Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
He walked ahead of me toward the bar, and the crowd magically parted for him.
Should I be touching him so it looked like we were together or would that be weird here with all these people?
The way females looked at him was kind of annoying.
Longing disappointment mostly. They shouldn’t want to touch my devil.
Not that he was mine, but I was his soul’s mistress, and we had made out in the garden.
Right. I was full of his energy. That’s why I felt possessive, not from the kissing, but the mystical energy connection.
We got to the bar, and he slid into a seat then pulled me onto his lap like that wasn’t weird. It was so weird. I was super stiff as I perched there, tilted so my wings wouldn’t get in his face.
Rawley came over and shook her head slightly. “What do you want?”
“She’ll have an Over The Rainbow, and I’ll have the Duke’s Court.
Also, will you keep these safe for me?” He handed over his jacket and shirt without having actually taken them off, but then he was in only his vest with all his pocket watches, and I got to stare at the scars all over his arms and chest. So many scars.
“It’s rude to stare,” Rawley said, breaking through my horrified fascination.
I blinked at her and smiled as she handed me a drink made of rainbows, different colors of liquid staying separated magically. “Thanks.” For the drink and reminding me not to stare.
The devil’s arm came around my waist, pulling me up against him. I couldn’t feel any lumps in his pockets from his magical pocket watches, just him, strong, warm, solid through my gauzy dress.
I sipped my drink through my straw while he raised his elixir, which smoked ominously. It smelled like cinnamon and the souls of the damned. Mine tasted like happiness and unicorns. Hopefully not real unicorns. They were so poisonous but supposedly tasted delicious.
My thoughts were a riot of nonsense as I tried not to notice the way he felt against me, the way everyone in the club was watching us, especially the females who wanted him.
Amazingly enough, I hadn’t thought through the end of this tangle when I’d said I wanted to go to the club with him.
And had him take off his layers. Why did he have so many scars?
I’d never seen anyone so scarred unless they did it for fashion or to mark their social standing.
How had he gotten such scars, and why did he keep them covered up?
“Gray. You fought in the infernal cages?” a large, red demon said as he came over, eyes brimstone and rain of fire.
“I did. You?” my devil said, glancing at the other demon through the smoke that curled from his glass. I felt like one of those females perched on the lap of a mob boss. He needed a mob boss hat. Anna could help me find one. Or five.
The demon shook his head, large horns black to contrast with his red skin. “No. How long did you spend in the infernal realm?”
“Long enough,” my devil said with a shivery smile. That is, I shivered. “I’m here with company.”
The demon actually looked at me then I shivered all the way to my soul. He inhaled then grinned widely. White teeth against red skin was such a stunning contrast. “Such a sweet virgin. And a goblin-fairy? Such rare blood could open a portal to any realm.”
“Her blood is mine.” My devil kept his voice light, but the other demon stepped away, raising his hands slowly.
“I mean no offense. Of course she’s yours, including blood and every other drop of sweetness.” He gave me one last speculative glance before he melted away into the crowd.
I inhaled a shaky breath. “You have scary friends.”
“Not at all. I have no friends.”
I frowned at him. “Right. Just objects. I almost forgot.”
His eyes glittered with banked anger, like the other demon had lit a fuse in him. “Would you like to be my friend, Miss Charles?”
“Of course not. Objects can’t be friends with their owners.”
“And if they could?”
“It would be highly advantageous for anyone to have a devil for a true friend, if a devil could be one of those.”
He raised a brow and ran a finger around the rim of my glass, leaving a swirl of sparkles in its wake. “Would it?”
“Of course. Devils are terribly clever.”
“Getting thrown into the infernal realm is not terribly clever.”
“But getting back is.”
He smiled then, with a slight hardening of his gaze, wrapped his tail around my leg so the barb was lying flat against my ankle. “Does it bother you?”
“That you could accidentally flinch and take off my foot with your tail? Not at all. I’m not thinking about the possibility in graphic detail whatsoever.”
He smiled and clinked his glass against mine. “How scarred I am. Does it bother you? And aren’t you going to ask how I ended up in the infernal realm and how I got back?”
“Oh.” I sipped my drink and considered. “I suppose you ended up there after a deal went south.”
“I definitely made a deal with the wrong person. The one who left me with half a soul.”
