“Then you’ll like me a whole lot less when I tell you we’re done working for today.”
“But—”
“And I’m taking you out tonight.”
Rose tripped. “Taking… what?”
“Please tell me you’ve gone to a tavern before.” Curiosity quickly morphed into horror. “Oh my gods, have you ever been on adate?”
“I’ve been on dates!” Rosalind protested, whichdefinitely sounded like shehadn’tbeen on any, and her racing heart from nerves didn’t help either. “So many dates. Lots of dates.”
That sounded even worse.
“Dates with a ledger don’t count,” the blue demon teased. “You need some fun for once in your life. Real fun that doesn’t involve numbers.” They cocked their head, looking her up and down. “Well, actually, I shouldn’t rule that out.”
Rosalind’s cheeks burned, a tiny kernel of fear rooting itself in her belly. “Would… how does that even work?”
Mozke eyed her with a new kind of uncertainty. “Are we talking… females? Males? Neither or both or?—”
“Gods, I know what sex is, Mozke,” she hissed, offering a polite smile to a passing demon who was absolutely judging her. “I meant, like… are humans and demons even compatible?”
They sighed, relief softening their shoulders. “Can’t imagine why not. We procreate, perhaps not quite at the same frequency as humans, but the parts are all… close enough. Don’t ask me how I learned. I know a demon who likes rare books.”
Great, now Rosalind was going to have to worry about a contraceptive for the other women. She didn’t have the slightest clue on what ingredients were needed, let alone how to properly combine them. And she didn’t want to ask Aofe when the woman was probably dealing with her own list of tasks.
Then she frowned. “Wait, what do you meanclose enough?”
Which was a question she absolutely should not have asked while they were still walking in public because Mozke was more than willing to go into detail about some of their male partners and what Rosalind might expect should a demon ever interest her. At least the more elaborate descriptions happened once they were home, and Mozke was too busy digging through their closet so they couldn’t see how red Rose’s cheeks were getting.
“It locks inside?” Rosalind gasped, hugging her knees as Mozke inspected each outfit twice before moving on to the next.
“Oh, yeah. Knots are, like, top three for me.” They pulled out a mesh silver top, held it up in the air toward Rose, then shook their head and put it back.
“What about females?”
They paused, looking over their shoulder. “Can they get you pregnant? Oh, Rose, sweetie. No. That’s not how reproduction works. I thought we were getting there with the knots and the locking seed inside?—”
She grabbed a pillow and chucked it at them.
When their laughter finally died out, they leaned against the closet door and shook their head. “Pleasure points are inside, so you’ll have to be a little more creative with your hands. Or use some outside assistance. If you go home with someone, they’ll definitely have some things to try.”
Rosalind scoffed, still unsettled howMozke knew so much about human anatomy. “I am absolutely not going home with someone.”
“Not with that attitude.”
“Mozke!”
“What?” They gestured at her. “You’re objectively beautiful, even without a tail. And you deserve at least one night of unrestrained fun after all you’ve been doing for the other humans. They’ll still be there tomorrow morning.”
“You do realize two of them are the equivalent of a caged, feral raccoon.”
“The fuck is a raccoon?”
“If I don’t worry about them, who will?”
Mozke set down the bright pink shirt they were holding, coming to join her on the bed. They wrapped an arm over her shoulders. “Then who worries about you?”
Rose opened and closed her mouth.
