Chapter 23
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Ipeered around the very large devil, ducking low to see past his wings. They were very large and felt like silk. So soft. I took a second to rub my cheek on the silky thing. Who had such soft wings? They were just delicious.
The fairy king had no scar, and he held a scroll in his fist like a weapon. A deal? When had he made a deal with the devil? Particularly about his face? Had the devil done that while we’d been arguing about how good he was? Diabolical.
“What is this?” the fairy king demanded, shaking the scroll, eyes like pools of poison, voice like the most compelling call to death and pain.
“It’s the deal,” the devil drawled, sounding lazy, but lines of black lightning ran beneath his skin, rippling through his scar tissue.
“I never made a deal with you.”
“No?” The devil snapped his fingers, and a mirror floated in front of the fairy king.
He stared into it, touching his face with disbelieving fingers. “What is this? Trickery?”
“Part of the deal. My darling fiancé requested that you be left alive. She begged for your life in spite of the fact that you compelled her to desire you.” The devil tsked. “That’s not very gentlemanly, is it? My delicious mate has informed me that being gentlemanly is something we aspire to.”
The fairy king reluctantly took his eyes off the mirror and focused on me. “What game is this?”
I really, really disliked him looking at me.
I cleared my throat and ducked under the devil’s wings so I could stand beside him, like I wasn’t terrified of the fairy king.
“I don’t want your kingdom. I don’t want to deal with policy or fairies.
I don’t want your mess to get dumped on me when I have baking to do. ”
“And the scar?”
“Ah…” Did I have to say how attractive I found it?
“A promise,” the devil said coolly. “What can be done can be undone. As in your life. It will be unraveled completely should you break the deal. Your side of the bargain is to never see my sweetheart again.”
Sweetheart? Aw. So much nicer than commenting on my blood.
“And not hire or persuade anyone else to harm her,” the fairy king said, once more studying his reflection in the mirror.
“Obviously. You should read it.”
The fairy king shrugged and smiled at me. “You think you’re in safe hands? As long as your blood is what he craves, you’ll never be safe from him or any other infernal creature.”
He spun around and spread his fairy wings, darting toward the rainbow falls in a blur.
The devil didn’t try to stop him. He just pushed his hand at nothing until that nothingness became a door then he turned the handle and stepped through into the butterfly garden where we’d met, pulling me along with him.
The butterflies and mushrooms were vibrant, like the pool and waterfall, glowing, splashing, dancing and singing as much as water could.
He finally released me and walked over to the bench, leaving me by the door like he’d forgotten about me.
But when he threw himself down over it, wings and tail dangling off the sides, he raised his head and stared at me, unlike the first time we met, when he’d asked me if he could take my injuries and return my blood, and in exchange, he’d stolen my strawberry shortcake.
There was nothing casual about the way he was looking at me now. It was a look that devoured.
I swallowed hard and reached for the door. “Okay. I guess I’ll go to bed now.”
He smiled. “Before the wedding?”
I blinked at him. “Um, what?”
“Are we not getting married? You proposed to me so romantically, how could I possibly refuse?”
I stared at him hard. “You got rid of your heart on purpose because it was so annoying, didn’t you? I have to get to the bakery. It’s part of the deal.”
His smirk was so cocky. “And loving me? Was that also part of the deal?”
“Um. No. But dinners are. So I can see you at dinner.” I turned toward the door and tugged on the knob. While I was trying to turn it, it dissolved, leaving a handleless door.
“And leave you without your goodnight kiss? And tucking you into bed? Which bed would you like?” His voice was silk and velvet, silkier than his wings.
I whirled around and stared at him, still in nothing but those small black shorts. So many scars. So much skin. So ridiculously tempting. “Shouldn’t you put on a suit before the fairy enchantress shows up?”
He blinked and stood. “I’d forgotten about her.
You’re such a distraction.” He shrugged, and a suit melted to his body—button-up shirt, vest, long pants, but no shoes.
“Why don’t you want her to see me without a suit?
Are you jealous?” He raised a brow and succeeded in looking mischievous, but not quite cruel. He was adapting quickly.
“Yes. You loved her, you know. And…you’re mine.” Was he? Could he be?
He flashed his teeth in a sharp smile as he walked over, slow, languid, like he had all the time in the world to reach me.
Heart pounding, I stepped back until I ran into the handleless door.
