Page 81 of Demon Heart: The Complete Series

ROMAN

B ack in time and back in his lair. Again.

Great.

Butterfly circled me, commanding me to be still. “You are forbidden to even itch the mark.”

“How are you here? I mean, how did you get back to my time?”

“A piece of me found you before you left me behind. Remember the pain in your ear?”

“Pain in my ear?”

“At the cave with the hot spring.”

“I…I remember. Oh, God.”

“After you betrayed me at Una’s house, I used a piece of me to follow you.” He folded his arms. “It weakened me, but it was worth it. That piece of me pupated inside you, healing your mark, and then me, after your queen blew me apart.”

Shit. “What happens next?”

“I tried speaking with her,” he said, not answering my question. “After I took down her towers, I offered her a choice. Give me your address or suffer at the hands of an army I had amassed.”

“You got an army of demons and humans together that quickly?”

He sprinkled some dust on the ground. “Yes.”

“With the dust?” This demon really was too gifted.

“You will learn not to cross me, Roman.” Again, he didn’t answer my question. “Because you did. You hurt me in Una’s house, and you murdered my friend.”

“She deserved it. She fucked with my heart. If I could kill you, I’d have done it already.”

A smile pretty enough to make my guts curdle. “Turn on the spot.”

I turned.

He enjoyed it. “Interesting to hear you speak so boldly.”

Absolute prick. “Why don’t you give up and wait to die?”

“Why?”

“Because that’s life.”

“Would you say that if I gave you back your grandma?”

An ache bloomed in my chest. “What?”

“If I built you a device to save your grandma, what would your argument be then? Would you still leave her to suffer her fate?”

I blinked at him, hurting as always at the mention of her. “I?—”

“As for Xavier, why does he reject the opportunity to be with his love?”

I stood there like a stunned fish, mouth hanging open.

“Every demon of this realm envied the love between the prince and the spider. Clearly, it has diminished.” He dipped his chin, shadows swimming across his features. “But not here in this time.”

“What are you?—”

He carried us away in a flurry of butterfly teleportation.

We arrived in the living room of the cottage Ismael and Past Xavier had taken us to. The prince and the demon were by the fire, stunned by our arrival.

As you would be.

Past Xavier sprang into action, putting himself between us and the prince. “What are you doing here?” He shifted into his spinneret form.

“We are here to see you,” Butterfly answered. Then he bowed to Ismael. “Your Highness.”

Did he mean he wanted to see Xavier or the prince?

“Leave,” Xavier demanded. “Now.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “I knew we shouldn’t have trusted you.”

“My love,” the prince said. “Let’s talk about this.”

“There is nothing to talk about. Stay back, Ismael. I’ll deal with these?—”

Butterfly released his dust, blowing it into their faces. Ismael fainted to the floor, while Xavier froze.

I drew my dagger, going to stab Butterfly in the back.

He stopped me, the mark flaring with itchy pain.

Shit.

He grabbed me by the arm, dragging me over to Past Xavier. Grabbed him too.

“Take us back to your time,” Butterfly demanded.

I did as he ordered, returning us to the conservatory of Lawrence House. My Xavier wasn’t there.

Oh, God.

Something crawled in my hair, but I quickly forgot about it when Butterfly teleported us into the present-time demon realm.

The temperature changed dramatically, plunging us into a bitter freeze.

“Holy shit!” I gasped at the change.

“Chilly, isn’t it?”

A cold wind howled across an enormous icy tundra, dotted with bridges and crevasses. A bright full moon glimmered in the deep blue-black of the sky, weird pink streaks painted across it. Those blue stars twinkled brightly, feeling closer here.

“Turn around,” Butterfly instructed me.

I obeyed, facing a frozen lake, realizing we stood on a snowy shore.

Oh. My. God.

“The frozen lake of Level 666,” the demon confirmed.

I had to shut this down before that lake opened.

Holy shit.

Wait…

There was something on my leg…