Page 41 of Demon's Bane

“So it’s up to you to decide what you want to do with any of it.”

With that, Seren gives Joan’s shoulder a squeeze and turns to go, heading out the opposite end of the alleyway. Just before she leaves, she calls back over her shoulder.

“Good luck,” she tells Joan before glancing at me. “And take care of her, big guy.”

As soon as we’re alone, the weight of everything unspoken between Joan and I grows even heavier. She shifts nervously, looking from where Seren just disappeared, then back to me, though her eyes dart quickly away.

“Joan,” I begin. “What just—”

“Not here.” She nods to the back door of her shop. “Let’s talk inside.”

Part of me doesn’t want to follow her through that door. Part of me wants to stay right here, maybe ask if she’d like to come for a walk with me around Beech Bay, tell me more about her realm. Part of me just wants time to enjoy her company and the sunshine and not face this. Not yet.

But Joan doesn’t look back as she ducks inside, and I don’t call out to stop her.

Back in the shop, I follow her down the hall, past the kitchen, to the deserted front room, which emptied out a couple of hours ago when the shop closed for the day.

“Joan,” I try again, though she still hasn’t looked at me fully. “Why was Seren here? What did she tell you?”

She stops, turns slowly, and her expression is another punch to my gut. Guilt and uncertainty and hesitation, a film of sickly sweet unease threaded all the way through her delicious scent.

“There was another theft. A big one.”

I grab the back of the chair nearest me, knuckles white as the news sinks in. “Where? Did she say if—”

“I don’t know. That’s all she said about it before you got here and…” She looks down, and I swallow hard as I tuck the information away.

“What else did Seren say?”

“She said she found out something about who might have been involved. From the human realm.”

Again, the hesitation on Joan’s face and in her voice guts me as I realize she doesn’t want to say anything more than that. She doesn’t want to trust me.

“Do Allie and Eren know?” Joan asks.

“What?” I ask, head spinning at the abrupt change in topic.

“Allie and Eren. Your king and queen. Do they know what’s been going on with the thefts and who you think might be responsible?”

“I…” I can’t answer her. Not when it’s clear what she wants the answer to be.

Joan’s face falls, and she runs a rough hand through her hair. “Fuck.”

“We didn’t think it warranted that kind of intervention.”

“We,” Joan says cautiously. “Who is ‘we’?”

“My village. The leaders who make those kinds of choices. They decided it was a matter best handled ourselves.”

It wasn’t a unanimous decision, but when the choice had been made to deal with the coven ourselves, that had been that. Humans are new to the demon realm, yes, and the nature of travel between our realms has changed, but humans are far fromthe only creatures who make their way from realm to realm. Conflicts happen, and not every one is a matter of royal concern.

By the look on Joan’s face, however, it’s clearly one more thing that’s weighing heavily on her mind, that her friend, my queen, has been kept in the dark about all of this.

She starts pacing, with so much nervous energy rolling off her I can nearly taste it. “Great. So you’ve got that in common with the coven, at least.”

“Joan.” Her name on my lips isn’t meant to be stern, but it comes out firmly enough for her to pause and look at me. “Is there something you’re not telling me? Something that might have to do with wherever you went the other night? Or whatever it is Seren told you that you’re still keeping from me?”

“How did you know—”