“Take me back to the labyrinth.”
“Rayven—”
“You fucking promised! You had your fun. Now, just take me back.” My eyes started to leak bitter tears. “Please.”
His shoulders fell, that secondary mask snapping into place. “Fine. You’ll find a change of clothes in the armoire. Something that will be more to your taste.”
He began to pull his clothes back on as I stomped to the large wardrobe in the corner of the room. My heart clenched at what I found hanging inside.
A long sleeve turtleneck, thick enough to keep me warm outside, with a little heart cut out in the chest to show a peak of my cleavage There was a pleated canvas mini-skirt with leggings to go underneath, and my boots.
The best part was that it was all black.
“You didn’t have to do this,” I forced out as I pulled the clothes on, unable to turn and look him in the eye.
“Do what? Give you clothes?” He said with a scoff. “Fine. Wander around naked. You won’t get any complaints from me.”
When I was fully dressed, I whipped around to glare at him. “Giving me clothes I’ve been begging for since the second I got here.Blackclothes, because I feel comfortable in them. You know that. It’s just like with the book. You go out of your way to make me feel comfortable, and safe, andloved. Then you go and do something shitty.”
He was shirtless still, with only his pants on, and he was still cinching up the laces when he stormed across the room. “I told you, I’m not a good person. You like pain, good. That’s what I can bring you. That’s what I’m good at. As a demon I’m fascinated with your human emotions. They’re like ghosts to me. Whispers of distant memories I can never hope to remember. And seeing you react to them. Seeing you cry. Seeing you blush and heat. Seeing you scream and yell. It’s all beautiful to me.”
He finished lacing up his pants and dropped to a crouch, setting to lace up my boots.
I stared down at him, a complicated ball of emotions I couldn’t even begin to untangle lodging in my throat.
I swear, these demons and their obsession with making mefeel… They’d be the end of me if I didn’t get out of here.
“Take me back, Belial. I want to go home.”
He stood to his full height, glaring down at me through the holes in his mask. “And what’s waiting for you there?”
Fucking nothing. Except for a normal life away from evil demon lords and their bipolar sidekicks.
When I said nothing, he expelled a conceding sigh and held his hand out for me to take. I stared at him, noting that he’d left the gloves…and his shirt.
He wanted me to stay.Didn’t he?The ferryman had mentioned in bed last night that he wanted to tie me up and use me for all eternity. I’d chalked that up to dirty talk.
Maybe he was trying to tempt me to stay. It was a ludicrous thought, a fantasy that could never be reality. The Lord of Bones wouldn’t allow it.
If anything, leaving him would keep him safe from his Lord’s wrath.
Magic exploded around us, and when it fizzled away, we were left standing exactly where he’d plucked me out of the labyrinth last night. Just as he’d promised.
I wrenched my hand out of his and turned my back to him, scanning the network of hedges that seemed to go on forever. “Just point me in the right direction and you can go.”
Silence settled between us. I spun around to face him, waiting for him to answer. He just stood in the middle of the path, stoic, shirtless, and beautiful, with his black hair and silver chains rustling in the faint breeze. “I’m not telling you.”
I glared. “Why not?”
“That wasn’t our deal, was it? I promised to give you a bath, a bed to sleep in, a meal. I gave you a few more things I didn’t have to, so you’re welcome. And I got what I wanted, so our transaction is complete.”
“Transaction?”I walked toward him, my insides burning with rage. “Is that what this was to you?”
His jaw set. “No. But clearly that’s all it was to you. So we can be done here. If that’s what you want.”
What I want.If he only knew what I wanted. Hell, if only I knew what I wanted.
Maybe I did know. And maybe I was just too scared to admit it.
