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Finally, the demon prince halted the flow of magic and his menacing scowl faltered to something akin to worry.

“See, you don’t have your ring. We’re not in your realm. And you don’t instill fear into me,” Hel said calmly. “You’re going to have to do better, demon.” A ball of swirling light began to form over Hel’s palm, growing larger with each passing moment.

“This isn’t over.” The demon prince grabbed the edge of his long cloak, whirled it around himself and vanished in a cloud of gray-blue smoke.

Layala turned and ran for the window. The demon hounds were gone. She spotted Thane squatting next to an injured soldier. Letting out a slow breath, Layala pressed her forehead against the glass. “He’s alright.” She found Piper uninjured nearby, as well as their other friends. Leif gripped someone’s hand and helped them up. Fennan looked to be holding a compress over a soldier’s thigh.

“Not a thank you or acknowledgment for coming to your aide?” Hel’s warm honey voice snaked down her spine. “Typical.”

Layala turned and tossed her sword on top of her bed. “Thank you. I wasn’t sure if you’d hear me with all the commotion.”

“I’ll always hear you if you need me.” His crimson eyes trailed over her from boots to thighs to hips. His slow inspection brought a warm flush to her cheeks. When his heated gaze finally made its way up to her face, he said, “Is that blush for me, love?”

She cleared her throat. “Don’t be absurd. I’m hot from the demon encounter.”

“That blood rushing to your cheeks,” he moved closer, “the pounding of your heart. You’re making this difficult for me.”

“What does that mean?” She took a slow breath, trying to calm her heart but the closer he came the faster it beat. A slowdrip, drip, dripcame from somewhere.

“You don’t see what I do.” He lifted her hand and brought her fingers to his lips. A droplet of blood ran down her finger. “You don’t understand how I can hate you and want you more than anything at the same time.”

For some reason, she didn’t pull away, didn’t fight or protest. She stared into his eyes, entranced. His was equal parts danger and delight like the sweetest poison. His tongue slid across her middle finger, and then his lips closed around it. It was only then she realized one of the flying splinters must have shot out and cut her finger. It stung a little but the longer her finger was in his mouth the more it numbed, and a pleasant heat bloomed in her belly. She jerked her hand back and stepped away. This felt much too sensual, much more than him healing her injury, although that’s what happened. The cut was gone, and he got another little hit of her blood to rejuvenate his strength.

Layala took a wide step around him and headed for the exit. “We need to check on the others.” She stopped in the doorway and glanced back at him. “Will you use your magic to heal some of the injured soldiers?”

“Remember when I told you I wasn’t a hero?”

“Please.”

“Why should I exhaust my power to heal a bunch of elves? It’s going to take a lot. What’s in it for me?”

“My gratitude.”

He smiled, bringing out the dimple in his cheek. “Tell you what, I’ll save a few elves if you can tell me what happened next in our story.”

“You mean after our first date? When you left me on the cliffs?”

“Precisely.”

“Fine, after you heal at least ten elves, I’ll tell you.”

“Done.”

Chapter30

LAYALA

Later that evening, Layala sat at the dining table, staring over the lip of her glass of wine. All the mangled bodies, the screams and cries of the soldiers who’d been bitten and poisoned by the hounds haunted her. They had no cure for it and not even Hel’s magic drew out the infection. Hel said they’d suffer for hours and hours before they finally died. As a mercy, Thane put down the three demon-poisoned soldiers.

Fennan tapped his boots under the table, scowling at Hel and Varlett across from him. Thane cut into his food, avoiding looking up. Piper and Leif on the other side of Fennan, picked at their food. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t all seen companions die or witness the carnage of battle. The tension in the room stemmed more from new threats, and two of them sat at their very dining table.

“I’ll work on an antidote for the demon’s poison,” Varlett announced, breaking the silence that had gone on for way too long, and sipped on her glass of what Layala assumed was blood. “I’m sure that won’t be the last we see of them.”

“That would be helpful,” Thane said, finally lifting his chin.

“I’m sorry, but why are they eating with us?” Fennan blurted out. He’d definitely been waiting to say that for the last several minutes. “Why are we tolerating this again? Him, I understand. Kind of.” He waved a hand at Hel then gestured to Varlett. “But her? She worked with Tenebris.”

“Tenebris was a means to an end for me. Nothing more. And I did just save your ass,” Varlett said, clicking her talons against her glass. “Or have you already forgotten you nearly got your arm ripped off?”