“If he does, we’ll deal with it. Ordinary does not involve itself in the matters of demons, unless said demons are residents of our town. You still haven’t told Xtelle why you’re here. If you want to stay in Ordinary, tell her everything.”
“If I want…you’d let me stay?”
Jean groaned a little. “Wow. You really weren’t listening were you?”
“If,” I said, “you sign the contract and tell Xtelle the whole truth, then yes.”
“Whole truth?” Xtelle turned to face me, her big round butt toward the cell. “What did he say about me? Because if he’s talking about the donkey and the pudding factory, I was not there.”
I ignored her. “Stop stalling, Amy, or I’m throwing you out.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. So did Jean, Myra, Ryder, and Than. I had to bite the inside of my cheek not to laugh. Avnas was totally getting Ordinary’s version of the Care Bare Stare.
Amy cleared his throat and squared his shoulders. “My Queen.” He bowed, and you better believe she trotted a sharp circle to face him.
“This is the whole truth. I came to Ordinary to leverage Delaney Reed’s soul. For you.”
She lifted her nose and looked down it. “I don’t want her soul. It’s so…sticky and righteous.”
He shot me a look. I just shook my head and pointed at Xtelle.
“There’s more,” he croaked. “I wanted, still want, the contract between you and the King of the Underworld to be broken. But I also…I also care…of course, you understand I’ve been a part of your court for many years, how could I not? Care. For you.”
He looked like he was about to pass out. His voice had gone all thready and his breathing was choppy.
Did demons have panic attacks? I was pretty sure demons didn’t have panic attacks.
“You care.” Xtelle strolled forward, homing in on him like an apex predator. “Why?” Her eyes were narrowed, and her nostrils flared. If she’d been in human form, she’d have had a fist cocked and ready to swing.
“Because…I…you…because you are…everything. I lo…long to see you free. From him. Your…um…fire burns bright. And you should choose…find…decide the lov…level of…life. Yes, the life of happiness you seek.”
Worst speech ever.
But somehow, Xtelle was impressed.
“My fire burns bright?” she cooed. “How…poetic, Avnas. I’ve never seen this side of you.” She batted her long eyelashes, and bent her knee so her hips cocked.
Pan decided to push his way into the conversation, crowding the space between them. “Poetic for someone stuck behind bars and ordered to tell the truth a dozen times before he got…poetic. That little monologue was straight from the heart, I’m sure.”
“Demons don’t have hearts,” Avnas and Xtelle said automatically.
Xtelle giggled and dipped her head coyly, looking up at Avnas through her eyelashes.
Avnas smiled, and it was a wicked, handsome thing.
Pan narrowed his goat eyes and lifted his head into pre-ramming position.
Oh, dear gods. A farmyard love triangle was the last thing I needed to deal with.
“No ramming the cell,” I said.
Pan didn’t step back, but he rocked so all his weight was on his haunches. “I wasn’t going to ram the cell. I was going to ram him.”
“No ramming at all,” I ordered.
He grumbled, but lowered his head and squished up even closer to Xtelle. But she had, amazingly, forgotten him for the moment.
“You were forcing Delaney to break the contract between the king and I?” Xtelle asked, in that flirty voice that made Pan’s ears flatten and his lip curl. “How veryforwardof you.”