“Oh. Her.” The one he’d loved. I hesitated then said slowly, “She took your heart then got you thrown into the infernal realm? Why? How?”
He shrugged and his smile became sharper as he leaned toward me, his fingers spreading, securing me to him more thoroughly.
“My heart only had power over me as long as it also had love. Once the love was gone, so was her power, so she sold me before I could destroy her.” He shook his head.
“There was a charming cult that filed off my horns, cut off my wings, and chopped off my tail. Then they created a portal out of my own virgin blood and threw me into the infernal realm. I’m still not sure what they were trying to accomplish by opening a portal, but I’ve never been interested in the motives of the mindless. ”
I reached down and touched the tail wrapped around my leg, barely a brush, but he flexed, squeezing my ankle tighter for a moment before it relaxed.
“And everything grew back, except for the wings?” I asked, looking up at his horns.
He raised a brow. “Not at all. I made deals to get other creature’s appendages, including the wings. I have them glamoured away. It’s one of the rules in my club, no large wings, otherwise we’d have no room for dancing.”
“Oh. Should I glamour away my wings?”
He hesitated then ran his elegant fingers over the ridges between the tips of each silver-glazed section. It felt dangerous, because my wings were the most delicate part of me, but also safe because my devil would always heal my wings, my stomach, my exhaustion, and never do anything to hurt me.
I held very still while my heart beat faster and his touch sent shivers through me. How could I trust him not to hurt me when he was made for hurting?
“No,” he murmured, warm breath near my ear, making me shiver hard. “You’re the exception to the rule. To all the rules.”
I lurched off my bench and probably almost cut off my own foot with his tail, but he released me faster than thought, and I was stumbling toward the dance floor.
The music was one of the romantic things, so instead of beating myself against a crowd of strangers, I had to dance with my devil I had no business thinking of as mine.
I’d never danced like this, but it seemed like people just closed their eyes and moved to the music without any kind of plan or rule. I could do that.
I almost clocked this scary-looking female, apparently a vampire if her bared fangs were any indication, and then my devil put his hands around my waist and pulled me into his dream.
Everything blurred into rainbows and caramels as the world became him, his scent, his feel, the music floating through us, melting us together into one piece of pulsing flesh.
We moved through the crowd, spinning, leaning, falling, while I stared into his eyes and melted into an absolute puddle.
And then someone ran into me.
The yellow-haired fairy boy turned to look at me, blinking over-bright green eyes. He wasn’t in his right mind. Same.
“Hey! It’s the goblin-fairy. You came here looking for me? You should’ve jumped when you had the chance. I’m occupied now.” He smiled at the goblin girl next to him, who looked mostly bored but slightly amused by the idiot fairy boy.
I jabbed his chest. “Actually, I hoped I’d run into you so I could remind you that you owe me money. You never paid for your order.”
He blinked at me, staring while astonishment crossed his face. “I don’t owe you money. Your shop was graced by my presence. Don’t you know who I am?”
I glowered at him, almost forgetting about the devil still wrapped around me. “I know that you’re an arrogant and annoying thief. You’re also in my boyfriend’s club.”
The fairy boy fluttered his sparkly wings, sending glitter all over the place. That got mutters. This wasn’t a sparkle-wearing crowd, except for that one guy who had sequins glued to the backs of his hands. Some interesting choices were made.
“I don’t believe he’s your boyfriend. You’re too boring to date someone dangerous.”
Oh. He was actually right about that. The devil took that moment to lean over and lick the side of my neck, then nibble, then suck. What? Did other people exist? No, they did not. My knees went out, and he caught me against him, spinning me away from the fairy boy with his tail securing me.
“Wait! I need to get back to that monster,” I hissed, trying to look back at the fairy boy, but the devil was licking my neck again, and honestly, what else mattered?
“Forget about him,” he murmured against my neck.
“Okay.” My eyes drifted closed until I struggled back to myself. “No, wait, I’m here for the sole purpose of shaking him down. I tore up a perfectly respectable dress for this.”
His voice was low, persuasive, his mouth absolute heaven. “He’s a prince. The goblin was hired to keep him safe. There are five other bodyguards here in various glamours who will object to your interference. Also, I pickpocketed him when we were close and I have his wallet.”