Merrill was a goblin who ran a store similar to Gary’s, only he specialized in locating weapons, herbs, and spells from other realms. The two store owners had a begrudging respect for each other, even though they were competitors, and had struck up an unlikely friendship.
Cil gave Zip wide eyes and I squinted at them.
“What?”
“We’re not meant to hang out at Merrill’s without dad,” he admitted. “We told dad we were visiting our friend Kir.”
Lying to their dad. They’d started young. “Why doesn’t your dad like you visiting Merrill alone?”
“He says he has dangerous stuff in his store. But Merrill makes sure we don’t play with anything that could hurt us.”
I made a mental note to talk to Merrill.
“Okay, so you guys went to Merrill’s. Then what happened?”
The boys shared a look. “Dad had to work most of the weekend,” Zip said.
“He’s always working,” Cil frowned. “But he took us to the park again on… Saturday? And then he had a business meeting on Sunday, so he said we had to go and entertain ourselves.”
I narrowed my eyes at them. “You went back to Merrill’s, didn’t you?”
They both nodded solemnly. “Merrill is fun,” Zip said. “He lets us play in his stock room. It’s huge.”
The boys took me through the rest of their week, but nothing stuck out to me. “Does your dad have a calendar or a notebook where he writes down his meetings?” I hadn’t seen one when I poked through his store.
“Yeah,” Zip said. “It’s usually in his pocket.”
In that case, I needed to get back to the hospital and see if it was found on Gary when he was taken in. Then I’d go home, throw on a dress, and get back in time for Samael’s ball.
The door to the balcony opened and the demon himself strode into the room. Samael looked distracted, clearly lost in thought until his eyes narrowed on me, taking in my ripped jeans, utility belt, and t-shirt.
“You don’t look ready for the ball.”
“Cinderella has been busy. What time does it start?”
“Seven.”
“Surely a hedonist like you wasn’t intending to be on time?”
He gave me a slow smile. “I have a dress for you.”
“Uh-uh. I have my own clothes.”
“You agreed to go as my date. My dates wear what I choose for them.”
“Do they?” I crossed my arms. “Do they really?”
Evie let out a choked laugh and I gave her a look. The boys were staring at us wide-eyed, clearly entertained. I ground my teeth. “I’ll see you guys later. Samael, we’ll talk about this elsewhere.”
“As you wish.” He held his arm out for me and I ignored that, stalking past him and into the elevator. I pressed the button for the lobby. He stepped inside and glanced at the buttons. The light behind the G disappeared and reappeared around the button for his penthouse. I scowled at him.
“Grant me this favor,” he crooned, and I shook my head as the doors opened and I was once again in his territory.
Of course, this entire fucking city was his territory.
“I don’t think so.” A thought occurred to me. “How about we make a bargain.”
His eyes turned feral. The demon did so enjoy his bargains. “What kind of bargain?”
