Itried to sit up, but my body refused to obey. Even opening my eyes was impossible; my lids were heavy and limp as lead. With nothing else left, I strained to listen to the muffled voices around me, but it was like my head was submerged underwater.
I groaned, my head throbbing.
“I know you’re a girl,”a familiar gruff voice said,“but you’ve got some balls on you. Don’t ya?”
Even half-conscious, I knew that voice. Gorrath.
I couldn’t see him, but I sensed him the way you feel someone standing too close behind you—the prickling at your neck, the weight of their breath. It was the same uneasy feeling I’d had that night alone in our room, the night I discovered what the horn could do.And again in the circle.I squeezed my eyes tighter, mortified. The horn. Bastien’s hands. The way the demon had?—
“If you keep disobeying Bastien’s orders and firing spells at werewolves twice your size, I’m going to start liking you. And that was not partof the plan.”
Despite everything, despite my throbbing head and the fact that I couldn’t lift my own hands, I huffed out, “Sorry to ruin your plans.”
The demon laughed.“I can see why he likes you. You’ve got spunk.”
I ignored him. Around me, the real world grew a little more real. Hands slid under my back, and my body tilted like someone was carrying me. The slow, swaying sensation of being carried made my stomach roll. I tried to force my eyes open and say Bastien’s name.
“Easy,” Gorrath urged. “Stop fighting it.”
“Have to—” My tongue felt too big for my mouth. “Bastien?—”
The demon laughed, loud and crass.“Hate to break it to you, love. But you’re not waking up for a while.”
I frowned. Even thinking hurt. “Am I unconscious? Is that what’s happened?”
“Yes and no.”
Sighing inwardly, I asked,“Are you going to tell me more? Or are you sticking with vague responses?”
A pause. “I don’t know. Can you stop blushing every time you think about my horn?”
A fresh wave of embarrassment washed over me.“Never mind. Just let me be unconscious in peace.”
“You have nothing to be ashamed of,”he went on. “When my magick chose you in that graveyard, a piece of me bonded with your soul. After what we did in that circle, you can’t get rid of me. I’m part of you now. So playing with my horn is basically playing with yourself.”
“That is not how that works,” I muttered. “You’re not just inside me. You have your own body.”
“Stop disagreeing with me,” he shot back, clearly amused. “I’m starting to like it.”
I tried to roll away from him out of pure spite and remembered I couldn’t even feel my own legs. Nor could I escape a creature who was literally inside my head.
Scoffing, I asked,“How did Bastien stand you? You’re disgusting.”
“It’s part of my charm.”
I said nothing, wondering if five hundred years ago he was less annoying. Thankfully, Gorrath fell quiet, and in the silence, warmth began to spread through my chest. A gentle heat that made me relax into whoever was carrying me. Bastien, I hoped.
The demon, unable to stand a little peace and quiet, started talking again.“As your new demon, it’s my job to teach you the rules of being a living relic. The most important one, which you have learned the hard way, is that you can only hold so much of my power at one time.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because if you had endless power, you wouldn’t be a witch. You’d be a demon. And trust me, you don’t want the paperwork that comes with that.”
Despite myself, I smiled.“So I used all of it?”
“You burned through every drop like a drunk sailor with a purse full of coin.”
“And now?”
