Jesper glanced at me. “I’ll file this and start a cross-reference. You two, go relax for a few hours. You’re both running on fumes.”
“I am perfectly functional,” I lied.
Rune snorted softly, bumping my shoulder. “Sure you are, Havoc baby.”
She leaned in and kissed Jesper before turning back to me. “What are we going to do?”
“Do you want to go on a date with me in my home territory, venom baby?” I laced my fingers through her.
“Of course I do,” she giggled.
“Bye little brother!” I waved over my shoulder to Bram and tugged her gently toward the street, letting Jesper handle the specifics.
The Demon Capital’s sweltering heat beat down around us as we walked. Vendors at the marketplace called out from stalls laden with spices, weapons, and enchanted trinkets.
“So, this is where you grew up?” Rune asked, eyes curious as she took everything in. “I’ve never had time to actually explore the Demon Capital before.”
I pointed to an alley toward the outer ring. “Over there is where I let Snakey bite a group of nobles who were bullying a lower-class demon.”
“As you should’ve.” Rune frowned.
“But then Snakey got loose and attacked the marketplace,” I chuckled.
Rune giggled. The sound melted what had been tight in my chest since this morning. “Your last name is Havoc. I feel like everyone should have seen that coming.”
“Havoc baby,” I corrected, leaning over to nudge her. “Get it right.”
She rolled her eyes, but she studied the passing demons with a frown. “Nobility is a societal construct in the Demon Capital more so than anywhere else in Kalista. It surprises me, to be honest.”
“True,” I hummed. “Cursinia and Briesia have their own social class issues, though.”
“But Cursinia is less about wealth and more about power,” she pointed out.
“Yeah, but family names hold just as much power there as they do here.” I blew out a steady breath. “Ever since the hierarchy was abolished, supernaturals found more issues within their own species rather than other species. It’s fucked up.”
“The way our nature sees the world is fucked up,” she agreed.
We turned a corner into a slightly narrower street. It was still thick with demons but a little more rowdy.
A demon I recognized from my teenage years, with broad shoulders, cracked horns, and the same ugly fae woman tattoo on his neck, stopped mid-conversation and squinted at me. “Havoc?” he called, loud enough to draw attention. “Is that you? Hey, isn’t that the hot basilisk chick that won the House Gauntlet at Apex Elite Academy?”
I felt my demon form ripple before I even summoned it. My eyes heated, vision tinting red at the edges. Chaos magic pulsed off me in a low wave, brushing against the people closest to us and making them flinch instinctively.
The shadow beside my feet surged upward, coalescing into Snakey’s form. He was a massive serpent that hissed, baring spectral fangs at the demon.
I turned my head slowly toward him.
“She’smymate,” I growled.
His eyes widened as he lifted his hands, backing away, the scent of fear spiking hot. I didn’t even need to be a shadow or fear demon to sense it. “Didn’t mean anything by it,” he stammered. “Just—I—heard stuff. That’s all.”
“I don’t give a fuck what you heard,” I snarled. The magic around me crackled once, then settled as he stumbled down the street and vanished into the crowd.
Rune snickered under her breath. “Possessive much?”
“Of you?” I said, the chaos easing as I focused fully on her again. “Yeah. Absolutely.”
“I’m yours, Havoc baby,” she purred. “How do you want me to prove it?”
