Oh, no. Looked like it was anotheroh shitmoment. Two words that immediately made my stomach drop another inch. So instead of cowering, I straightened slightly.
“Yes. My friend.” The pause that followed was…telling.
“You seem remarkably comfortable forming attachments to demons,” Oblivion said slowly, and it wasn’t a compliment… not even close.
I stared at him a heartbeat longer before telling him,
“Boruta is not exactly the nightmare creature you make him out to be.”
“Boruta,” he repeated, and the way he said the name sounded less like he was acknowledging it and more like he was tasting something unpleasant. Something demonically sour.
“He is a Kobalos demon,” he stated as if this would mean something to me.
“O… kay?” I said slowly, shrugging like it were no big deal. Although when his expression hardened, I knew that he was about to make it one.
“Kobalos are a lesser race of demons, distantly related to Ukobach demons. Both species make up a considerable portion of Hell’s workforce.”
I blinked and then blinked again. Neither one helped.
“Your workforce?” I repeated, as if trying to make sense of why this should mean anything.
“Ukobachs are usually confined to the lower infrastructure of the Underworld,” he continued calmly, as though explaining the most obvious thing in existence.
“Boiler chambers, furnace halls, mechanical labor that maintains the deeper regions of Hell. Kobalos demons operate above ground more frequently, though their function is much the same.” Something about the way he said it made my jaw tighten.
“You’re describing them like office interns,” I accused with a slight shake of my head, telling him I was getting insulted on Bo’s behalf.
“They are not meant for the human realm,” he informed me after his eyes narrowed faintly.
“Neither are you,” I pointed out before I thought twice about it. Although the slight tick in his jaw told me I had gone too far. Especially when he took a step closer and informed me,
“But that is where you are wrong, Miss Shadowmere.”
I gulped at that, recognizing the formality in my last name for what it was… a demonic lord putting me in my mortal place.
A beat of silence followed, and I opened my mouth ready to argue when he took yet another step closer, as clearly, he wasn’t finished.
“I am here because I was elected to be here, to rule over my sector and cast my law and judgment over all supernatural life that lives among you.”
“I…”
He held up his hand to stop and stated,
“I am not finished.”
My mouth wisely snapped shut at that, having no choice but to listen to what sounded very much like a new law being made.
“And everything connected to you is very much my business… including any unsavory friends made that I deem unworthy.”
My pulse skipped and I knew the words should have sounded threatening. They certainly sounded possessive. But there was something else threaded through them, too. Something heavier, something that made the air between us feel tighter than it had any right to. But no matter what it was, this unseen thing building between us, I wouldn’t be who I was if I let him just walk all over me like that.
“You don’t own me!” I snapped, but instead of looking angry or annoyed, he did the opposite of what I expected him to do.
He cut the final space between us and gripped my chin between his thick, long fingers. The pressure left little choice but to look up at him, forcing my gaze to meet his as he said with quiet confidence…
“Don’t I?”
4
