Page 25 of Demon Heart: The Complete Series

“I know.” I let him clamber down my arm into his cage.

“Yet you’re not kicking Xavier out.”

“I’m not.”

“I’m so worried about you.”

I gave him a stroke before sprinkling some corn in his dish. “After tonight, things will settle down.”

“Unless—”

“No. Let’s not do that.”

“Be realistic?”

“Yeah. Why can’t we manifest a positive outcome?”

“You’re saying positivity isn’t reality?” he questioned, heading over to his corn.

“Why do you have to go for a philosophical turn?”

“Comes naturally to me.”

“Knock it off and eat your nibbles.”

“Gladly.”

My behavior continued to be selfish, ridiculous. It put Darcy at risk of losing me, of ending up back on the streets. Yet I still made the demon follow me into the kitchen.

What sort of shit friend was I?

“Talk to me,” I said, leaning against the sink.

“I saw someone from my past,” he answered, looming in the doorway.

“Who?”

“Her name is Tanith. My best friend, practically my sister. She, Ismael, and I called ourselves the Blessed Trinity. We were inseparable, a solid unit of love. Until things fell apart.” He took a pause.

“After losing Ismael, I wanted out of the royal court. She stayed, I think. I’m not sure. We lost touch.”

“You were in the royal court?”

He nodded. “Ismael’s official consort.”

Ah, here came more detail. “So, was he a prince or a king?”

“A prince first, then a king.”

“Wow.”

“He was incredible.”

Why did that make me squirm inside? “What does this Tanith want?”

Xavier moved deeper into the kitchen. “Do you have any brandy?”

“No. I told you I hate brandy.”

“Something else?”

“Is a former bestie of yours working with these hunters? She wants you to break open the lake and…”

It all fell into place.

“Ismael is in the lake?”

He stared at me, so much agony concealed behind his beautiful mask. “He is.”

Shit on a stick. “And he has the other part of The Word?”

“Do you have any spirits in those cupboards?” He drew a finger through the air as if he were the booze whisperer.

“This isn’t the time for drinking. Actually, scratch that.”

I fetched him an open bottle of vodka, placing it on the table.

“Thank you. May I sit?”

“If you want.” I wanted to go back to bed. “This whole thing just gets worse.”

“I know.” He sat, turning the chair to the side so he faced me. “I’m a coward.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs.

I remained by the sink. “How?”

“For not confronting her.”

“She might have dragged you to the demon realm with her hunter friends.”

“She was alone.”

“Was there Lemon Drop around?”

“Yes.”

“Then you were smart not to confront her. Yet. Is she not effected by Lemon Drop?”

“She’s not an arachnid demon.”

“What is she?”

Xavier sat back, grabbing the vodka bottle. “A serpentine demon.”

“Oh, God. Why can’t one of you be a kitten demon?”

His lips twitched into a smile. “She can’t best me in a fight, but she can with Lemon Drop.”

Seriously. Where were the kitten demons? “Meaning she had the recipe for it.”

After unscrewing the bottle cap, he took a heart gulp of vodka. “Ah.”

“What are we going to do?” I asked.

“I’m unsure of her motives,” he responded.

“To bring back Ismael? To launch an attack on us with a load of former kings and queens?” Seemed obvious to me.

“But why?” He took another gulp of vodka.

“She’s your friend, you tell me,” I sniped.

He threw me a cold look.

I deflected his dagger eyes with my own scowl. “Maybe she wants a reunion of the Blessed Trinity.”

More vodka went down his gullet. “Ismael was a cruel king. After a witch killed his father, our king, part of him died and festered, the rot twisting him into a different man.”

He was talking about the original days of Arcana, not the recent ones brought on by Clay Christmas. A time when demons could be slain permanently by the ancient magic, when witches and warlocks shared one power.

Xavier continued. “There was no other choice but to conduct the ritual, let him sleep while his sister took over.” He looked me dead the eyes. “I loved him more than anything. But I had no choice. Tanith has never forgiven me for making it happen.”

Again, I got the urge to hug him. “Then her motives are clear, aren’t they?”

“I sense more.”

My throat begged for water. I poured a glass from the faucet, ignoring the vodka.

“How cruel a king are we talking?” I asked.

“One of the worst tyrants to have ruled over the demon realm.”

Yeah, this really did keep getting worse. “Best he stays down there.”

What a fucked-up situation to remove the man you loved from your life because he’d taken, for want of a better phrase, a dark turn.

Can I hug you now?

The demon raked his probing gaze up and down my body. “Yes.”

I quivered, his cinnamon-violet scent caressing my senses again. “Stop…”

“I’ve ruined your life,” he said.

I shook off the impeding intoxication. “Not quite yet.” I pushed off the sink, taking the other chair at the table.

“A truth spell will not be enough,” he said. “We need extra firepower.”

“We do. I’m not sure I can muster up anything too aggressive.” My fingers throbbed in response. “And I don’t have anything to break the Lemon Drop.”

“I can get us some tools,” Xavier said, knocking back more vodka.

“Like what?”

“Leave it with me.”

I checked the clock on the oven, the time coming up to five.

“Will you be done on time?”

“Yes. If I leave now.” After one more swig of vodka, he left my flat.

What to do with this new information? Report it to the queen immediately?

She needed to know about this Tanith, the hunters, the whole lake thing before shit hit the fan.

But what could I tell her? What falsities could I spin to protect myself?

Because she would want to know how I came across this data.

Every minute I kept it to myself, my betrayal to the crown grew in its toxicity. And threat swelled with it. If I fucked up tonight, we were all screwed.

I sat at the kitchen table, my anxiety rife, my poor nails enduring another round of biting.