appeared so invulnerable, like nothing could truly faze him. He was in control, he held all the cards, and I had literally no power in this farce of a relationship.
Well, that was about to change.
Chapter 8
A slow, wicked smile spread on my face. All these thoughts had run through my head in a matter of seconds, and now I stared at him with the biggest shit-eating grin I could muster.
He narrowed his eyes the tiniest fraction, imperceptible unless one was watching him closely, which I was.
What do I get in return? I pushed along the mental line between us.
What? His energy was a whip across my senses.
While he exchanged some more chit chat with the other demon, I continued our silent communication.
You want me to play along and hide the fact that I’m your wife, your very human wife who tricked you, the mighty Azazel, into an embarrassing contract you can’t get out of. I’ll do it, but there’s a price for everything. What was it you said? Nothing in Hell is free except the illusion of kindness. I want something in return for my trouble, sweetheart.
It was disconcerting how he could carry on a conversation with someone, seemingly at ease and unperturbed, while his mental focus was directed at me, his power searing the edges of my mind. And that burning sensation got all the worse at my last volley, at the proverbial glove slapped across his face.
Your price, he snarled inside my head, is that I won’t string you up in my dungeon to be snacked on by the hellrats.
I’m tired of your threats, I hissed back. No, honey, if you want me to save your face in front of your friend here, you will agree to my demands, or you’ll find out just how fast I can retell your tale of woe and ruin your reputation.
Maybe I should have felt bad for holding his image on a knife’s edge like that, for playing on his fears and threatening to make him the laughingstock of Hell. Then again, he’d shown me time and again that he didn’t care about my fears or needs, that he didn’t give a shit whether I’d lose my mind in a gilded cage of isolation. He fully knew what loneliness would do to me, and yet he kept me cut off anyway.
Tit for tat, then. I would take a page out of his playbook and counter his cruelty with my own.
His voice echoed with rolling thunder in my head. What do you want?
Visits to Earth, I shot back. I don’t care how much you have to pay for them, but you’ll take me whenever I ask you, as often as I want.
There are limits, he replied with a growl. Physical limits for you and for me. You can’t stay too long, and you can’t visit too often.
Fine, then within those limits, as much as I desire. You’ll take me there, no tricks, no excuses.
Within reason. I do have a life and tasks that need my attention here.
I narrowed my eyes. All right, but you will not use that as an excuse to avoid taking me. You agree to facilitate my visits to Earth unless you are truly needed down here, for a task of real urgency or a commitment you cannot postpone. Using your work or personal appointments as a pretense to avoid taking me to Earth is not allowed.
I had the inkling that it was important to spell out my demands in as clear a way as possible, leaving him no space to wiggle out later. If the lore about demons and deals was even a bit true, then he’d have to abide by a contract made, in all its literality. If the words were too vague, he’d exploit that for sure.
Agreed. His mental voice sounded distinctly as if he were grinding his teeth.
I felt his attention fully shift to the other demon, and I hurried to add, One more thing.
The quicksilver in his eyes burned me as he brought his gaze back to me.
I want to move freely in your house.
His power scraped along my senses like cut glass over my skin. So you can get torn apart by inferni? His eyes dropped to the still bleeding wounds on my legs. Have you considered, in that impertinent, naive little head of yours, that keeping you in your rooms was a means of protection? If you’d stopped for one second and looked past your own impulsive ego, you might just have realized