“Neyu,” Saer said.
“I had them, I felt their dedication,” she went on, switching to pace the other way.
“Neyu.”
She snapped to face him.“What?”
Saer stood and went to her.Raising a hand, he brushed her hair back into place, letting the side of his thumb trail along her cheek.Neyu released a shuddering breath and shut her eyes.“Kalia will be back soon.”They’d remained careful through the weeks to keep the intensity of their relationship a secret from her, lest she take any extra information to Lucifer.
“Shhh.”Saer leaned forward and whispered across Neyu’s mouth, “You need to calm yourself.You’ll give us away.”
Neyu nodded, a stilted and anxiety-ridden motion.“I know.”She dug her fingers into his shirt.“It will happen tonight, yes?Wehavethem.”
“That’s what Kaliaspher has stayed behind to find out.”
“What if—”
Saer cut Neyu off with another kiss, gentle but firm.The demoness resisted, but then leaned into the comfort of it, allowing the moment of much-needed peace.Upon breaking away, she sighed against his mouth.“What if they don’t choose us?”
Saer leaned back to tap the bottom of her chin with a fingertip.“Needing reassurance does not become the first lady of the Hells.”
Neyu swatted his hand away.Whatever retort she had at the ready died on her lips when Kalia burst into the shelter with a gust of the approaching storm.
“They’re coming.”Breathless, Kalia leaned half over, clutching her side.
Saer jerked his head towards the shelter’s door at the sound of the first angry shout, still far away, but audible.Several others lifted up with the storm’s wind—a rallying cry.
“What’s wrong?”Neyu crossed the room and took hold of Kalia’s arm.
She gasped for more breaths and shook her head.
“Talk to me,” Neyu pressed.
Ahraan rushed through the open doorway and stood just inside the frame, glancing at the women, then locking on Saer.He dressed in linens as the rest of them, but the hood fell back from his face, leaving metallic-hued eyes and golden-tinted skin clear to see.Tension rose from waist-deep to choking.
“Saer.”
“Ahraan,” Saer replied, his tone gravelly with contempt.
The man took the acknowledgement as an invitation and stepped towards Neyu and Kalia.Baring his teeth, Saer stepped in Ahraan’s path.
“They are...coming to kill you…Neyu,” Kalia said, still breathless.
“What?”Neyu addressed Sloth first, then turned to the two men in the room.“What?”
“Neyu,” Ahraan said.
Saer growled at the other man and Ahraan held up his hands, entreating, “We don’t have much time.Neyu, they come for you by mutual consent between the two factions of this settlement.Saer’s followers believe you’ll live regardless of what they do to you.Mine trust you’ll die without blood to sustain you.”
“Without blood to sustain me,” Neyu repeated blandly, blinking.
Hands balled into fists, Saer glared at Ahraan.“Why Neyu?”
A flash of discomfort crossed the silent man’s face.Saer snapped his attention to Kalia.“Why her?”If he could get them to focus their attention on him…
Kalia shifted on her feet, just as uncomfortable.“They’ve seen her with both of you…” Her voice faded as she drew her bottom lip between her teeth, gaze darting between Saer and Ahraan.
Both of us.Saer’s mind whirred, jealousy threatening, yet he knew what they’d seen.Neyu on his arm, Neyu on Ahraan’s arm, her charm and her laughter, her swaying hips and her demure glances under thick eyelashes.I can’t help what I am—my components, my sin—any more than you.
