A long silence ensued in which they stared at each other from across the hallway.
“What happened?” she finally asked in a small voice.
Where to begin? Despite how they’d parted, he didn’t want to upset her any more than he already had, so he opted for an abbreviated version of events. “My mistress was displeased, so she threw me in a pit of goraths as punishment.”
“Mistress? Who—? What—?” She squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again. “What is a gorath?”
“A centipede the size of an airplane that consumes flesh.”
“An airpla—” Her mouth dropped open. “It tried to eat you?”
He nodded. “I killed one, but there were five more.”
It suddenly occurred to him that Lily had summoned him at the exact second he was about to be consumed. He could not have dodged his fate a second time, and yet he had. Because of her.
But perhaps the bigger question was, why had she summoned him? The last he’d seen her, she’d been staring in horror as her sibling made death threats. Did she hope to enslave him?
That would be just his luck. From one cruel mistress to another.
Then again, he thought, inhaling another lungful of her scent, he might not mind belonging to this mistress.
“For what purpose did you summon me?” he asked.
“I was hoping we could talk.”
“About the task you want me to perform?”
“I don’t want you to do any task. I just want to talk.”
His brow furrowed. “You don’t wish to enslave me?”
“No!” she said emphatically, and he cocked his head.
He wasn’t sure he believed her. Everyone wanted something. There was always a motive. Even Eva, whom he had formed a bond with, only tolerated his company because of their negotiations. That was okay. It was something he understood.
“I know it looks bad,” Lily continued, glancing at the sigil in the other room, “but I swear, it’s not. I really just wanted to talk, and I didn’t know another way to get you to come back, especially after your friend told me you went back to Hell.”
“Which friend?”
“The one with the tattoos. And another with a scary voice.” She shifted until she was sitting on one hip with her feet tucked under her. She was so round and soft, and her scent was so tantalizing. Even now, it teased his senses and made it hard to concentrate.
Want to chase her again. Want to bite her again.Not to hurt her. Just to mark her.
“I made him mad,” she said, “and I think he might show up here looking for me.”
She must have been speaking about Meph and Belial. He wasn’t concerned about either of them. “What do you wish to talk about?”
She finally looked at him and then blanched, as if she had forgotten whom she was talking to. “It can wait. Maybe we should treat your wounds first.”
He was a powerful demon, and he healed quickly. Though his senses felt dulled and his mind sluggish, he could tell he was already much improved.
“Talk now.”
“But your skin—”
He looked down. His skin was already regrowing, but he could see how it might be upsetting to a human. The easiest solution would be to wash. By the time he finished, his wounds would be mostly closed and would not bleed more.
“I will use your shower,” he decided, climbing to his feet. His head swam, his legs felt rubbery, and he immediately swayed.
