Page 97 of Demon's Bane

“Fine with me,” she agrees with a small shudder. “You couldn't pay me to go back in those caves.”

Fighting the wave of dread her words evoke, I press on. “And if there’s even a hint of danger for you, you’ll allow me or Hallaor my mother to bring you back here, or back to the Veil, to keep you far, far away from it.”

She nods, though with a little more hesitance this time.

From where she’s standing in the doorway, the queen watches the conversation with more worry creasing her brow. “Hopefully that won’t be necessary. Our soldiers are there, and I’m going back to the human realm to meet with my mom soon. We’ll figure all of this out.”

Joan nods, and I catch the smallest tremble in the corner of her lip as she takes a deep, shaky breath and pulls her friend into a hug. “Last night was a hell of a party, Allie. I’m glad I was here for it.”

Allison returns her hug just as fiercely, and when she draws back, there are tears shimmering in her eyes. “I’m glad you were, too. Come back and do it again sometime?”

“You know I will. It’s not goodbye forever.”

“Never forever,” Allison agrees, and with a last assurance that she and Eren will do everything they can to set things right, she leaves.

Joan and I retreat into the bedroom, and silence falls as I shut the door behind us.

In that silence, all I want is to reclaim the magick we shared last night, the peace and safety we basked in this morning.

A day. An hour. Even just a few more minutes.

I’d give just about anything in any of the thirteen realms—bargain or trade or steal, it hardly matters—for Joan and I to have the time and luxury to sink into our bond, to each other.

But there are no bargains to be made this morning, nothing to trade to make the fleeting moments we have last a little longer, and nothing to steal but a kiss from her lips as I take her hand in mine.

“Together,” I murmur, drawing her close. “We’ll face this together, my mate.”

“Together,” Joan agrees, laying her head on my chest.

29

Joan

The chaos of the village is a shock to the system after the sparkling night Rhett and I spent in the demon court.

Almost as soon as we step foot in the square, Rhett is called away to help deal with the cleanup after this latest catastrophe in the mines. Whether the rest of the demons are convinced we had nothing to do with it since we weren’t here, or if they’ve decided to put their hostility aside while they deal with the more pressing problem, I don’t know.

What I do know is that Rhett brushes a brief, apologetic kiss to my forehead before handing me off to Alva, and the rest of the village mostly… ignores me.

It could be worse, I guess, and when I see Alva is busy preparing a community meal to feed the miners and ask if I can help, I’m glad she accepts that help. It at least gives me something to do. It gives me a way to keep my hands busy and my mind half-occupied, even if the rest of it is consumed with worry over the thought of Rhett having to go back into the caves.

And since I spend most of the day working and ignored except for Alva’s steady stream of conversation, it also gives me time to observe the ins and outs of everything happening in the village.

The frosty reception I got when I arrived here notwithstanding, the sense of community in the village is undeniable.

It’s there, in how everyone seems to pitch in to either help in the mines or make sure those workers have everything they need. In how the whole square is a bustle of activity and spirits seem to be unbroken even in the midst of all the chaos.

It’s there, in how wives greet husbands and husbands greet wives coming back from their shifts, in the way children run from the square to grab their parents’ hands or be swept up into tight embraces. In hands clapped on shoulders and improbable laughter breaking through the din of low, worried conversations, there’s an undeniable air of togetherness settled over the entire village.

Rhett is away for most of the day, and it’s not until late afternoon when the shift he’s working ends that I finally get to see him again.

Conversation carries as the group of miners he’s with trudge into the square with gruff laughter and good-natured ribbing, an ease and familiarity and sense of solidarity. Even Rhett, despite whatever they must think about him bringing a witch back to the village, talks and laughs with the demons beside him.

It makes my heart lift and ache at the same time. It’s good to see that despite the shit he’s taken from Tyvar and a few others, Rhett has a place here. He belongs here.

“Stubborn, that boy,” Alva says, shaking her head and startling me out of staring at him. “He’s like his father in that way.”

I try not to perk up at the little sliver of insight into Rhett’s past. I really do. But Alva doesn’t miss the glance I cut her or what I’m sure must be a look of desperate interest in my eyes as her lips quirk up at the corners.