The Lure of the Devil (The Demons' Muse #4) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,113

you listen pretty good too, Bel."

He chuckled as he added cream and sugar to a second cup, then offered that one to me as well. "It is not the same as when you listen, but if you think I should, then I will listen to him too."

"Where is he?" I asked.

Bel just pointed towards the ceiling, which clearly meant that Ron had snuck up to his room. So, with a cup of coffee in each hand, I headed that way. I had to go slowly because balancing two full cups while walking upstairs wasn't easy, but that was okay. I figured Luke was probably with him anyway.

But when I reached the top of the stairs, I realized I was wrong. The door for the gold room was thrown open, and inside, Luke was working on something. I peeked my head in as I passed.

"You okay?" I asked.

Luke glanced up. "Yep. Just checking to see if I have anything that will hide us from the other angels in this town. I don't stand out too bad, but I have a feeling you will. No need to make it easy for them, right?"

"Have you seen Ron?" I asked.

"He said something about needing a shower," Luke told me.

Which meant he was in his room, and alone. We’d given Ron the silver one, which was at the opposite end of the hall from the gold one. The decoration choices in this place didn't really make a lot of sense to me, and I’d originally assumed it was just because these were a bunch of college guys. Now, I had a feeling it was more to do with whatever they came across, when they came across it. They decorated each room with a specific color because it was easiest, and took less work to think about.

When I reached Ron's door, I tapped lightly with my toe, knocking in the only way I could without spilling the coffee. On the other side of the wood, I heard him call back, "Come!"

"My hands are full," I told him.

It didn't take long before the doorknob turned, and he opened it to invite me in. "Coffee?" he asked.

"Evidently Bel has decided we all need some. I thought I'd bring you a cup and see how you’re doing. Or maybe see how I'm doing. I haven't quite figured that part out yet." And I held out one of the cups for him.

Ron took it and stepped back, giving me space to come in. "Which part is bothering you?" he asked.

"God." I made my way over to his bed and sat on the edge before taking a sip of my coffee. "I'm an atheist. I don't believe in God and the Devil, and yet that dragon says she's God, and I'm supposed to be the Devil?"

"The Ayala," he corrected.

"Same thing," I said. "Some nefarious embodiment of big and bad things. Some horrible monster that's going to destroy everything. Like, is that supposed to give me an ego boost, or is it some kind of hint that I'm about to screw this all up?"

"Yeah," Ron agreed as he moved to sit beside me. "The weird thing is that I remember those words she spoke. That poem, or whatever it was. The whole bit she recited that sounded like a Bible verse? Well, it was one of my first dreams. I don't exactly remember all the words, but when she said them, I recognized them."

"Really?" Because I certainly hadn't expected that.

He slowly bobbed his head in a nod. "Because I think she's right. Sia, I remember the storms. I remember staring at them and thinking about how beautiful they were. I just sat there, and I have no clue how long it was. I didn't understand time back then. But what was I watching? Was that the creation of everything going on above my head? Then why did she do this to me?" He gestured to his weakened right side.

"You mean splitting you to make a twin?" I asked.

"To make a better version?" He countered. "You heard her. She said that I wasn't good enough. I didn't do what I was supposed to. She decided I was a failure, and so she tried to make the next one better. She didn't care if she hurt me or made my life more difficult so long as she had a new cool thing to play with. How am I supposed to feel about that?"

I leaned to set my coffee on the bedside table, then turned