“So, you do not wish to repeat the experience?” he asked. It was not a humble question, nor was it a trap. He was giving me an out, I realized, a way of saying no without admitting to my own idiocy.
“Not in the slightest,” I replied haughtily.
Devil just shrugged. “Then I suppose I should tell you the reason for my visit.”
I tried not to show my relief too plainly. We had both made a mistake—a drunken, foolish mistake—but now, it seemed, we could forget it and move on with our lives. What more could I ask? It almost made me want to embrace him. Almost.
Instead, I sunk back in my chair. “What vile and despicable thing have you done now, my demon?”
“I have left you alone far too long if you missed me enough to start calling me yours,” Devil said as he walked around the room, examining the trinkets on my shelves. My face burned and I swallowed hard as he continued. “Never fear. I have done exactly one good deed to cancel out my villainy. Jon delivered Will his precious antidote the morning after the party. Mister Scarlett might still be spared his nuptials after all, it seems. At least…those involving Helena.”
His eyes glittered dangerously, and I narrowed mine. “What isthatsupposed to mean?”
“Well, my terrible misdeed of the day is gossip-mongering, I’m afraid. Rumor. Conjecture. Some might even call it…scandal. I hear Aliena has been training you in it.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Just tell me, you awful creature!”
“Wouldn’t you rather see it with your own eyes?” He walked backwards onto the balcony and hopped deftly onto the railing. On instinct, I stood and followed, taking my Huntress moth cloak from a peg by the wardrobe and swinging it around my shoulders.
“Must we fly?” I sighed as he held out his hand. “It turns my stomach, and I am able to travel by magyk now.”
“Oh, but I believe human manners dictate that you still owe me half a dance.”
I eyed the balcony railing skeptically. “Onlyin exchange for your gossip.”
He grinned. “A deal is a deal.”
I took his hand and he pulled me up onto the rail, holding me around the waist and using his wings to balance us both. Then, he stepped off, flapping steadily to hover in thin air as I swayed and gasped.
“Look at me, Mayhem,” he said, keeping a firm grip on my hands. “Only at me.”
I found my footing on the wide railing while he hummed a few discordant notes, then stepped back and forth a few times before he spun me. I went up on the ball of one foot, grinning wildly, before turning and falling backwards into his arms. With a surprised grunt, he caught me and spun us downwards through the air. When we landed gently in the grass, he brushed hair away from my face and frowned.
“Was that part of your plan to make my life miserable? Pitch yourself off a balcony with absolutely no warning?”
I just gave him a sunny smile. “I knew you’d catch me.”
“Are you finally beginning to trust me, then, princess?” he laughed.
“Perhaps,” I replied, patting him on the cheek, “or perhaps I know exactly what Oberon will do to you if I fall to my death on your watch.”
“Nowwhich of us is vile and despicable?”
“Just tell me where we’re going.”
“The falls, if you please. But keep us…out of sight of the pool.”
I raised an eyebrow, but stepped forward and put my arms around his back, then pressed my face into his chest and called up my magyk. The squeezing sensation was more pronounced when traveling with another person, and I was dizzier than usual when we arrived. Thoughtfully, Devil had put his arms around me too, and we stayed that way for a moment before breaking apart. I’d landed us at the top of the falls, where the pool below was effectively obscured by a natural hedge of brambles.
“This had better be good,” I told Devil, and a smile spread across his face as he pointed. Slowly, I crept up to the bushes and peeked over the top. The pool below was empty, save for two bathers. One sat on the edge of the water with his legs in while the other swam a few feet in front of him. It took my eyes a moment to adjust to the bright sun, but the familiar sight of long, golden hair hit me hard.
“Will?” I whispered, disbelieving. “Why is he—”
“Shhhh,” Devil said as he came to stand beside me. “Just watch.”
I nearly toppled over from shock when I recognized the person swimming as Jon. They were both stark naked, talking and smiling. But I thought I might fallstraight off the cliff face when Jon swam right up to Will and pulled him into a long, slow kiss.
I slammed a hand over my own mouth just to keep from shouting. When they broke apart, Jon said something that made Will drop his head back and laugh loudly. I could hardly remember the last time I’d seen him laugh that way. I stumbled backwards and sat hard in a patch of dirt.
