The Lure of the Devil (The Demons' Muse #4) - Auryn Hadley Page 0,67

his head quickly in a very nervous nod. "Yes, ma'am," he promised.

And then Kacira grabbed my arm at the wrist and started walking in the opposite direction. At the back of the room, she opened what I could only call a door, except that it slid sideways like something out of Star Trek. Since it was as white as the rest of the room, it wasn't immediately noticeable. To an angel, it probably looked like a door, but this was like nothing I'd seen on Earth before. I also didn't care, since it let us slip into another area of the house.

Luke was right behind me. The pair of us followed my mother up the hall that I wanted to call narrow. It wasn't. However, having wings made things feel a little smaller. Somewhere in the middle, she opened another door and led us through it. That room joined yet another, which brought us to one more hall, and I was completely lost. At this point, I couldn't have found my way out if I tried.

And then we entered one last room, and she turned to close the door behind us, lifting one finger to her lips in a gesture of silence. "They are on the other side of this wall," she mouthed, pointing at the far side of the room. Luke and I both moved to that side of the room. I wasn't sure how thin the walls in this house would be, but if I leaned close enough, I could just hear Aaron's voice.

"My apologies, Masters," he said. "The Lord has been delayed. I have not yet earned permission to allow access to his home."

The response came back, and I couldn't make it out. Then Luke leaned close to my ear and whispered a translation. "This must be one of the new ones. He hasn't even been taught to speak yet."

I just looked back at Kacira. Without making a sound I mouthed, "What is going on?"

She just shook her head and held up both hands. "I do not know yet, but we will not let them find you. Either of you."

16

Sienna

The angels traded a few comments about the stupidity of human slaves. Luke translated each one in a whisper beside my ear, but none of them really surprised me. However, what they said did make me even more determined to get all of the slaves off this plane. Then Uriel walked into the room. It was easy to tell when that happened because the two seraphim suddenly got very quiet.

"Human," Uriel snapped at Aaron, "find something to keep yourself busy." There was a long pause, and then my father changed languages. Only Luke's translation allowed me to keep up. "To what do I owe this pleasure, Chamuel?"

"Eremiel and I were sent to deliver a message from Michael."

Uriel made it sound like he was thinking about that. "Michael doesn't usually ask me for much. What is this message?"

A different voice answered, which had to be Eremiel. "We’re starting a new operation due to the loss of Vesdar. You should expect to have the slave population double within the next month. This means we're going to need new holding facilities, the thrones must be prepared for the initial training, and new breeding pairs will have to be matched."

"From which plane?" Uriel asked, his voice carefully neutral.

"Does it matter?" Chamuel wanted to know.

There was a pause. Then, "Let us be more comfortable while we have this discussion," Uriel said. "Sit. Be welcome in my home."

Silence followed, but it was the kind that made me feel they weren't going very far. Combined with the overly stiff tone Uriel used when talking to these guys, I had a feeling that things were tense in the next room. Glancing over, I found Kacira still leaning beside the door. Then I saw the picture on the wall beside her.

It was a child's drawing and done in very bright colors. Slowly, I turned to examine the rest of the room. I'd originally thought this was a guest room of some kind, but now I wasn't so sure. The bed was recognizable, but not like the ones we used on Earth. The shape was more square, and it didn't have a headboard like I was used to. It was also small, child-sized. Then there were the toys. All of them looked like they belonged to a little girl.

"Was this my room?" I asked her, keeping my voice to a whisper.

Kacira nodded. "Most angels believe you died. Uriel