Page 25 of Dormeo

ASH

L ily looks as miserable as I do as we file into my father’s office.

He’s holding court to some of his favoured demons, drinking some kind of toxic concoction from a vessel fashioned from a skull, and purposefully ignoring those whom he has summoned.

Playing his game, I clear my throat, and he twists his huge head to face us.

Lily practically vibrates with anger as he gives her a look of disgust, never impressed with the fact that he was gifted a daughter, despite all that she has achieved, before slowly turning his glowing eyes on me.

“Rose remains safe and well?” He asks the question but already knows the answer. If something had happened to his precious collateral, he would know.

“She is.”

I don’t go as far as to say she remains untouched, but from the wicked glint in his eye, he also knows that I’ve been unable to resist drawing some power from her.

“You look well, Ash. Strong. If I ever need a top up, I might have to pay her a visit someday.”

I keep my lips sealed, unwilling to give away the extent of my possessiveness to this diabolical creature. There is one sure fire way to ensure he destroys something, and that’s for one of us to care about it.

He’d take immense pleasure in reminding us exactly how lowly and pathetic we are by stomping all over anything good in our lives. Which is exactly why Lily is glaring at him like she wants to run a stake through his eye.

And why my insides burn with fury.

If he touches Rose, I’ll slice his fingers off with a fiery blade, and I don’t care what the consequences are.

Gaap escorts Rose in with Barghest glued to her side.

The corner of my father’s lip curls as he sees the hound.

While all beasts down here cow to the devil, the hellhound's duty is to protect the gate, not to do as my father says, so he’s as immune to his hands as anyone in this dark place can be.

Instead of trotting over to me, he stays beside Rose, who is now unbothered by the dancing flames coming off him in waves.

When her fingers find his fur and she buries the tips into his dark hair, I fight back a smile.

I don’t think I’ve seen anyone but me touch the grumpy creature. But Rose has that effect on people. Even my sister seems to like her, otherwise she wouldn’t be caught dead here while my father goes through the pomp and ceremony of a deal’s conclusion.

“She’s pretty, son, and intriguing , but I don’t see what all the fuss is about. Not compared to…” he trails off.

Though I’d love to set him straight about how wrong he is, it’s in Rose’s best interest that she doesn’t attract his attention.

She blushes, embarrassed by the slight, and keeps her gaze fixed on the cold slate floor. With a constant stream of damned women to keep his reserves replenished, he doesn’t seem to have picked up on what she could do for him.

Flexing my fingers, I let the energy humming through my veins bounce around, surging to my fingertips. I need to ensure he doesn’t realise how strong I really am, at least not until I see what he’s planning to do next.

“Your father has arrived. Do you think he will deliver on his promise?”

Rose’s shoulder tenses as she realises that she’s going to have to speak. With a gentle cough, she strengthens her voice before lifting her head and staring at a point somewhere over his shoulder.

“If it suits him,” she replies honestly. “If he’s got something more valuable than me, he may forfeit.”

The terrifying gleam in my father’s eyes tells me that’s not what he wants to happen. “Hopefully he knows better than to be so foolish.”

The coldness in his voice drops the temperature in the room, and despite us being at the gates of hell, where it’s always balmy, Rose shivers.

With a loud clang, the double doors shove open wide, and two guards, minotaurs with long dark hair and sickening yellow stares, enter with the tiny looking lord between them.

“You returned,” my father says, making no effort to disguise his surprise. “I assume nobody would be so stupid as to come here and admit they’ve disappointed the devil.”

Sneering down at the man, looking superior and smug, the devil lounges on his throne, swirling his drink with a victorious smile.

“I brought you what you wanted.” Lord Farly’s beady eyes turn to his daughter, who can’t even look at the man who abandoned her two weeks ago. “I thought you’d be resting.”

Rose’s laugh is laced with disgust. “Unconscious, you mean. You thought I’d be oblivious to what you’d done because you knocked me out and left me at the mercy of strangers.”

Her anger is justified. If she’d been entrusted to anyone else, who knows what would have happened.

“It didn’t work by the looks of it. Those witches better give me my money back.”

My father smirks, and his gaze falls to me.

“It’s not the witch's fault. Magic can only survive so long down here, and in close quarters with such a powerful demon… Well, it didn’t stand a chance.

Whatever safeguards you put in place only related to me, the devil himself.

They didn’t prevent her from becoming close to anyone else.

” Leaning forward, he tsks at the poor lord.

“You’d know that if you had done your research. ”

So that’s why he sent her to me. He knew the magic would wear off faster in my company. Did he try to touch Rose and was repelled by the magic?

The thought makes my stomach churn.

“Show me what you brought.” All business now, my father pretends he doesn’t see the fury in Lord Farly’s eyes at my father’s discovery of what he was up to.

Lord Farly waves his hand, and from behind him, six men appear, carrying three chests between them.

Marching forward, they set the massive wooden trunks down at the base of the plinth before my father’s throne. The skin on the back of my neck prickles as the entire court stares at the three heavy boxes as the men retreat, eager to be away from whatever they contain.

It’s then that the stench of death reaches my nose.