Days passed, and she grew only worse.
“Please, my beauty, you need to eat something,” he said, bringing food to her bed. “You’ve hardly eaten in days.”
Elizabeth stared at the wall, unseeing.
Like a ghost, she wandered the castle—walking the grounds alone, speaking to no one.
He fed elsewhere now, finding some girl in Silas rather than burdening Elizabeth with his needs. He didn’t want to ask her for either blood or sex and ruin the thin thread that still bound them together. When he returned, he meticulously cleaned away any trace of blood, but he felt like, somehow, she still knew. The knowledge sat in her eyes like an accusation—or worse, indifference. It hurt him more than if she had raged at him.
In the evenings, when he held her brittle form, she felt ready to shatter. Nothing could pull her from the sadness she’d wrapped around herself. She spent her days reading books about love and loss, staring at the wall or out the window for hours.
She was a shadow of her former self, and he had no idea how to possibly make it better. He was a demon—unequipped to heal a broken heart.
But he knew what he could do much more fruitfully.
Revenge.
Chapter 50
Revenge
Mammond met him in the solar, looking quite pleased with himself.
“Now, we don’t know anything for certain, but we might have information on where Raziel is hiding,” Mammond paused. “But first, my payment?”
Caspian smirked, holding up a thick gold token with a pentacle on one face, and a roaring dragon on the other.
“Tell me what you found out, you bastard, then I’ll decide if it’s worth paying you.”
“Would I take your money and not deliver?” Mammond said, outraged.
“Yes.”
The greed demon narrowed his eyes, and a dark chuckle escaped his thin lips. “Be that as it may, Raziel and his band of idiots are responsible for the death of the girl’s parents,” he reported. “The demon hired to do it is yet unknown, but I heard Raziel was recruiting demons for a trip to the human realms. A short one.”
Caspian raised his brows.
“Exactly,” Mammond said with a wry smile. “He might have hired them himself or, at least, knows the demon who did.”
Candlelight glinted off the coin Caspian handed over.
The greed demon examined the coin in the light and bit it lightly.
Caspian looked at his comrade incredulously.
Mammond chuckled sheepishly. “Just checking.” Tucking it away, Mammond cleared his throat. “They must be demons who are already on the surface since your portal is constantly watched.”
“I know, just tell me what you found out,” Caspian said, his tone holding an edge.
Mammond clapped his hands. “Trixie.”
A sallow-skinned demon came out, twitching nervously in their presence. A member of Mammond’s household escorted her and she did not look thrilled to be there. Shiny black shackles rested at her wrists, marking her as their prisoner.
“This is a demon who says she worked for Raziel and knows where he’s hiding.”
Caspian licked his lips and smiled hungrily. “Let’s begin.”
***
