Page 22 of The Demon’s Delight (The Demon Princes #3)

Chapter 21

Hailon

“ C oltor could lease out time in that glade for holidays or health rejuvenation or something of the sort,” I said, sad that the little oasis was now several hours of walking behind us.

Following Coltor’s changes to our little map, we’d easily found what was the actual main road and had been walking along it peacefully all morning.

“Most certainly,” Seir agreed. “I could live there quite happily.”

“Doing so could interfere with his posting, though. That might make him grumpier than he already is.”

“Guarding doorways like he suggested exist within the castle itself is a very important job. Can’t have people wandering in and out of other worlds on a whim.”

“People like you?” I teased back, though in truth I was as jealous as I was curious about using portals. “What’s it like being able to travel like you do? Portals and things, I mean.”

“I’ll show you one day,” he promised, and my stomach clenched. Whatever I was, whatever negative power I possessed that apparently canceled out other’s magic would almost certainly keep me from ever doing any such thing. “Perhaps you should suggest that to him next time we see him? That he build some little cabins to rent out. We could be his first clients.” Seir smiled.

“You believe that will happen? That we’ll see him again?”

“Of course!” Seir nodded enthusiastically. “People like that are never just a one-time meeting. I suspect we’ll see him plenty more times.”

“We?” I asked, amused by how absolutely positive he was about such a statement.

“Naturally,” he scoffed, releasing his wings and spreading his arms as he jogged ahead and turned around to face me, walking backwards. “Where you go, I go, little Moonflower.”

I let that idea linger there between us. I knew that once we arrived in Ravenglen, he was returning to Hell, and the odds of us running into that stone kin man several times over the next few days was infinitesimal. But I had grown very used to being with him, and clearly he felt the same about me. It was nice to imagine a future where we had more adventures, even if the notion had never before crossed my mind.

“Why have you started calling me that?” I didn’t mind it, in fact it made my heart skip a little beat every time he said it, but it was odd. “Moonflower. That’s two or three times now.”

He dropped his chin to his chest, chagrined. “Do you really want to know?”

“Yes.”

He pulled his wings tight against his back and stopped walking, reaching for my hair as I caught up to him. “You’ve acquired some moonbeams in your braids.” He showed me the end of one of the two braids he’d given me before we left the beautiful glade. Sure enough, mixed in with the black were threads of pure white.

I gasped and used the pad of my thumb to spread out the strands, trying to see how many there might be. “When did this happen?”

Seir shoved his hands in his pockets and turned around, starting to walk down the road again. His wings spread wide, he flexed them repeatedly, doing some kind of exercise routine I wasn’t privy to. “I’m not sure, I just noticed it myself.”

Panic had my pulse racing. “How are there so many? And why are they white all the way to the ends like this? This isn’t how hair normally starts turning gray.”

Seir watched me rant with a serious expression. “I didn’t tell you at first for this very reason. I didn’t mean to upset you by pointing it out.”

“I’m not so young I shouldn’t expect some gray soon, but?—”

“How old are you, Moonflower? I’ve never thought to ask.”

“There are three things you should never ask a woman,” I scolded him, though in truth I was not offended. It was honestly a surprise to me that it hadn’t come up sooner. “Her age, her dress size, and whether or not she’s with child.”

“Noted.” He grinned widely, and I could tell he was calculating something.

“So? How many winters have you seen, then?”

“Clever, but still the same question.” I tutted at him, and he laughed.

“What if I start? Three hundred twenty-nine Earth years have passed since I took up residence in Hell. Time is a much more fluid thing where I originated. I don’t really know how to calculate how much passed before then. And it also bends and moves differently depending on the realm you’re in, so perhaps even that’s not an accurate accounting.”

I kept my silence for several paces, but there was no need for my age to remain a secret. “I’m thirty-three. Old, by all accounts where I’m from. Spinster-y even.”

Seir scoffed. “You’re still very spry. What could possibly be the qualifications that would make someone call you old ?”

