Page 7 of The Veil of Hollow Gods

He stares back and says nothing. Searching for the words, maybe? Is his silence an attempt to control his own emotion?

"What?" I finally snap.

He scans my face, top to bottom, before letting out a slow, whistling breath. "Be you, girl. Only and always."

My brow furrows. "What do you know about m?—"

"I know you’ve thought long and hard about escaping me several times but ultimately decided better of it.

A good choice, I’d say, since you’re ill-equipped to handle the cold on your own and you’ve no idea where I’ve taken you.

That means you’ve chosen to be here, Amara. And that is the key to everything."

He turns and marches forward before I can ask. So, I hurry to catch up, and when I do, blurt out, "What in the Dama’s chains does that mean?"

The demon king stays silent.

"Right. Why would you suddenly start answering any of my questions?"

We travel the rest of the way in silence, and it’s not guards or ghouls or dogs waiting for me.

"By the shattered stars," I whisper at the single, massive horse. Bigger than any horse I’ve ever seen. Its sleek black fur shines in the daylight, all except on the horse’s face. The skin there is white, bare of fur .

"A ghost-faced horse," I whisper and involuntarily step away from the giant creature.

Its shoulders are higher than the demon king’s chin. Its muscles twitch in the cold, cold that I’m just realizing I don’t register, not in my fingers or toes or even my exposed face.

A thick, luxurious black tail swishes impatiently as the king approaches the horse’s hairless face. He smooths a bare hand over its muzzle and nose, and the horse lowers his head, pressing its forehead to the demon king’s.

"Cindermaw, where is your brother?"

The horse chuffs lightly, and the demon king laughs. "You naughty thing."

"You speak to your animals?" I ask, unable to resist.

Both the demon horse and king turn to me. "Of course. How else should I communicate with him?"

I don’t answer his ridiculous question.

With quick grace, the demon king mounts his enormous horse, then extends a hand to me.

I stare at it like it’s a snake rearing back to strike.

"You can’t walk the whole way. You’ll walk the skin off your feet."

"I’m not getting on that thing."

The horse snorts as if I’ve offended him.

"Cindermaw doesn’t take kindly to your tone. I suggest adjusting it."

I shake my head, staring up at the king. "It’s an enormous, unnatural monstrosity! He could throw me off and trample me with hardly a thought."

The horse snorts again.

"He would never. Not unless I asked him to, and then he’d only consider it. "

I fold my arms under the cloak and plant my boots more firmly. "I’m not going anywhere on that thing."

The horse, displeased with my declaration, whinnies, rearing up on its hind legs.

"Whine about it all you like," I say to the giant beast. "You’re terrifying and don’t pretend otherwise."

Quiet laughter from the king. "You make a point, but I give you my word. No harm will come to you while you’re under my charge."

The words find space beneath my skin, and I know that means he’s laced them with his magic.

Is this a bond?

A deal?

Am I about to make a deal with a demon? Mother taught us a great many things about demons, the world as it is, and what it once was.

She taught us everything she had the privilege of learning as the daughter of the richest man in the village—before the Freeze, that is.

Before she and Father burned all our books and dismantled all but one room of our house to keep us warm.

But she never warned against deals with demons, if only because she assumed demons would never deign to do such a thing.

I think over his words. No harm…while you’re under my charge.

"Harm includes death, yes?"

He gives it a moment’s thought. "I’d say it does."

"Maiming, freezing, trampling?"

"All of those, yes."

The horse blows air from his nose. Not quite a snort, but some measure of impatience I’d venture.

I take a breath and ask my next query. "And of course, that extends to my immediate family, yes?"

A grim weight settles in the demon king’s stare, turning his calm into a quiet threat. "I cannot make that bond, Amara. And you know that."

"You can’t fault me for trying."

"Aye, that I cannot." He extends his hand again, and this time I take it.

I’m not entirely sure how, but some combination of strength and magic pulls me off the ground and onto the back of the oversized beast. Astride the animal with no saddle, the demon king reaches behind himself and takes both my arms. He pulls me closer and wraps my arm around his waist. "Do not let go. "

I nod against his silk shirt, warmed by his body and wafting all sorts of sweet and dark fragrances to me.

Without an outward indication from the demon king, his horse bounds forward into a run. I yelp, squeezing the king’s torso as hard as I can just to stay on the damned thing.

"Cindermaw," the demon king murmurs, and the horse settles into a less jarring pace.

It’s like riding a barrel, hard and unyielding and entirely uncomfortable.

"You’re too stiff. Loosen your hips and abdomen. Sink into the rhythm of his canter."

"If I loosen, I’ll fall off."

"I’ve already promised you that won’t happen. Now do as I say, Amara." The harshness of my name in that tone doesn’t sit well with me.

"How exactly do you know my name?"

The muscles in his back tense ever so slightly at my question, but he answers all the same.

"I probed your mind for it as you slept."

Something molten coils in me, old as ruin, and those teeth and claws that I haven’t felt since he first appeared make themselves known, scraping against the underside of my skin.

Did he know?

No.

He couldn’t.

If he knew it wasn’t my garden but Vella’s, he wouldn’t have kept me. Right?

"You invaded my mind?"

"It’s not something I do often, but I assumed you like it even less if I woke you with any other means."

"Explain yourself."

He doesn’t tense under me. He simply answers. "The magic I used to make you sleep is old, deep magic. I needed your name to break the hold it had on you."

I sense no lie in his words or body.

"And what else did you discover while rooting around my mind?"

He scoffs. "I’d hardly call what I did ’rooting around,’ but if you must know, I only slipped in long enough to uncover your first name. Nothing more."

As unlikely as that is, I have no choice but to take him at his word. Not that it truly matters as long as he didn’t discover Vella’s secret.

"Never do that without my permission again. Am I clear?"

"As a perfectly cloudless sky."

"Well, that’s a ridiculous metaphor," I say as the horse jumps over a large tree fallen across the path.

"Is it?"

I nod against his back. "Of course. Who’s ever seen the sky without the haze of impending snow?" The moment the words are out, it occurs to me. "Never mind. That’s a strictly human problem, I suppose."

"Yes, I suppose it is," he says, a shade too lightly.