Page 135

“In his tank.”

“You have a tank?”

“Of course.” He turns, spider riding his shoulder like a cursed parrot.

Kento pauses at the doorway of what I assume is a room I’ll never enter, even at gunpoint.

“You can come down now.”

“I can’t.”

He shakes his head and disappears for a bit. I hear glass. A lid. The most beautiful sound in the history of sound.

Then he comes back.

I stay on the shelf for three more seconds, then my arms start shaking.

He’s already under me when I wobble, lowering me like I weigh nothing. My feet hit the floor. My forehead hits his chest, and I shove at him, rude on instinct, face on fire.

“If you ever,” I say, voice still unsteady, “introduce me to that thing again, I’ll set this entire colorless crypt on fire.”

“You offered a blowjob.”

“Well… th-that’s—”

He leans in, mouth near my ear, still so pleased I can hear it.

“A deal’s a deal, my prince.”

I stare at the black wall over his shoulder, breathing like I’ve sprinted from God.

“…Is it actually gone?”

“Yes.”

“Swear.”

“I swear.”

I swallow.

And the bastard has the nerve to look delighted.

Kento

“I won’t get on my knees.”

“Why not?” I ask mildly. “Too humiliating for Your Highness?”

He looks at me oddly, like he’s one sentence away from telling me to go fuck myself, but at the same time his eyes are asking me not to leave.

Interesting.

I decide to be kind. “Come here,” I say, holding out a hand. “Let me feed you.”

He gasps, then he smacks my shoulder. “Don’t be a fucking pervert.”

“Relax. I’m not feeding you my cock,” I add. “Yet. I meant real food.”