His friend whipped his gaze back. “Oh, fuck. You think so too.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Your tail did.”
“Tails don’t speak.”
Laz clicked his tongue. “It went allthumpy-thump. That’s tail-speak forI saw her first.”
Dav glared.
“Come on,” the red demon whined. “You never look that long at someone unless you’re interested, and it’s beenforeversince you got laid.”
“She’s human.”
“So?”
It was just a single word, but it stumped him. So? So what if she was human? That was part of why he was staring, but not the whole truth. That was far too terrifying for him to admit aloud—or at least in Laz’s presence. But shewasa human who had been brought here against her will. Trapped in the demon realm trying to start a new life. Abetterone than the one she escaped.
And he was just a gray demon with no magic and nothing to offer.
“Look, she’s alone now. Go talk to her.”
Dav shook his head. “I’m just getting a drink.”
This time his feet actually moved, but Laz was right on his heels, crowding him so he had no choice but to walktowardthe human.
“You promised no sads.”
“I’m not sad. That’s just my face.” He bumped his shoulder against Laz, the demon surprisingly unwavering for never getting any more exercise than running his mouth and moving sugar and flour. “Stop this. What are you doing?”
“Fix it before she sees.”
“Fix my face?”
“Ow, stop whipping me with your—hello!”
Dav pulled up short, spine going rigid as the human looked up at them with wide eyes.
Beautiful. It wasn’t a strong enough word for the creature who didn’t cower or look at all terrified tosuddenly have two giant demons standing in front of her. He was right about earlier. A glimpse hadn’t been enough, because seeing the entire softness of her cheeks and the tiny top underneath the gauzy outer layer was almost more than he could handle.
“Hello,” she answered, a small smile ticking at the corners of her lips as her cheeks turned red. Her russet eyes flicked to him next. “Hi.”
“This is Davarox,” Laz said quickly, arm draping over Dav’s shoulder. “And I’m Lazerath.”
“Rosalind,” she offered. “Sorry, I’m sitting in your seat, aren’t I?” She turned to grab her drink. “I’ll move, no worries.”
“Wait, what?” Laz blurted, hurrying to stop her. “No, no. We aren’t…”
She retreated from his flailing arms, and Dav quickly pulled his friend back a step. “We aren’t kicking you out. You’re free to sit wherever you want,” he reassured her. “We were just…”
“Saying hello,” Laz finished. “Badly, apparently. Sorry, it’s his face.”
Dav shot him an affronted look. “What the fuck?”
“He has the sads,” Laz continued, ignoring him. “My twin has the sads—he’s the one who rescued you from the slavers, but he got hurt and now he’s watching over one of the other humans in his house—so I got the sads seeing him sad, and then Dav caught the sads from me, though he kind of always has them, and?—”
“Laz,” Dav warned, shaking his head.
