“Let me help with the caravan,” I said, in my most gently authoritative tone.
His brow furrowed. “These things are dangerous.”
“Am I not also dangerous?” I asked, calling up a few wisps of shadow and forming them into darts, sharp and solid as arrowheads. Devil took one in his hand, testing to see if it would vanish, but it did not.
“You know,” he said, the corner of his mouth twitching into a smirk, “I really wasn’t sure if making you come would be effective, but it looks like—”
I slapped a hand over his mouth, then tried to put on a more serious tone. “I still have much work to do before truly mastering Shadowspinning, but please, let me help with this. A small role only. Let me test myself.”
Devil reached up and pulled my hand from his mouth, kissing the tip of each finger.
“I told you before that I would deny you nothing, and so I suppose I have no choice. But you will be under my command, and you willobey.” His smirk returned for a moment as he leaned in to kiss my mouth.
“You have a bargain, my demon,” I replied as our lips met.
We spent the rest of our evening together in comfortable silence. When Ceres arrived, carrying a heavily-laden supper tray, Devil used Lightweaving to conceal himself beside the wardrobe. The faun was clearly suspicious, but said nothing, and spun up an enormous hot raincloud for me to bathe under. But just as I was closing the door behind her, softly calling out my thanks, she turned on her hoof and pursed her lips.
“Forgive me for sticking my nose where it ought not be, Miss May, but I know Oberon won’t have the stomach to speak to you about this,” she whispered. “Humans rely on their herbs and tonics to prevent a child from forming in the womb, but here in the Arden, things are much more…simple.” I tried not to react, even though my stomach was suddenly doing acrobatics. “The Huntress grants life, and so a child cannot form without her blessing, which she willonlygive whenbothparents ask her for it. You understand?”
I gave her a tense nod and muttered, “Thank you,” then closed the door. Devil was already examining the tray she’d brought, and I had to take a deep breath before I faced him.
“Will you eat or bathe first?” he asked, popping a fat, red grape into his mouth.
“Bathe,” I said quietly, hoping to give myself a few minutes to think. “Alone.”
He just raised an eyebrow. “Why would I assume otherwise?”
“Because you are a demon,” I laughed, “and a hellion, and a rake.”
“I am all those things, yes,” he agreed, “but I am yours first, Mayhem, always.” He placed a gentle hand on the back of my head and pulled me in to kiss my hair. A flood of emotions poured out, tossing me in all directions within the space of a moment until he broke the contact between us.
That night—lying on a soft mattress, full and clean—I could not fall asleep for hours. Devil had bathed too, and left his shirt off when we got into bed. His arm draped over my waist now, a comforting weight, and I pressed myself against his warm body, relishing every steady breath. The scar on his chest, where he had branded himself with my holy iron that first day, stood out stark and pink against his pale skin.
“You made him for me,” I whispered, tracing a finger over it, then looking out to where the moon was just barely visible through the treetops. “You brought me back to my family, and you gave me this power. Now, I need your help again, toprotect the Arden, and the people of Nottingham. If I have to make a bargain with the gods themselves, so be it, but please…help me save them.”
Chapter forty
Songs & Surprises
The waiting was almostunbearable.
While Aliena stretched out in the back of our ‘damaged’ wagon, casually plucking her lute, and Briony collected fallen acorns in the pockets of her apron, I sat on a log, one leg bouncing out of control.
Finally, I could no longer stand the silence. “How do you know they’ll be here? This isn’t even a road.” I waved at the deer track we’d stationed ourselves next to, which ran from north to south through the forest and apparently let out somewhere near Achaia.
“There are no roads through the Arden,” Aliena said patiently. “This is the closest thing, and it’s used by all the humans brave or stupid enough to come this way.”
“Yes, but—”
“Arguing won’t make them come any sooner, May.”
“I just want it to be over with,” I muttered, rolling an obsidian shadow-dart between my fingers. Jon had spent the last few days fashioning me a pair of black, leather bracers with small loops sewn onto them. I could make and store a dozen darts on each forearm, then shoot them out. It was faster to have them at the ready, rather than having to call them up a few at a time, but wearing them did make me feel like I was heading into battle.
“And when itisover?” Aliena asked. “This gold won’t solve every problem in Nottingham.”
“Then…then I’ll find a way to deal with Johar and Scarlett directly…myself.”
“You’ll start a war,” she replied, dropping her head back. “If they’re already suspicious of the Fair Folk, attacking them with magyk will only make it worse.”
