Page 46 of Rapunzel Unchained
My glare landed on the demon, his red eyes burning through Zane’s as he pulled a cigarette out of his coat, perching it between his lips.
“Don’t smoke in here,” Rebecca snapped, snatching the stick from his mouth before he could light it.
The demon snarled at her.
“Don’t,” I snapped, dragging his attention back to me. “Behave or I’ll make you leave.” I flexed my fingers in his direction.
Unsurprisingly, the demon laughed. “Oh, don’t threaten me with a good time, sinner.”
“Is this the demon inside Cleric Zane?” Nick’s voice quizzical but wary. “I’ve never met him before.” Nick glanced in my direction. “You’ve encountered the demon before?”
My rage lost its blunt edge as it focused on the demon in the room. Something that I could hurt. Something that wouldn’t break if I did. “Yes, we’ve had the pleasure.”
I knew the words were the wrong thing to say the moment they came out of my mouth. The demon licked his lips, eyes burning into me. “And it was delicious.”
My face burned, the memory of last night making my insides clench. “If you want it to happen again, you will be useful to the conversation, not a threat.”
“He’ll always be a threat.” Blake’s purple eye peeked out beneath his black hair, glowing faintly.
Leaning toward Blake, the demon snapped his teeth in his direction. “That’s right, conjurer. I’ll rip into your flesh and feed on your organs the moment you look the other way. Then that little hell hound of yours will be dessert.”
Sighing, I stalked over to Zane and flicked the demon in the forehead, sending power down where I touched him.
“Fucking hell’s balls, what the fuck was that for?” the demon howled, clasping the spot on his forehead where it burned a faint orange.
“I said behave. I have enough to deal with without you threatening the only mages on my side.”
“Well,” Nick lifted his hand, a sheepish expression on his face, “not the only ones. That’s what I also wanted to talk to you about.”
“Hold on a moment.” I turned back to Zane’s body, glowering down at the demon. “Can you behave, or do I need to send you away?”
His hand shot out, grabbing me around the waist before pulling me into his lap, his hand sliding up the inside of my thigh through the slit in my dress.
“Oh, I’ll behave alright,” he breathed into my ear before a shudder went through him. Zane froze beneath me, his eyes flickering back to his natural green brown hue. “Eva, I... sorry... the violence you were emitting summoned him. I couldn’t hold him back.”
“It’s fine.” I didn’t move from his lap, his fingers flexing against my inner thigh. “He just likes to cause chaos. But I’llstay here just in case he decides to come back, if that’s okay with you?”
Zane inclined his head, not lifting it to meet the eyes of everyone else in the room. The cleric might have come to terms with his demon, but he still seemed to hold some sort of shame in losing control of him.
I wished I could help him, but this was something Zane had to fix on his own. I couldn’t make him change his outlook on his demon. Only he could do that.
Shifting my attention back to Nick, I waved my hand magnanimously. “Please continue. Tell me how the mages in this room aren’t my only allies. Because all I want to do right now is hunt Beatriz down and show her I don’t make idle threats.”
It was Rebecca who spoke this time. “As I mentioned before, there is a group of mages who have been fighting to give humans the same rights. Even more humans have been joining the group now that word has gone around about you.”
“They know about me?” I arched a brow, forcing back the shiver that Zane’s fingers were causing as they slipped up and down the line of my thigh.
“Yes.”
“But not enough of them,” Nick interjected. “This has been long in the making. An underground chain of mages and humans working together to break the chains of the power the mages have held onto beyond what was necessary.”
My fingers curled into the blood red locks at the base of Zane’s neck, anchoring myself as I took in all this new information. “How do we spread the word then? If they know about me and what we are trying to do, will they stand up with us? Force the council to change?”
“You.” Nick pointed at me. “You’re going to tell them you’re here. You’re going to make the world see you and see us. That wearen’t going away. That we won’t stop until the humans are given the same freedoms as the mages.”
I leaned into Zane’s body, a hum of excitement zipping through me. “And how am I going to do that?”
“You just continue doing what you planned to do. Beatriz, Jetta, and Carisa are probably going to be collaborating together now. Which means they’re going to be ready for you. And you’re going to give the world a show.”
