Page 61 of In Between Death and the Devil

It was my turn to jerk back. “I want to believe you. Show me that I can.”

He sighed. The expression on his face told me he noticed that I hadn’t answered his question.

A hot flush spread over my neck and face. He’d given me a piece of himself, and here I was asking for more.

“Colt’s Soul Record will show if someone hired him. I can take you to the Library to view it. Will that be enough?” His words were clipped.

“Yes.” My voice was small.

“Good. Let’s go.”

“Now?”

“Do you have somewhere else to be?” he asked.

“No. Now’s good.”

He nodded and strode across the courtyard towards the entrance.

“Wait.”

“Yes?” He stopped.

“What happened to Esther?”

A pained look crossed his face. “I’ll tell you at some point, but not tonight.”

I looked down and nodded, understanding what he was really saying. I hadn’t earned that information. If I didn’t learn to trust him, I might never earn it. It was fair. At least I would get answers from Colt’s Soul Record. That was what I wanted, what I’d been determined to get, even if the victory felt a little hollow. So, I followed him out of the courtyard towards the Library.

CHAPTER 18

The Devil took me to a room off the main corridor on the first floor of the castle. Neither of us spoke on the way there. Like the Great Hall, the walls were half shadows, but this one was lined with bookshelves and had a large table in the center strewn with stacks of paper and pens. In the center of the back wall, a marble arch outlined a familiar sight—a shadow portal, like the one he’d created to let me into the throne room on the bridge. I recognized the way it shimmered, a shade brighter than the shadows that devoured the walls.

“Does that lead to the Library?” I asked.

“Yes.” He led me around the table until we stood close enough to touch the portal’s iridescent surface.

When I raised a hand to do just that, he caught my wrist.

“You can’t touch it. Not yet.”

I nodded and he let my wrist fall.

“The Library is in Death’s castle.”

“I know where it is.” I’d passed it many times while delivering messages for Death. It took up an entire corner of the castle and contained several reading rooms, as well as the Soul Record Room.

“This portal leads directly to the Soul Record Room. Only certain Tempters and Judges are allowed inside.”

“Are you telling me you’re not allowed in?” I frowned.

“No, smart ass. Death and are I both allowed in. But you aren’t.”

“Then how⁠—?”

“I need to give you a Tempter’s mark.”

Goosebumps rose on my arms at the idea of him marking me. “What is that?”