“Care to explain any of that?”Saer grouched and sat again, this time tearing the offensive cloak off his body and hurling it away.
“No,” Kalia answered in a sullen tone.
Saer stood and brushed off his otherwise weather-worn clothes.“Okay.Then tell me what I need to know so I can leave you to your praying.”He spoke the last word with mockery.
The youngest of theDaemoenicaturned to glare daggers at Saer over her shoulder.“Yes, ridiculing me for doing my job better than you have in the last century is a sure way to get me to cooperate.”
The urge to strangle Kalia grew stronger with each passing second.Pride flexed his fingers, cracked a few of the knuckles, and glared until she huffed and turned her gaze away.“My patience is not infinite—” he began.
“Understatement of the eon.”
“Hellsfire, Kaliaspher, can you not keep your mouth shut for two seconds?”he shouted.
Parting her lips to respond, Sloth thought better of it and closed them instead, eyes fixed on the floor.She remained standing in the calefactory’s entryway.
Saer lowered his voice and tried again.“I’m not here to harm you.I just want to talk.”
He hadn’t resorted to violence so far into their interaction—Kalia had no reason to disbelieve him.In fact, she seemed somewhat surprised at the level of tolerance Saer displayed.Perhaps that, more than anything, had her nodding her head.“Alright, Saer.Let’s talk.”
34
Slothdraggedouttheempty chair and plopped into it.She pulled an ankle across the opposite knee, leaning over and untying one of her slippers.“Have a seat anywhere.”
The other chair had books stacked high atop it.
The bed was a tangled mess of linens which looked to have been ignored and unmade since Kalia started living in the warming room.
“I’ll...stand.”
The demoness made a have-it-your-way gesture with her hand.“Then ask your questions so you can get out of here before the light is gone.”
“Why are we on a time limit?”
Kalia rolled her eyes upward with a dramatic flair.“What.Do.You.Want?”
Grimacing, Saer crossed his arms.
The eldest and the youngest.
The First and the Seventh.
Biggest brother, littlest sister.
“I want Errshek’s location.”
Kalia only nodded.“Yeah.”She sighed and refocused on her slipper, pulling it off her foot and muttering more to herself than Saer, “Yeah, I thought that was probably what this was about.”
So, Errshek had visited her, too.
Saer’s nostrils flared.Every one of his kin heard Envy’s recounting of events, rather than Saer’s.Hellsfire, it rankled him.
“Do you know where he is?”
“Do you even care that she’s dead, Saer?”
She spoke the question with such quiet resentment that Pride convinced himself he must have misheard, or at least misunderstood.Arms lowering to his sides with deliberate slowness, he stared at the top of Kalia’s head where she sat frozen, refusing to look at him.His voice came strained and hushed in turn.“Explain yourself, and quickly.”
“Threats, always threats!”Kalia’s outburst echoed in the stony chamber.She ripped her other slipper off and threw it on the ground to punctuate her frustration.“Rage, ultimatums, punishment,murder.”Snapping out the last word, she bared her teeth when she lifted her head to meet Saer’s seething glare, then retreated inwardly.Even so, she managed to finish in a disparaging tone.“Neyu is dead, and you’re more interested in ending Errshek than acknowledging her absence.”
