Page 28 of In Between Death and the Devil

“Death spends a good portion of her days in her work room. No one else is allowed in. I don’t know what she does in there. I’ve only caught glimpses of the inside when she opens the door. It looks like an apothecary shop. My duties are still confined to her quarters; she doesn’t trust me. I think—” I licked my lips. “I think she suspects there’s something different about me, though I don’t believe she’s figured out what. Yet.” My voice trembled, despite my best efforts.

“If she had,” the Devil said, “you’d know.” He sounded so certain. I envied him. “Is that all?”

“No. A trainee has gone missing. They were seen returning to their rooms last night but were gone this morning. They’re the second one to go missing since I arrived. Death thinks you’re stealing people.” The compulsion to speak lifted, but I barely noticed. I was too focused on his face, not wanting to miss his reaction.

He didn’t seem the least bit surprised. “Of course she does. She blames me for everything.”

“Are you?”

“No.”

I tried to reject his answer, but my mind wouldn’t release it. Grinding my teeth together, I remembered I’d vowed to keep an open mind. So I took a different tack. “If you didn’t take them, who did?”

“What would I do with a Judge trainee?” The offense in his tone surprised me.

“Something to increase your power. That’s all you care about, isn’t it?”

“No, Maeve. I don’t give a shit about that. I get plenty from the work I do. I don’t need to go searching for more.”

I hated that he made sense. I’d felt his power increase with every soul he transferred to his Dungeons. “You could have taken them to get back at Death.”

“For what? I’m more powerful than she is.”

My conviction that he was responsible faltered. Even though I knew I couldn’t trust anything he said, his answers sounded so reasonable. “Then where did they go?”

“I don’t know.” His jaw worked for a moment as he stared at the floor, thinking.

I frowned, unsure what disturbed me more, the fact that there was an unknown threat stealing Judge trainees from their beds, or that our deal gave him a chance to manipulate me so skillfully. Having an answer for everything didn’t prove he hadn’t taken them, but I didn’t think he did, and that was terrifying.

“I’ll look into it,” he said after a moment. “Is that all?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now, it’s your turn.”

All the awful things I’d imagined over the last four days about what we’d be doing spun through my mind. I bit the inside of my cheek to stay in the present.

“We need to figure out what sets you off.” He walked in a slow circle around me, his hands behind his back, as if assessing me from all sides.

The back of my neck prickled when he disappeared from view, and I had to plant my feet to keep from turning to face him. “So, we just talk about it?”

“To start with.”

“And then what?”

“And then I will help you face whatever is holding you back.” A moment later he appeared in my peripheral vision on my right.

“Face it how?”

He came to a stop in front of me, studying my face intently. “You need me to lay everything out for you?” His voice was soft, almost soothing, and there was a look of understanding in his eyes that I hated. This was a version of him I hadn’t seen before. I wondered how many faces he had.

Refusing to be taken in by it, I raised my chin. “Yes. Tell me how it’s going to work.”

“Alright.” He paced away from me, staying in front of me this time.

My shoulders relaxed a fraction.

“Your powers—Sorry.” He held up a hand before I could object. “Curse. Your curse is something you’re afraid of.”