PROLOGUE
WE ALL PROCESS THE DEMON REALM DIFFERENTLY
Rosalind
Demons. That’s what they were.
Rosalind’s heart hammered in her chest, crawling up her throat as the panic threatened to steal her mind away completely.
“It’s okay, my little flower,” her mother whispered, soothing her hand over Rose’s shoulders as she held her close. “Your heart just has so much love, sometimes it gets overexcited.”
It hadn’t felt like love or excitement when Rosalind opened her eyes to find a female with yellow skin and horns peering down at her. Nor when the presence of other brightly colored human-but-not figures scrambled closer with varying degrees of surprise thatone of the humanswas finally awake.
Panic froze her limbs, rooting her to the spot even as the pain in her chest made her want to scramble away and hide. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think with them pressing in.
The yellow demon’s voice was both a balm and a source of terror. Words were spoken, in a language Rosalind understood—orders to back up, leave the room, go bother some other healer—but the shock was enough to snap Rosalind back under control.
She curled her fingers into the bed, felt the softness of the blankets and the ache of her body. Grounded herself so she could make sense of the fear.
The trial. Her throat raw from arguing and getting nowhere. The late night trying to find a workaround to what never should have been a hopeless case, and the odd noise outside her office. She’d gone to investigate, and then… hands. Squeezing, muffling, jerking.
She’d been stolen from her workplace, thrown into a slaver’s cart, and now found herself surrounded by beings who seemed to be helping her instead of what humans always believed of the so-calledmonsters.
When the yellow demon approached again, Rosalind’s breathing was at least rhythmic, though her heart still rose to her throat as she took in the larger than usual female. Peaceful on the edges despite the horns and tail flicking behind her in the now empty room.
“I’m sorry for the rude awakening,” she said, hands clasped at her front. “My name is Balran. I’m the healer in our city. You were rescued from?—”
“Slavers, yes,” Rosalind answered, cataloguing the way the demon’s entirely black eyes widened with surprise. “The other women. There were six of us.”
Balran nodded, hesitant though not reluctant to answer. “They are safe. Still monitored and sedated—safely—as we treat their injuries. Yours were the least severe, so we thought it best to wake you slowly to get a better understanding of what might have happened.”
That eased Rosalind’s racing heart a fraction, and she took a moment to breathe in through her nose and out through her mouth. The demon was patient, shoulders softening the longer Rosalind took to gather her thoughts.
Finally, she rolled her shoulders. “Where is…here?”
Rosalind knew the answer, though Balran’s response wasn’t exactly the term she expected.
“You are in Heck, though I believe the humans call it Achreos Barrens. Due to the state you and the others were found in, the scout determined bringing you to our city was… the best course of action.”
“So everyone here is like you?” The female’s chin dipped, but Rose could sense an uneasiness in the simple gesture. “And us being here has caused trouble?”
Balran’s gaze darted toward the door—how Rosalind could see such action in eyes with no irises, she didn’t know. “It will be… a ruffle in our peace.”
Rosalind didn’t need the demon to elaborate when her choice of words was enough.
No one who ever went into theforest came out.
They were here to stay.
Luckily, alive.
She wiggled to sit up in bed. “What can I do to help?”
The yellow demon frowned. “Perhaps you should rest…”
“Rosalind,” she supplied.
“You’ve only just expelled the sorcery from your system, and it would be best to monitor your heart rate after?—”
