The Lure of the Devil (The Demons' Muse #4) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,45

the top drawer of the nightstand, Luke. Sam made sure my room was fully stocked."

Ron groaned at the bad joke but moved to lie beside me. Luke just leaned over to grab two towels, then back to pass one to Ron. But his eyes met mine. A moment of panic hit me, then he nodded. The look on his face said enough. This was ok. We'd finally found the balance between his fear of my mortality and the chemistry that kept pulling us together. We both loved Ron, so that made all of this ok.

"Thank you," I mouthed to him.

He just smiled. "Love him," he mouthed back. "Not me."

Easier said than done. I kinda wanted them all.

11

Sienna

Nick had spent all night working on the protections that he was adding to the bubble. By lunchtime, he'd added three new defenses to keep our Vale from being discovered. The first would make anyone passing by see this area as an unsafe place to walk. It was subtle but would dissuade those who just happened upon the area. The second prevented anyone but the First Legion from crossing into our private little area. No weapon or tool would be able to shatter the undetectable wall, making this our haven.

The third, however, was different. This was what had taken so long to create. Because of the unique features of the bubble Nick had created so long ago, time ran at a different pace inside than it did outside. Using this, he altered the perception of the world around us so that this place basically didn't exist. No eye would see it, no map would show it, and those of us inside were completely undetectable even using demon technology. It stretched the limits of physics, but so did the initial weaving that had made this place.

But for a demon, all of that was a major working. When Nick was finally done, he was also completely exhausted. We managed to convince him that he should get something to eat. In truth, he was too tired to complain, which meant he'd used a lot more aether than he'd intended. Sam and Luke ganged up on him, making sure he was completely taken care of. Bel offered to go reaping so he could fill Nick back up.

That left Ron and me alone. After what happened this morning, I'd been a little bit shy around him for most of the day. Granted, he wasn't any better around me. Every time our eyes met, we'd both blush, smile, and look away. Not that I regretted it. Oh, not at all. He and Luke were incredibly hot when they were together. I couldn't say it was the hottest thing I'd ever seen, though, if only because that was starting to be a pretty long list.

Right now, I needed to distract myself, and fixing Ron's natural body was the first thing that came to mind. Since we'd already tried everything either one of us could think of yesterday, and since Nick was in no shape to offer any new suggestions, I decided to bring up my last idea. It probably wouldn't work. I still figured it was worth trying because everyone seemed to like having their own bodies again - including Ron.

Outside, the Demon of Knowledge was working on his favorite thing: the flowerbeds. Sam and Luke were putting Nick to bed in my room, and there was no space for me to help. Bel had already left, so I headed for Ron, determined to find a way to make his body stop hurting. It seemed wrong for Nick to have put in this much effort, only to have to take it all back off because I couldn't find a way to make Ron at least comfortable. So that left only one option. I was going to figure this mess out come hell or high water.

"Ron," I asked as I stepped outside, "do you think trying this on Daemin would make any difference?"

He looked up and shrugged. "No, not really. I can't rule it out, though."

I made my way over to see what changes he'd made to his plants. Every time I looked at the flowerbeds, there was something new. Not all of the plants got along, but Ron had found a way to group them so they were still beautiful but didn't completely kill each other. Today's addition looked like a fern with yellow and orange leaves. When he saw me looking at it, his tail swished, betraying his nervousness.

"I like