Sympathy for the Demons (Promised to the Demons #1) - Lidiya Foxglove Page 0,12
me, she doesn’t have a Jenny at all.
“I hope that’s right,” I said. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
“I have a feeling you know you’re not hurting anyone right now,” Graham said. “You’re helping yourself. I told Hel I’d help her carry stuff downstairs, but…trust your gut, Jenny. Even if it gets a little ugly.”
It was certainly about to get a little ugly.
Chapter Five
Lord Variel
“Who is this?” I said, in a tone of annoyance and exhaustion, as Uram had ushered some hag into my great hall several days after the parade of potential brides had ended. “Don’t tell me. She turns into a beautiful maiden if I pass a test or some nonsense. Did I ask you to bring me any more visitors? I’m rather busy right now.”
I was busy, indeed, building a model of a potential new design for the labyrinth, after scrapping the last concept. I had always had this grand idea of creating a maze outside that was full of various perils, like wolves and wasp’s nests and traps. Before I sent someone to the dungeon, they could go through the maze first and I could watch from the tower and my enemies would hear my cruel laughter floating on the wind high above their heads as they were mauled.
But I’d never gotten the design right. I didn’t care to think about how long I’d been working on this model.
Uram glanced at my work and I knew he was thinking the same, but…I had to get the details right first, that was all. The placement of every shrub and trap had to be considered so that every corner was perilous, but not so perilous that no one could make it into the dungeon…
“My lord,” Uram said. “Since you didn’t seem to care for any of the demonesses who came for your consideration, I thought you might like to have a consultation with Lady Knucklebones. You may have heard of her.”
I gave the woman a brief second glance. She was certainly old, wearing sandals and a shawl that probably used to be colorful but was now just a fringed rag. “I don’t trust anyone who wanders around in sandals,” I muttered, putting glue on a patch of the maze model so I could add a hedge.
I started to realize maybe I didn’t look like the impressive Lord Variel the Devourer when I was holding a brush of glue, and I abandoned the project and stood up to my full height so I could glare down at Lady Knucklebones.
“He’s really quite a handsome demon,” she said to Uram. “Lord Variel, sir, I can show you the woman you will marry. I am a seer and the realm that I see is the realm of Eros and Cupid.” She made a little bow. “The realm of true love.”
I gave Uram a look of disdain. “The realm of true love? Do you think, after nine hundred years walking this earth and consuming the souls of countless men, that I would ‘fall’ in love? There is nowhere to fall. I am already the devil at the bottom and I have no love for anyone.”
“You aren’t curious, sir?” Gillian piped up behind me. “I’d be ever so curious if it were me, sir. If you can’t fall in love then I suppose Lady Knucklebones won’t show you anyone at all.”
“That is true,” Lady Knucklebones said. “Perhaps you have no true love. It has happened before. I whisper my spells and all I see is a void of darkness.”
For some reason, I didn’t like this idea either. Uram got a tiny smile of triumph.
“This is a stupid idea,” I barked at Uram. “If nothing comes of this, you will be punished for it, as you know.”
“It was actually Jameson’s idea,” Uram said. “I guess I’m too stupid to have an idea like this…as you know.”
My servants were really becoming a problem. They were getting downright cheeky. My father would have killed every last one of them by now. “Well, let’s just have at it then,” I said. “Cast your spells, woman, and we’ll see what beauty is fated to bear my whelps.”
Lady Knucklebones smiled at me as I walked down the several steps from the large dais where I had a work table and some shelves of supplies. “We shall see. Do you have a large basin or cauldron, my lord, with a bit of water in it, enough for a reflection?”
I snapped my fingers at Gillian. She nodded and left.