The Lure of the Devil (The Demons' Muse #4) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,184

almost gel-like surface, I scrolled through the symbols. Over and over again, I kept going.

There was no way to tell time here, and I didn't think to count the number of times I scrolled with my arm, but it felt like a million before the tiny little crack appeared. Carefully, I turned the veil a little more, then shoved my hand in it. On the other side was the warmth of Daemin, and I wanted to go anywhere on that world. Naturally, one place immediately sprang to mind.

Pulling at the edges of the tear, I stretched it a little wider, making enough room for my head to fit through. Only when I was sure it would work did I shove an arm inside, bracing against the veil to pull the rest of my body behind it. Unfortunately, the wider the gap, the more Daemin wanted to flow into this wild area of nothingness, pushing me back with a force I hadn't expected.

When my legion discussed the problems of destroying the Angelis veil, they’d said it would let the world bleed into the corridor. I hadn't truly understood, but I did now. I’d learned about osmosis in school, and it seemed the same applied to life. The aether wanted to go out, but the darkness wanted to come in, and the two substances made it almost impossible for me to crawl through. I wouldn't quit. I would not be kept away from my men. There was no way I'd let the angels win. Not today.

The crack was small, and it scraped against me as I wiggled through, but it also stretched. My shoulders were easy enough to make fit. It was my wings that were the problem. As soon as I touched the Daemin side, my body shifted to that of a demon, with all the extra limbs that came with it. Thankfully, that also gave me two new limbs to help pull. The next problem came when I tried to get my hips to squeeze through that tiny little hole.

"Come fucking on," I groaned, kicking my feet on the far side for a little more help. "Talk about giving a woman a complex about the size of her ass."

Then something popped, and I tumbled onto the rocky soil of the demon homeworld with my tail tingling by my legs. Okay, so maybe it hadn't just been my ass that made the fit a little tight. My tail was pretty impressive, and not exactly small. Behind me, the gap whistled as Daemin rushed out of it, and I knew that was bad, but for just a second, I allowed myself to lie there and catch my breath. Then, before I was honestly ready, I sat back up and pushed the edges together.

The problem was that I was good at destruction. God said I couldn't create, yet I had. Sure, always within certain boundaries, but was this really any different? Maybe I couldn't heal the veil, but I could certainly "destroy" the hole. If I'd been able to create living sprites to destroy my grandfather's arguments, or to destroy the angels' element of surprise, then I could definitely make a hole go away.

So I pushed. The flaps at the edge of the tear weren't an exact match on either side, but they were close enough. Starting at one end, I eased them closer, concentrating on making the hole go away. The corner sealed in on itself, then the part beside it. Inch by inch, I stuck the two sides together like they were made of tape, and it actually worked!

It was also taking a whole lot of aether to make this happen. Luckily, I had plenty. And, at some point in my struggle to get back into the real world, my internal gate had automatically closed on its own. I hadn't even noticed when it happened, which meant that it had become an automatic reflex. Well, at least this entire ordeal had given me a little bit of good news, right?

Eventually, I had the entire rip sealed. The moment the last two pieces connected, it felt like the entire world pressurized or something. My ears popped, and my head felt as if it cleared. Letting out a heavy sigh, I flopped onto my back and just groaned.

I had no idea how long I laid there, but a tickle on my hand made my eyes jerk open and my head turn to see what was touching me. Sapphire-blue wings were the first thing