He cupped my face, trailing his fingers along my jaw as he leaned on the door, hanging over me while he stared at my face, studying every line and curve. “Am I yours, Mistress Impossible? What do you intend to do with me?”
My mouth went dry and my whole body turned to lead. He leaned down slowly, slowly, and my eyes drifted closed while my face lifted, ready to be kissed.
The door opened, and we both fell through, him landing on top of me and crushing my lungs. He lay there for a beat, our noses brushing, eyes filled with endless, eternal hunger that made my toes curl then he looked past me, and the rage and malevolence in his eyes made me shiver.
He stretched his wings then, in a blur, he struck the enchantress in her place across the room, ripping her to pieces.
It was so fast. And then he burned her to ashes. He turned to look at me, claws dripping with her blood, chin splashed with dark red that bits of swirling ash were starting to stick to.
“And now the wedding.”
I looked around at the casino, the blood-red felt tables, the red-and-black striped walls, and the floor’s black-and-red checks. Everything was death and violence. And I was still on my knees, because everything had happened before I’d had time to stand. Or breathe.
I gasped a breath and held my rabbit close. Was he okay after the original owner of his soul was killed? He snuggled under my chin as if to reassure me.
“I don’t have a dress,” I said while the devil came toward me, black suit hiding the blood but not the ashes.
He walked slowly, frowning as he came closer.
“Don’t you have an entire rack of ballgowns in your room? Or you could wear your mother’s fairy dress. Personally, I think you look perfect exactly as you are.”
I looked down at my torn and stained blue dress with its shredded skirt, one part of it quite short, showing a lot of thigh. How had my thigh gotten so soft and curvy? When was the last time I’d seen myself in a full-length mirror? Had I gotten fat? I blinked when I realized what he’d said.
“You think I’d look good in my mother’s dress?” He remembered?
He reached me and held out his hand to help me to my feet. “Wear whatever you’d like.”
I smiled and squeezed his hand while my heart beat faster and faster.
He remembered my dresses. He was still there, the devil I’d always love.
“Let’s get married right this second then.
Do we need a priest or just a license? We can go to the night court.
” We needed to hurry before he changed his mind.
The devil wouldn’t agree to marry me, would he?
But his heart would, because he wanted to mess with me.
So we had to move fast while his heart was still mostly in control.
He was losing his grip, though, or he wouldn’t have remembered my mother’s dress.
He looked down at my feet. “You don’t have shoes.”
“Neither do you. We match, as a wedding party should. Come on!” I tugged him toward the door on the other side of the room, beneath the cages of people who looked curiously down at us. I stopped at the door and pointed at them. “Maybe you should let them out before we go.”
He glanced up, then the cages all fell to right above the floor, doors opening. “Of course.”
I tucked my hand around his arm and kept pulling him through the door. “What’s the quickest route to the night court?”
He swept me up into his arms, grinning at me with his fierce eyes and sharp teeth.
“This way.” And then he spread his wings and the world became a blur around us while he tucked me close to his chest, my cheek against his throat, the scent of him making me delirious and delighted.
I nibbled on his throat, licking his sweet skin until, with a lurch, we stopped, dropping down to a sidewalk outside the night courthouse in Song.
He didn’t put me down, just carried me, getting looks from all the people we passed—guards, other people who didn’t recognize this version of my devil.
When we stepped inside, we were stopped by a vampire female, who flashed a hard smile at us. She wore a badge, so she must’ve been a guard. “How can I help you?”
“We’re getting married,” I said quickly. “Don’t they do that here?”
She stared at me. “You’re the goblin-fairy.”
“Fairy-goblin,” my devil corrected, giving me a slight smile before he gave her a hardened look with absolutely no expression. “Is there a judge available to perform the honors?”
“You’re the Devil of Wonderland. I thought you sold out to a fairy enchantress.”
He stared at her until she shifted nervously.
“Judge McCoy might agree to take you so you don’t have to wait for the regular office to open. You smell like blood and ashes.”
“That was earlier,” I said quickly. “We’re all done killing people tonight.”
“Unless we’re unduly delayed,” my devil said, giving me a slight smile while those eyes flickered with mischief.
The vampire female sighed and turned, gesturing us after her. “This way. We’re not interested in bloodshed or deals, just law and order. I take it you were justified in killing whoever you killed.”