He frowned. “Where are you going?”
“Just—a nighttime stroll.” I took a few steps. “Maybe you want to come with me?”
For a moment I didn’t think he’d fall for it, but then he flowed to his feet and followed me over the room’s threshold and into the hall. I backed up to the stairwell. He took another step too, and another. Wow. Okay, this was working. I smiled, tentative relief growing, and he began to smile back.
Then I lurched forward and past him in a mad dash toward my rooms. I slammed the door so hard the clap reverberated up my arms and in my ears.
But I’d done it, the demon’s surprised expression etched into my mind.
Letting out short, fast breaths of relief, I turned the lock. It’d worked. I’d vanquished a demon.
I turned around and saw the demon sitting on the couch.
My mouth dropped open. “You’re kidding me.”
He looked irritated. “That was also rude.”
“It wasn’t—” I swallowed my words. I wasn’t getting into a fight about courtesy. “Look. I’m sure I’m very—flattered—by your attention, but there’s been a misunderstanding. You’re not my betrothed. I don’t want a betrothed! Like, thank you for coming out here, I appreciate you taking the time, but if you could just…go, that’d be great.”
His tone and expression were perfectly pleasant, as though this was a normal situation. “Wearebetrothed.”
Surely this demon didn’tactuallythink we were engaged?
Okay. If there was a demon in my rooms who wouldn’t leave,Ineeded to leave. I could go to Madame Hadar, the guardienne. If she didn’t know banishment spells, she should at least know who to contact. I wouldn’t be thrilled to approach her—her nephew had asked me out, and admitting I’d lied about a demon betrothed wouldn’t look great—but needs must.
Or maybe Gilli and Jelan were home by now. I wasn’t used to asking others for help—I was used to being the oldest sister, the one in charge—but this problem was too big for me alone.
I headed back to the door.
“I’m not following you this time.” He sounded worried and sulky, and his arms crossed tightly over his chest.
“Fine.” I felt a little better, a little more in control. It was hard to fear a pouting boy, no matter his species. “But I know better than to stay in my rooms with a demon.” I grabbed my keys and headed out.
Sure enough, the demon Daziel followed, scowling as I knocked on Gilli’s door. “Why are you—”
It swung open. A petite, pretty girl stood there in white loungewear. She’d threaded ribbons through her pigtails and tied them in a bow at the top of her head.
“Naomi, hi,” Gilli said with a sweet smile. When we’d first met during move-in, I thought her earnestness might grate on me, but she turned out to be inescapably endearing. “What’s up? Want to come in?”
“Thanks.” I felt an awkward shyness. Though I liked Gilli and Jelan, we’d only known each other a month, and we hadn’t spent as much time together as me and Leah; mostly, we were either in separate duos or a group. “I’m having a bit of a night.”
Inside, Jelan sat in an armchair. She wore half her hair shaved and the rest kept in a tight coiled braid. I’d only ever seen her in black, save her red School of Engineering blazer. While Gilli’s family seemed to have some money—her mother was a navigator, a coveted position aboard ships—I suspected Jelan needed every last bit of her scholarship.
“What’s going—” Gilli began, then froze, gaping.
“Hello,” Daziel said.
Gilli shrieked. Jelan grabbed a protective bowl from the bookcase. Speaking in a low, steady tone, she began turning it up and over, as though capturing something inside.
“This is Daziel,” I said.
“I’m Naomi’s betrothed,” Daziel said brightly.
“What?” Gilli said, which was a fair reaction, because it was also mine. Then her face transformed, like a theatergoer’s when the farm boy was revealed to be the prince. “Oh my god. Yourdemon betrothed.”
Jelan hesitated in her casting.
“He’s not,” I protested. “You guys know it’s a fake excuse.”
