Reign smiled slowly, sensually, and grazed Noah’s calf with the toes of one foot. “And how are you going to go about doing that, Noah?” he purred.
Noah licked his lips, a thrill of heat shooting through him when Reign’s eyes locked onto them and followed the movement of his tongue. “I suppose I will ask you to free up your evenings.”
“Oh? Just the evenings?”
Noah’s self-confidence really liked that question and the implications behind it. “And the weekends,” he ventured, giving Reign a seductive smile.
“Good,” Reign deemed and licked his own lips. It was on purpose, part of their flirting game, but still it made Noah crave them sealed against his.
Reign’s mouth was the one thing Noah had yet to claim, even if he knew how the rest of the demon tasted.But Reign hadn’t initiated a kiss nor suggested he wanted them, so Noah didn’t think he could simply demand one. And besides, in Noah’s opinion, kisses were intimate, something reserved for a partner. He and Reign weren’t that, would never be. Their relationship was transactional, a contract between a demon and a human, the sex—a bonus. He needed to remember that.
And he did. He knew yearning had no place here, yet sometimes he just couldn’t help it. He couldn’t stop himself from wanting more. To monopolize Reign and to have him, not just in body.
Clearing his throat and mind, because he couldn’t entertain those thoughts for his own sake, Noah rolled another crepe. “So, uh, where is Barbatos?”
Reign stopped teasing Noah’s leg and shifted in his chair. “He was summoned.”
“Summoned? Like to Hell?”
“Yes.”
A spark of curiosity rushed through Noah. He leaned forward and pushed his plate back, lacing his hands together on top of the table. “What is it like?”
Reign regarded him, stabbing another piece of fruit. He didn’t eat it immediately, simply took it to his lips and kept it there. “It is separated into regions. An Archdemon governs each of them, typically one with a higher status. At the center of the realm is where Lucifer’s domain lies and that’s also where the Gates are located.”
Shouldn’t the Gates to Hell be somewhere on the edge of the realm? Out of sight and not in the middle, where its High King presided? That was what the Church taught of Heaven’s organization at least, so shouldn’t Hell’s layout be similar?
Despitethe questions flooding Noah’s mind, he didn’t have much trouble picking out the one he wanted to ask the most. “Do you have one? A domain of your own?”
Reign returned the piece of fruit to the plate and leaned back into his chair. “I do, though I spend most of my time here, in the human realm. On the occasional visit, I tend to stay at the High King’s Royal Palace. Unless I’m needed at my own,” he explained, but offered no further elaboration.
If Reign had a place of his own, why didn’t he stay there?
Noah didn’t think he should ask that. Whatever the reason, if Reign wished to share, he would have done that instead of leaving Noah wondering.
“What is the demon realm like?” Noah asked, moving onto the next thing he wanted to know. “Does it have rivers of lava and scorching soil and sinners you can always hear wailing an—”
A pleasant chuckle interrupted Noah’s blabbering, but it bore no ill intent or mockery, just genuine mirth.
“What?” Noah demanded, feeling a little self-conscious as the melodic sound lingered between them.
“Where did you hear that?”
Flashing Reign a wide grin, Noah shrugged. “It’s how the Church portrays it. I’m sure you know that.”
“Indeed.”
“I didn’t say I believed it,” Noah quickly added when Reign raised an eyebrow at him. “Which is why I’m askingyou, while using what they teach as a mere point of reference. I would like to draw it.”
The sun peeked out from behind a gray cloud as Reign studied Noah, its weak light still enough to illuminate one side of the demon’s face and make his featuresstand out even more. “It would be easier to show you, but I’m afraid I can’t take a human there without permission.”
Noah drummed his fingers on the table. “You can’t just do whatever you want?” After all, that was what the Church was so against—frivolity and self-interest.
“I can, in most every case but when it comes to things like these. Bringing humans as opposed to just their souls is not exactly a daily occurrence, so I must run it by the High King.” Reign’s gaze turned distant as he stared at something behind Noah. “But his Palace and the surrounding grounds do fit into the description you gave me,” he mused, looking entertained by whatever he was envisioning. “Angel bone doors, lava pools, barred windows and so on. He is, after all, someone who likes to humor such wild assumptions even if he probably shouldn’t… Although, last time I visited, there were no sinners shrieking in agony. The orgy they were partaking in suggested their moans were those of the pleasure type.”
Noah laughed at Reign’s remark. “What about your place, then? How does it look?”
“It’s the same as this one, but without the view.”
