The men froze.
“Are you serious?” Felix asked. At my nod, he buried his head in his hands and sighed. “Shit. This might change things.”
“It does?” I asked, concern dripped on the wings of the butterflies in my stomach until they sank to the bottom. Perhaps I had taken it too far in the garden.
Demon women were so few in number that they are always in high demand. It never even occurred to me to ask if any of them placed importance on virginity. Was there some kind of ritual that I missed?
More men gathered around the werewolf and began shouting about proper courting rituals. “Take her on another date first and play it cool!”
“No, strike while the iron is hot!”
“Toss her an apple!”
“Nobody does that anymore, you old bastard.”
“Maybe we should just find a human virgin and ask?” Ambrose piped up from the back.
Everyone turned back to look at the lamia in shock. In the year I’d spent upon theBansheeI don’t think I’d ever heard Ambrose say more than three words. His snake half coiled tightly at the attention and he shifted his gaze away.
“He’s right!” called an orc, whose name I’d forgotten. “Let’s just find a human virgin. There’s gotta be at least one in Boohail.”
Warwick clapped Balabash on the shoulder. “What about your barmaid, Sunbeam?”
The large orc grabbed his hand and twisted, causing the minotaur to cry out. “If any of you lot darken my Daybringer’s doorstep, it will be the last mistake you ever make.”
“I was just asking,” he whimpered.
“Look, we’ll just ask around,” called the nameless orc. Issah? No, that didn’t seem right. “Everybody spread out and try to find a virgin woman.”
I heard the door to the captain’s quarters slam open. “STOP SCREAMING ABOUT FINDING A VIRGIN,” Usha hollered. “THE VILLAGERS ARE ALREADY WARY OF YOU LOT AND THIS IS EXACTLY HOW RUMORS START.”
“But it’s for Dante,” Warwick answered.
“How is that better?” Usha snapped. “Fuck, y’all stress me out.” She stomped over to the mirror and shoved Felix off his barrel and sat down. Usha closed her eyes and breathed deep. “Alright. Fill me in.”
Chapter 18
Cherry
How dare he just leave! Just vanished without so much as a ‘Hey, thanks for last night,’ or even just telling me if or when he was coming back. I took my anger out on yet another cinnamon roll. My stomach would be a raging mess later, but fuck it. The man I just slept with had upped and left me and– snapping gators– that entitled me to eat my goddamn feelings!
I didn’t even have Alexis around to scream to. I had figured she and the kitten would have been back by morning at least, but still nothing. Well, whatever. Maybe I’d just pack up and leave too. It’s not like he’d even taken his stuff with him, so I still had all the gold.
Yeah, that’s what I’d do. I’d forget all about him, buy a big fancy carriage with his money, and ride back home on my own in style. Fuck dragons and their mixed signals!
The sound of howling wind erupted from the spare room, then fell silent. Dante appeared a moment later, then paused when he spotted me by the counter. “You look upset,” he said carefully.
“Of course I’m upset,” my words practically came out in a hiss. “You just left me here.”
His eyes widened as a grin tugged at his mouth. “Did you just stomp your foot?”
“… No.”
“Do it again.”
“I said I didn’t stomp!”
Dante closed the distance between us and wrapped me in his arms. “You missed me,” he said, looking entirely too pleased with himself.
