“Hm.” Paimon steepled her claws. “And the other three?”
“I believe they remain together.”
She scoffed. “I never understood what they were doing, opening the borders between their territories like they didn’twantwar. Perhaps they escaped to Earth to live peacefully like the humans they obviously adore.” She gave a bark of chilling laughter, but she had no idea how close to the truth she was.
As abruptly as it had come, the humor vanished, and she pinned him with a hard stare. “So, you’re telling me in two months, you haven’t found a single trace of them.”
“Correct.” His tail flicked.
“And you think that is because Belial has found a way to mask his scent. Nephilim blood, perhaps?”
“Perhaps.”
“Hm.”
She leaned forward and studied him through narrowed eyes. Leaning an elbow on the throne’s armrest, she propped her chin on one hand and said nothing. Neither did he.
Finally, she leaned back, shaking her head. “You’re lying.”
His blood went cold.
“Which is funny because, in all your time of service to me, I don’t think I’ve ever felt that certainty before.”
He thought of Eligos. At least he’d gotten away with it once.
Her head tilted, shifting the shadows on her face. “You’ve always been so obedient. What changed? What are you hiding from me?”
He lifted his chin though his blood was ice. “I am hiding nothing.” Yet he couldn’t bear to confirm her first statement and claim to be obedient. Even thinking the word made his stomach churn.
“Hm.” Her head tilted the other way, those great horns tilting with it. “No, I don’t think I believe you. I think you’ve been lying from the moment you stepped in here.”
“I have not lied, Mistress.” He had to grit his teeth to get the word out.
Where was his control? In the past, he would say or do anything to escape these meetings unscathed. Pride was for the foolish. The cleverest hunters waited in silence and stillness to conserve energy.
She flicked her claws, dismissing his efforts. “Let’s try again. This time, before you answer, remember what happens to those who try to betray me.Try, because they do not succeed. Now, where have you been, Mishetsu?”
His mouth had gone dry, so he swallowed before forcing his reply. “I was hunting my targets.”
“And did you find them?”
“No.”
She shook her head and clucked her tongue. “Let’s try again. Where have you been?”
“I was hunting my targets.”
“And?”
“And”—his tail flicked restlessly—“I have not found them.”
Her claws drummed on the carved-bone armrest. Her horizontal pupils burned with warning. “Where. Have. You. Been.”
“Hunting my—”
His words cut off as his heart seized in his chest.
Mist dropped to his knees, the pain of his frozen heart unbearable as his lungs sought oxygen and his blood stagnated in his veins. A human would have lost consciousness instantly; a demon was not so lucky. Gasping, he gripped his chest and fought with everything he had not to fall at her feet.
