two of them, the argument bouncing easily back and forth like it’s one they’ve had a dozen times.
“How’d the two of you meet, anyway?”
Callum shoots Finn a warning look that the other demon absolutely does not heed.
“I paid off the owner of a tavern to keep him from getting arrested.”
“What?”
“It’s not how it sounds,” Callum protests.
“It’s exactly how it sounds,” Finn says. “This drunken fool got himself into a scuffle with a couple of bounty hunters who had, what? Stolen a job from you or—”
Callum rolls his eyes toward the ceiling. “First of all, I was not drunk. I’d only had three, and you know well I can hold my ale better than that.”
“He really can’t,” Finn stage-whispers to me.
“And second of all—” Callum pretends like he doesn’t hear him. “—the other two hunters nearly got all three of us killed when they barged in on a job I was doing in the frost realm. A job they had absolutely no business being involved with.”
“So you had to knock some sense into their thick skulls?” I ask, and Callum looks at me a little abashed.
“We had a conversation about hunter etiquette and stepping down from battles you’re not equipped to fight.”
“And I’m sure they learned a lesson they’ll never forget. Now, what about this tavern owner?”
“None too happy about the picture window that, uh, didn’t exactly survive the elf who got thrown through it.” Finn shoots Callum another look.
“I didn’t throw anyone,” Callum clarifies. “He threw the first punch, and when I pushed him away he just happened to fall in that direction. Gravity did the rest.”
“Anyway,” Finn said cheerfully, “I’d been drinking with him all night—never a stranger in a tavern, you know—and I thought he was interesting. So I paid for the window and he’s been repaying that kindness ever since by tolerating my friendship.”
It’s a wild, unlikely story, almost as unlikely as the friendship between the two of them seems, given how different they are. But it’s clear there’s a long history between them, and I like to see this side of Callum.
I want to know more about this side of Callum.
We take a couple more turns before we arrive at a door that stands out from the others we’ve passed in the corridors.
Tall and grand, extending all the way to the stone roof above, it’s carved with a beautiful celestial design.
Unfamiliar constellations and swirling stars, framed at the bottom by dark pines.
“My father’s suite of rooms,” Finn explains. “He really leaned into the motif of our family name when he had these designed.”
“What’s your family name, again?” I ask, still studying the carvings. “Sorry, I didn’t catch it earlier.”
“Nighfall. The end of the day, the coming of the dark, all of that. You should see the atrocious black tile he chose for all the bathrooms in our family home.”
I chuckle, but it turns into a gasp when he swings the door open.
The chamber on the other side is magnificent.
High-ceilinged and spacious, the room we step into glows with candlelight and is filled with laughter and conversation. There must be at least two dozen demons at this little party of Finn’s, scattered about the room or sitting at the handful of small tables in the space.
It’s a hall, more than anything. Like something out of a medieval court.
Which… I guess it kind of is.
Sconces line the wall, burning with firelight, and a chandelier above glows with what looks like a hundred candles. All around the space, guests are eating and drinking, and there, in the back corner…
“Seren?”
“Emilia?”
I don’t know why I’m surprised to see her. I heard she went back to the demon realm after Allie and the king recast the bargain, but it’s still unexpected to see another witch in the crowd.
She walks over flanked by two demons, one male and one female, and pulls me into a quick hug.
“What are you doing here?”
“Long story,” I say, then gesture at the goblet in her hand. “Help me find a glass of that wine and I’ll tell it to you?”
She nods and loops her arm through mine, leading me away to the refreshments.
I shoot one apologetic glance over my shoulder at Callum, but he just smiles before he lets Finn pull him off in the other direction.
A breather is probably good.
A little time apart to decompress and regroup.
I’m sure we’ll find each other later.
But damn if I don’t miss him the minute we’re on opposite sides of the room.
I try to ignore it while I dive into conversation with Emilia and her two demon paramours, giving her the abridged version of my adventures with Callum before asking her all about how she’s been doing since she got back here.
I’m happy to catch up with Emilia, and happy to get to know Finn better when he leaves Callum with what must be some other acquaintances and comes over to join the fun.
He reminds me of a golden retriever. With his blond hair and wide smile and an energy about him that’s contagious. It makes me want to smile, too, like he could light up the entire room with his big personality.
As the night goes on, that initial impression turns out to be entirely correct.
Finn is the life of the party.
Always ready with a joke or to fill someone’s drink, always making sure the whole table is included. He's got a sixth sense for knowing just how to keep the good cheer going, and does so until it’s probably way, way past time Callum and I went to bed.
I don’t want this night to end.
I don’t want to face the fae queen tomorrow.
Strangely, though, that’s not even the largest part of my worries.
The largest part of my worries is currently sitting on the opposite side of the room. And I’m here, already missing him.