His laughter finally settled, but the smile remained as he dipped his head. “My name is Kizros.”
Right. She’d seen demons bowing to each other in greeting.
She did her best to mirror the gesture. “Aofe.”
“I know. You’re assigned as my apprentice,” he answered cheerfully, collecting the rest of the papers. He stood, then reached for her hand—presumably to help her up.
“Oh.” She blushed and pointed to the crutch he’d left just out of her reach. “That might be easier.”
Kizros looked confused but knelt to retrieve it for her. He watched with intense focus as she used them to stand, thenlean on them to remain upright. While she was used to being stared at, this demon’s attention made a blush rise to her cheeks. “I… um, these won’t get in the way of my work. I need them, but the potion that knocked us out is still messing with my system.”
Maybe that was why she was still so cold. Not that she had a high tolerance of cold temperatures to begin with.
The green demon bared his teeth, and while it was probably terrifying, Aofe only felt a mild urge to cower. “Disgusting humans.” When Aofe raised a brow, he amended with a panicked, “Not you, of course! You’re very curious.In a good way! I didn’t think humans could be pretty.” He ran a clawed hand through his hair, tail whipping furiously behind him. “I mean, for being so lacking in color.” His gaze caught on her shoulder-length blue hair again. “Not that you lack color. That one is very nice to match your eyes and the jewelry in your face.”
She blinked, cheeks heating enough that she wouldn’t need a cloak if he kept this up.
Kizros seemed to notice his own rambling, or her lack of ability to get a word in, and he swiftly changed topics as he turned away from her. “Anyway, we can be off. I can fill you in on the particulars on our walk—” He stuttered a step, gripping the edge of the door. “Er, ride.”
“Oh, that’s not?—”
Aofe didn’t get to finish the sentence because just down the hall, a giant woman—humanwoman—shrieked and slammed Goldy to the ground with body strengthalone. She snarled at him, then jerked her head up, glaring down the hall toward Aofe and Kizros. There was a split second of calculation, a feral gleam in her eyes like she might go for them next, and then a purple demon collided with her. They tumbled out of view, vicious noises coming from both of them, until Kizros slowly closed the door to muffle their screams.
He turned back to her, wincing. “We’re going to give it a minute before we leave.”
2
WHAT ARE THOSE?
Kizros
What in the blazes had Kizros gotten himself into?
He’dspecificallynot gotten his hopes up. Check on the humans, reverse the protection runes in the bracelets to keep them inside Heck proper, and take some blood samples to ensure there weren’t any lasting sorcery effects. Simple in and out, but what had he done?
Said yes as fast as demonly possible to Argeth when he asked about sponsoring one of the humans.
Was now sitting in a hired cart taking that human back to his shop.
He was only meant to study them from a distance, not essentially adopt one and be responsible for acclimating her to their society. What was he supposed to do with a human?
Fuck, she was interesting, though, even in the written interview questions. Great with numbers, attention to detail, and worked with small tools. Poor handwriting, but it’s not like his was great either. She was perfection on paper.
Then he’d seen her and lost his ability to function. Had made a fool of himself with his flicking tail and complete lack of finesse. But she was surprisingly… pretty. Brave. Bright.
For something without a tail, that is.
But even now, he couldn’t look away. There was her blue hair barely tickling her shoulders, and the way her wide eyes studied the city streets they rode down. There were the dozens of piercings stuck through her rounded ears and one between the nostrils of that tiny, pale peach nose. Her skin might not be the same shade as her hair, but that was another fascinating thing about seeing a human up close. Her skin was dotted with… darker skin?
“What are those?”
Aofe startled, then turned her tri-colored eyes toward him. So odd to see white, blue, and black blinking back at him like a target. “What are… what?”
“On your face.” He glanced below her chin, where the V of her tunic opened slightly. “And there.”
Her skin brightened to a pink, and she pulled the collar of her shirt tighter. “Uh, freckles?”
“Freckles,” Kizros said, cataloging the term in his brain, then focused on the back of her hand as it closed around the fabric. “The runes hurt you.”
