She pressed a shopping bag against my chest and sidestepped around me. “I’m going to take a shower, and then we’ll figure out our next steps.”
“Would you like me to wash your back?” I arched a teasing brow, and she blushed, fighting a smile.
“As tempting as that is, I’ll pass.” She stepped into the bathroom and locked the door.
20
CINDER
Discord was fully clothed by the time I finished my shower, and thank the goddess for that. If I’d had to look at those ripped abs and perfect pecs for a moment longer, I would’ve had no choice but to take him up on his offer to wash my back, my front, and everything else.
He lay stretched out on the bed, his hands folded behind his head, his eyes closed. He looked peaceful…serene…which was weird as all get out considering who he was.
Discord.
His name literally meant disagreement, conflict, strife. Yet, as he lay there quietly, his chest rising and falling rhythmically with his breaths, all I wanted to do was crawl into the bed, curl up next to him, and fall asleep with my head on his shoulder.
It was absolutely bonkers. I knew.
Still, the man had much more depth of character than I ever expected a demon could possess. The little glimpses of vulnerability he’d shown me—like the fact he had a secret hideout for when he got overwhelmed—only endeared him to me more. I couldn’t imagine the pain he must be enduring after getting kicked out of the palace. Lucifer’s prime predator turned prey.
He sucked in a sharp breath and opened his eyes, his gaze locking on me. His pupils constricted, and he sat up so quickly, my heart leaped into my throat.
“I normally don’t require sleep in this realm.” He moved to the foot of the bed and pulled on his boots.
“There’s nothing normal about any of this.” Especially my warm and fuzzy feelings for a demon. Oof. “Did you eat?”
“I did not.”
“Here. I have no idea what it is, but it looked like a burrito so I grabbed it.” I handed him a thin piece of bumpy bread wrapped around some kind of meat with arugula and a brown sauce. “Please tell me that’s not a paste of pity and purgatory.”
“No, it’s a sauce of severed sinuses.” He unwrapped the roll and took a bite.
I was about to dig in, but his comment stopped me mid-bite. “For real?”
He laughed and took another bite.
I set mine on the table and opened a bottle of water. It was glass, of course, because plastic would melt in the Underworld. “What’s in it? Actually, what is this? I don’t want to drink the tears of the tormented.”
“Such things are delicacies found only in Lucifer’s palace. You purchased water and roasted beef, though the shape and texture of the bread are unfamiliar.”
“We call them wraps in my realm.” I took a sip of water. It had a hint of rotten egg smell, but I supposed that was normal for his realm.
“Wraps.” He nodded thoughtfully. “An appropriate name.”
We finished our food in silence, and I choked down the whole bottle of stinky water because hydration seemed extra important in Hell for some reason. Then I gathered the trash and stuffed it into the bin before taking stock of my magical supplies.
I opened the leather pouch the seer had given me and emptied the contents onto the bed: Two red candles, a sachet of herbs, a few bone fragments—from what creature, I did not want to know—and an obsidian pendulum hanging from a chain made of pointy teeth.
I pressed the sachet of herbs to my nose as I sank onto the mattress. The scents of sage and wormwood, bitter and pungent, were unmistakable.
“Oh, sweet spirits.” I wrinkled my nose and dropped the pouch next to the other items. “I don’t know how the seer scried with this stuff, nor do I want to find out. I’m a light witch. Aside from the candles, this stuff is useless. She didn’t even give me a bowl.”
“How does a light witch scry?” He picked up the pouch and gave it a whiff, curling his lip as if the odor offended him.
“Not with dead things.” I paced to the sink and filled a stone mug with water. “If she’d given me pure sage, I could’ve burned it to cleanse the space. I’d choke on the stench if I tried burning wormwood.”
“I’m surprised her demonic side didn’t recoil at the use of sage.” He lifted the pendulum, running his fingers over the strung teeth. “That foul herb is not native to this realm. I can only imagine the demon who brought it to her must’ve requested a taxing favor.”
