Page 37 of Hunted By Fear

‘One of you needs to get back here.’I send the thought to all of them, looking down at her and allowing them to see through my eyes.

I feel their shock and anger for a moment before I close my mind to them again. I have enough on my mind. I don’t need to add their emotions to it, and I don’t need them to feel mine.

I’m unsure how long we sit on the ground waiting, but eventually I feel something shift in the castle, and I know someone is here.

Bast.

I feel him a moment before he’s here, bursting into the room and making a beeline for us.

‘She’s asleep.’I tell him and watch him relax, even if only slightly.

I stand, careful to keep my hold on her so as not to jolt her. I nod Bast onto the bed. Thankfully, he understands and doesn’t argue. I wasn’t sure who would come, but I’d hoped it was him or Talian.

Asta and Kai are a little more stubborn.

I hesitate for a moment at the edge of the bed before I make myself set her down. Bast moves quickly, pulling her into his side, and when she remains asleep, I move to the door.

I have a promise to keep.

Lucifer sent me to the river, and I knew why even before I got here. If it were anything else, he or the others could have come and handled it. The only reason he would need me to handle it is Ruin.

The annoying angel who I can’t seem to get rid of, though I guess on my part, I haven’t tried very hard.

I appear at the edge of the river, as far as teleportation can take me, and see him across the way.

Pacing back and forth as he waits for me.

“Kai, Rome came to the shop,” he says in a rush, even before my feet touch the ground.

“I’m not surprised; he was bound to come looking for something, and that was about the only place he could go and hope to get answers.” He would have come to the same conclusion if he had stopped for a moment and thought about it.

The problem with Ruin is that he doesn’t. He often lets his emotions rule him, has for as long as I can remember, which often gets him in trouble.

“He wants Aeri.” Again, obviously. That’s why we brought her to Hell to begin with.

“And?” If he came down here for this, I’m going to kill him.

What a waste of time.

“What do you mean,and?He’s never going to stop; you know how Rome is. What are we going to do?” He stops pacing to look at me, and I see how much this is eating at him.

Ruin might be ruled by his emotions, but this is bad even for him.

“Asta already told you there’s no we. You can’t come here any more than Rome can, and for now, that has to be enough. We’re looking for a way to break the contract if you want to help look into that.”

“I did. There’s nothing helpful.”

I had a feeling he was going to say that. Heaven isn’t really about breaking bonds; that would be something bad, so it would be reserved for uslesserbeings.

“Rome said he was going to force her to come back to him. Push her harder, whatever that means.” Ruin watches my face, and I know what he’s looking for, but somehow I can’t manage to keep my face blank.

“What happened? What does that mean? Is she okay?”

“One question at a time,” I grumble, rolling my eyes, debating if I should just leave or not.

“What did that mean?” He settles for his words bordering on a growl.

Lucifer chooses that moment to reach out.