Rosalind pulled it open and stepped inside the last place she’d ever guess.
Sultry music echoed in the dimly lit space, murmurs of conversations hitting her ears but indecipherable. All she could see was the hint of colored demonlight beyond a dark curtain and a demon hunched over the counter separating their room from the one beyond.
“Welcome to Temptation,” they said, lifting their chin. The quill in their hand dropped, their eyes widening. “Oh, fuck.”
They stretched to full height, a stunning display of long and thin limbs. Much taller than Laz, but their skin was a deeper green than Kizros’s, like the moss that could be found in a human forest. That was also anapt description, because the color was only in small patches across their skin—over one eye and cheek, their arms, and a small sliver of skin at their neck—while the rest was gray. Their hair was so dark, almost a deep green or black, except for a small patch of white behind horns that looked like smaller versions of a human-realm buck.
Rosalind was staring, probably for too long to be appropriate considering the gray demon was now squirming in their stance, giving wary glances toward the curtain.
Then, with a warbled voice, they said, “You’re in the wrong place.”
She snapped her attention back to the demon’s face, brow pinching at the way they’d pitched their voice.
“Did you just… pretend to be a ghost?”
They cocked their head. “What’s a—” Immediately they straightened and tried again. “I mean, yes! I am a whatever you just said.” Catching her unamused glare, their shoulders sank and they returned to a level pitch. “Alright, whatever. But you can’t be here.”
“Why not?”
What she really wanted to say was that she had no idea whereherereally was. Temptation, they’d said, but she didn’t know a business under that name. Which might have just proved her point that Dav was participating in some illegal bakery dealings.
The green and gray demon gestured to her. “Well, for one, the rune doesn’t disguise you.”
“What rune?”
“The one at the entran—” they said, before snapping their mouth shut. “Oh, shit, I said too much again.”
Rosalind could feel the panic creeping up her throat. She did not like unknowns. She didn’t likenotknowing something. And right now, she was about five seconds from that cluelessness taking over and needing to find a supply closet.
“Look,” she said with about as much bravado as she could manage. “The demon who just came in. I need to see—” She almost gave Dav away, but at the last moment remembered this demon mentioning the runes disguised entrants. Even if they knew whoshewas, they didn’t know about Dav. “I need to see them.”
They shook their head. “Look, I’m sure you do, but demons pay a lot of coin to remain unknown here. I can’t just let a human immune to the illusion inside.”
“And I’m sure you’d pay a lot of money to keep this secret from reaching the wrong ears in city hall?”
Oh,thatcaught their attention. “Our business isn’t illegal.”
“Operating under a business license with a different name and description of operations is.”
Their eyes narrowed, but that was a small smile tipping the corner of their lips. “Well, humans are certainly smarter than our stories made you to be.”
Rose wasn’t going to inform them she still hadn’t quite figured out what was going on behind the curtain.
“What’s your business with the demon whojust came in?”
“Personal.”
That seemed to amuse them significantly more than she’d assumed. “Well, that’s a lot more interesting. You should lead with that next time.”
There would definitely not be a next time, Rosalind thought, but the demon thrust their hand toward her. “Haven’t had good drama here in a while, so this will be fun. But I’m going to need your word that Temptation and its patrons remain a secret, no matter what you find beyond that curtain.”
Rosalind stared at their outstretched hand. “I thought you said what you did wasn’t illegal.”
“You can have yourfriendexplain what that illusion rune does, but it’s designed for demons, not humans.”
“I’m not disguised,” she confirmed, then connected the missing piece. “So demons aren’t disguised to me either. Privacy.”
The demon clicked their tongue and wiggled their hand again as a reminder. “Smart.”
