Chapter 12 #2
He gave me the evilest smile, all curved upper lip with bared sharp teeth below. “Yes, you’re clearly too strong to ever fall. Has the devil seduced you yet? You’re too innocent to know what I’m talking about, but you will. He’ll teach you the ways of betrayal and crushed hopes like nothing else.”
I got too close to him and shook my finger in his face. “You’re a liar! He’s pure and perfect, like you couldn’t possibly understand. He doesn’t see how beautiful he truly is.” I let my eyes get dreamy and unfocused so I didn’t see him move until it was almost too late.
I lurched back, barely missing being sliced with his claws, but his fingers got the basket, spilling my baked goods all over the desk and onto the floor.
He gobbled up all the goods on the table while I stood there, open-mouthed in shock and horror.
“What are you doing?”
He flashed a smile then tossed the last macaron into the air, jaws open to catch it and swallow it down his throat.
“Your precious Prince Charming is going to die, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
You’re weak. I can smell your pain. Did she kill the rabbit?
No? You protected it? Of course you did.
Stupid girl. Don’t you know that if the devil dies, the deal is void and you get everything he promised you without having to pay for it?
But you probably want his deal and dinners. ”
What? She hadn’t gone for the rabbit, just me. “No! You can’t hurt him!” I gave him my biggest eyes and shook my head. “Why do you hate him so much?”
He curled his lip in derision. “You think I care about the Devil of Wonderland? He’s nothing. Weak. Distracted. He’s been getting weaker and weaker over the past century. Now he’s ripe for the plucking, and they’re going to pluck hard.”
“The Lady of the Wild Woods has already been destroyed.” I let myself feel the horror at the thought that she wasn’t actually gone.
Really, wasn’t she dead? The rabbit had eaten her.
But the goblin made it sound like the rabbit was the target, because someone knew the rabbit’s death would kill the devil.
Why would I be the Lady of the Wild Wood’s target if the devil really could be killed by killing his soul?
Although how you’d kill something that could morph and gobble up that much darkness was a question.
His eyes gleamed gold. “Has she? It doesn’t matter. They’re going to take him while he’s weak.”
“She can’t take him. He’s mine.” I raised my chin.
He lunged closer, and I jumped back with a shriek before he rattled his chains. “When they’re finished with him, there’ll be nothing left.”
“So you’re saying that the Lady of the Wild Woods isn’t dead?”
He snarled and shook his chains again. “The ones who hired us to make the deal to release the Lady of the Wild Woods will finish him.” His eyes narrowed as he looked at my basket then slowly up at me, dawning horror in his eyes. “What was in those?”
I smiled at him, showing all my sharp goblin teeth. “Would you like to tell me the names of the people who hired you? You would if you knew, but you don’t. You’re so incredibly helpful. Thank you so much.” I batted my lashes at him and stood up with my basket, turning to the door.
He roared and yanked on the chain until the stone creaked. “He’s still going to crush you! He breaks everything he touches like he’s going to shatter your heart. And then after you’re broken, he’ll turn you into a monster!”
I held still for a second before I kept walking out of the room, closing the door firmly behind me.
“He’s upstairs,” the goblin king said, gesturing me down the hall back where we’d come from. “He hasn’t made a mess yet, which is how I’d like to keep it. You didn’t tell your devil that you were going to visit my vault? It’s like you want to die.”
Sato elbowed her husband in the ribs, but not hard enough to hurt her elbow, so definitely not hard enough to hurt him. “She’s allowed to go to a bank by herself.”
“After the last attack? That’s an optimistic analysis of the situation.”
I walked faster toward the elevator, but it hurt. I’d already spent so much energy walking up all the steps.
“Ebon, carry her. I really don’t want the devil to make a mess in my lobby.”
“I’m fine—”
The half-goblin picked me up and ran, his gait really smooth for how fast we were going.
“Sorry about that, but he’s my king,” Ebon said apologetically as he set me down in the elevator then backed up, letting the doors close between us.
I grabbed the metal rail, holding on while it sped upward. Was it faster up than going down? Weird. Gravity should’ve exerted some kind of force on it…but goblin tech wasn’t normal.
The elevator lurched to a stop and the doors opened. I put a hand to my chest and went out, wincing as I went. My whole body ached, and I just wanted to lie down on the metal floor and sleep forever.
The goblins didn’t know if the Lady of the Wild Woods was coming back, but someone else had hired them to make that specific deal with the devil.
And they thought he was weak now. I guess they hadn’t seen Divinity.
They hadn’t known I was the target. Was I not supposed to have been her target?
Maybe the Lady of the Wild Woods went off script.
Or maybe whoever hired them hadn’t told them everything.
Who wanted me dead? I didn’t even know very many people, and I tried to be kind to those I met.
My great-uncle had come to the shop and checked everything out.
Was it him? Surely, he wouldn’t stoop to hiring goblins, but who else hated my existence enough to kill me?
The whole thing was depressing. I missed my rabbit.
Speaking of… I hadn’t taken two steps out of the elevator when Divinity leapt at me, hit my chest, and knocked me back. I held him tight, a wave of happiness and rightness washing away all the rising misery as I buried my nose in his soft white fur.
“Miss Charles,” the devil said, walking toward me and swinging his very sharp cane. His eyes glittered in their dangerously dark depths. He was so absolutely delicious, particularly when he moved and his tail lashed. “If you needed to go to the bank, I would’ve happily provided a ride.”
I nodded but clung to the rabbit while my heart beat painfully in my chest. “I didn’t want to ride in the spider-mech. Still, I think I overdid it today. Why does it take so long to heal? Magic should make everything all better without any effort.”
His smile was sharp. “Magic is more effort than anything, which you know because you did something in your kitchen. Strong magic takes a great deal of energy, which you do not have to expend. That does it. I’m hiring a baker for you while you recover.
You can open the shop, but the goods won’t be magic.
When you’re finally up to baking, you’re charging five times as much as you have been.
Your goods are magical, and the price must reflect the energy you put into it. ”
I sighed. He was probably right. I walked toward him, dragging, then glanced to the side and happened to notice that no goblins were moving.
Like at all. Not breathing, not blinking, not twitching even though several looked ready to launch forward and attack over the counters.
It was like they were caught in a bubble of time.
I stopped walking. “What did you do to them?”
His voice was as smooth as chocolate mousse. “Nothing. Yet. They didn’t want me to retrieve you from the vault. They can’t keep what’s mine without my consent.”
I nodded. “Of course. I’m your object, just another deal you made to solve a problem you had.”
“That’s not what I meant.” His voice was tight but still deliciously smooth.
“What did you mean? Never mind. I don’t want to know. I’m too tired. You should pick me up and put me in your pocket.”
“Should I?” His eyes glimmered dangerously. “If I did that, I’m not sure I’d ever let you out. Wonderland is a pocket. I have several others you may prefer.”
I kept walking until I reached him, but he didn’t pick me up, just walked beside me toward the door, his pace matching my very slow one.
“All those stairs,” I mumbled when we got outside and I got to see the miserable stretch below me. Maybe I’d just fall down then roll right into the back seat of the snail shell car.
“What goes up must come down,” he murmured, swinging his cane.
“Why don’t you want to carry me?”