“Well…” I mentally compiled all the things that had been listed off to me over the years, most of them intended to shame or guilt me into some kind of marriage of convenience or admission of failure as a woman. Then I listed them off for him, getting increasingly sharp with my tone as I did.

“I prefer to keep the company of my aunt almost exclusively. I perform a craft that many find questionable. I was educated past primary school, which is mostly unheard of where I’m from, particularly for girls. I have a proclivity for using my blades and prefer pants to skirts. I’m unmarried by choice, having refused most suitors even attempting to court me, but especially proposals that would have only benefitted them and their families, not me or mine. I’ve unashamedly bedded people I didn’t plan to marry, some I didn’t even like all that much. I don’t have any children and I’m past thirty. The list is quite long, honestly.”

He gaped, eyebrows up high and mouth slightly open. “That’s madness. Education is a positive thing, no matter who you are. Knowing how to defend yourself is valuable, as is your healing ability. And babies are adorable but terrifying, so I can understand why you weren’t interested in jumping into having them or a marriage, particularly with someone you didn’t care for. Those contracts are binding.” He shook his head fiercely and a hand strayed to one of the blades along his belt. I could only imagine what he was envisioning, but I was certain it entailed violence. He seemed like he was struggling to decide what he wanted to say next. “In any case, I think it’s pretty. Your hair,” he said quietly. “I call you that because the white reminds me of a moonflower blossoming.”

My breath caught and I stopped, the gravity of his casual words leaving me unable to move for several moments.

“Hailon?” Seir turned around, finding me several steps behind him.

“That’s… sweet,” I managed. With no hint of insincerity on his part, it truly was. “Are there moonflowers in Hell?”

He chuffed a small laugh and continued on, lifting one knee high, then the other. “There are some gardens there, though my experience with flora and fauna like that is mainly here, or in the fae realm. Between the two, the chances of being injured by pretty plants is much lower here.”

I watched him doing knee lifts as he walked, his gait wide and comical. “What is it you’re doing up there? It would be wise to take your hands out of your pockets, in any case. If you fall, you’ll land right on your pretty face.”

Seir spun, grin wide. “You think my face is pretty?” His tail swished happily back and forth in the air behind him, one hand dramatically pressed to his cheek.

I rolled my eyes but felt the heat of a blush on my face. “You know it is.”

“It doesn’t matter what I know, you thinking so is another thing entirely.” He flapped around me like a light-drunk moth, teasing and laughing, chasing up great gusts of wind and dust with his outstretched wings.

Then, we both froze. “Seir, did you?—?”

He blinked at me and tried to replicate what he’d been doing. On the fourth flap, he lifted off the ground.

“Ah!” he shouted and laughed, crashing into the ground so hard he stumbled to his knees. He somehow turned the fall into a graceful tumble and sprang back to his feet after doing what looked like a carefully practiced roll. “Hailon, you saw that, right?”

Excitement surged through me. “Yes, you were hovering!”

Eyes alight, enthusiasm bubbling over, he reached out and held my face between his hands. Then he crashed his mouth to mine in a kiss that could only be called a smooch. I froze, feeling the surge of electricity that passed between us, a riot of palpitations in my heartbeat. He pulled away, a wicked grin on his mouth like he knew exactly what he’d done but had no regrets.

Then, as I stood there in shock, he took off at a run down the road, mighty wings pushing him off the ground—but only a few inches at a time and only for a moment. Still, he was undeterred. He practiced on and off in different ways until we broke for lunch, then continued again until we set up camp for the night. I was exhausted just watching him, but it was amusing nonetheless. His energy never seemed to flag, and his determination was relentless.

He finally put his wings away when we found a copse of trees to camp in for the evening.

“I’ll get some wood,” I offered as he assembled some rocks into a ring and collected kindling to get a fire started.

I picked up as much as I could carry and found he’d already gotten a decent flame going when I returned. “What’ll it be tonight, soup or stew?” he asked.

“What’s the difference?”

“Nothing, really. More water for broth. Just seemed polite to offer a choice.”

I shook my head and pulled out my bedding. “As long as it’s food, I’ll eat it. Hopefully it settles well.”

He paused, an odd look on his face before the easygoing smile returned, and he began pulling things we’d taken from the glade out of the pack.

We’d just settled in to eat when thunder rumbled, not far off.

“That doesn’t sound good,” I muttered, searching the sky for lightning. The clouds were thick, blocking the moon, but puffy and white.

“We’ll be alright.” He seemed unconcerned but finished his food in a hurry and started constructing a little shelter out of the one piece of cloth we had that was mostly water-resistant. Widow Callahan to the rescue again. I hoped to see her again someday.

Fat droplets began to fall not long after he’d moved our things under the small shelter. I’d wondered about the angle he’d used, but everything was clear when he let his wings out. He shifted around until he was satisfied, and so long as he ducked his head a bit, we could both stay perfectly dry and warm. Even the fire was under enough cover thanks to the end of his wing.

“Your wings have gotten quite the workout today.”

“They’re often very useful.”

“I’m sorry?—”

“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault.” His gaze was unusually stony, his jaw working as he said the words.

“But it is,” I argued. “Or at least it seems like it is.”

“Hailon—”

I held a hand up. “I’m not saying it’s my fault in a way that’s intentional, but it is my fault that some of your talents don’t work right simply because I’m near you.”

Seir shook his head. “You don’t know that for sure. It’s a good theory, but nothing is proven.” He grumbled and changed topic. “How is your leg today? Your stomach?”

I pulled up the hem of my trousers. “Better. See? It’ll be just as it was before you fell down that hill in a few short days.”

He grunted, still unreasonably put out by the bruises I’d taken on for healing him.

“Would you like some tea or are you finished?”

“I’m done.” Tea sounded good, but I was already feeling a bit of heartburn from our innocuous dinner. I wished whatever it was that had my stomach so irritated would go away.

Despite the fact it was he who had run, jumped, and flapped the whole walk, I found myself dozing almost immediately once I pulled my cloak over my shoulders and laid down.

“Hailon, I…” He tapered off, eyes widening when mine met them. “I’ll be back in just a moment,” he said, disappearing into the trees. It was odd behavior, but sometimes nature called.

The sound of the rain tapping on the cloth above my head was soothing, though the storm was quickly turning into a downpour. The fire hissed and popped as the drops did their best to extinguish its warmth. The thunder had picked up, the lightning too.

Seir returned and shuffled under the shelter with me.

“Can I get a bit closer, Moonflower? I don’t want either of us to get wet. It would make for a miserable night and a terrible day tomorrow as well.”

“Okay.”

He met me in the middle, so we both had as much space as possible to the edge of the shelter, but the way the drops were bouncing off the ground we’d both be soaked by morning regardless.

The look in his eyes as they searched mine made me shiver. I could see the desire there, but also the care. He was afraid of overstepping, though he had yet to do so. Not even when he kissed me earlier.

“No untoward intentions?” I asked, voice hushed.

His mouth twitched. “Not tonight.” He opened his arms, and we both scooted closer yet, closing the gap between us altogether. “I…” He clearly had something he wanted to say but was holding back. “Are you warm enough?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” I closed my eyes, forehead resting against his chest. The thump of his heartbeat was strong and steady next to my ear and under the palm of my hand. He added his cloak to the warmth and then… something else. I cracked my eyes, finding it was darker than it had been.

“Rest well, Hailon.” He snuggled his cheek against the top of my head.

“Good night, Seir.”

His tail wrapped around my ankle, like it had back in the ruins, his arm resting over the curve of my hip. It was comfortable. Familiar. The burn in my chest finally eased up. I realized that as impossible as it seemed, I was happy.

Wondering what I was supposed to do with that, I drifted to sleep, lulled by the sound of the rain, safely wrapped up in my demon’s wings.