Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 58321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58321 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 233(@250wpm)___ 194(@300wpm)
“On the contrary, I find their presence incredibly useful. They keep the gargoyles, the incubi, and the succubi from getting any ideas. My people don’t generally fly, and so the skies are a potential weak point.”
I search his aura for a lie, but it’s only the deep yellow of amusement threaded with the deep forest green of pride that always seems to be there. He’s laughing at me. Bastard. I force myself not to drop the fabric. Instead, I tear another strip. “If I knew I was agreeing to such a boring seven years, I would’ve insisted on including some additional clauses in the contract.”
No use thinking about the contract now. It does, in fact, promise my safety and that I won’t be forced into doing anything that would cause me harm. It also has a clause that spells out exactly what would happen to any child I have here in the demon realm. That sure as shit isn’t going to happen, though.
Azazel steps into the room fully, and the door shuts behind him as if blown by a strong wind. I jump. He doesn’t. He just gives me a long look. “Tonight, there will be an auction. The leaders of the other four territories will come here, and each of them will choose one of my humans to be their companion for the next seven years. There will be a secondary contract in place that reinforces everything you already agreed to.”
I stare at him for several beats. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you’re Grace Jaeger. I know what your family does, and I know what you’re capable of. So I’m going to be explicit with you, right here, right now. If you kill, maim, or otherwise harm a single being in the demon realm, your contract will be null and void. Should that happen, I will stick you out on the roof of my castle and allow the hunters in the sky to eat you at their leisure.”
My shiver of fear becomes a full-on tremor. “Do you normally threaten the humans you make bargains with?”
“No.” His expression gives nothing away. “Only the ones who come from a family whose reputation warns of the atrocities they’ve committed against nonhumans.”
The comment stings more because he’s not wrong. I may only go after monsters who have already harmed a human, but my grandparents? My great-grandparents? My great-great-grandparents? Add as many “greats” as you want—the further back in history we go, the less the Jaegers cared about what really made a monster. For them, it was less action and more bloodline. I read the journals. I know exactly how fucked up it was. “I wouldn’t do that.”
“All the same. I want there to be no misunderstanding between us. Too much is resting on the next seven years, and I won’t have anyone endangering my people.”
I bite back my instinctive response. He’s not technically being unfair, no matter how frustrating I find this conversation. “I won’t hurt anyone who doesn’t fuck with me first.” When Azazel just stares, I curse and clarify. “I won’t hurt anyone who doesn’t . . . hurt me first. That’s as good as it’s going to get.”
“If someone harms you, I will be the one to take care of it.” The way he says this indicates the conversation is over. He motions at the wardrobe. “I need you dressed to impress tonight.”
There’s a part of me that wants to defy him out of sheer spite, but the truth is that I entered the contract of my own free will. Throwing a hissy fit now serves no one, and would be, frankly, embarrassing. “I would like to know what happened to my mother.” It’s the same question I asked him right after he teleported me here.
“No, you wouldn’t.” Without another word, he turns around and walks out of the room. Again, the door swings shut with a force just short of slamming. I’d love to blame Azazel for that, but I was watching him walk away when it happened. He never touched it.
Sometimes I fucking hate magic.
Even my own; especially my own. Because, before Azazel turned around and walked away, his aura shifted to a pale blue that I am all too familiar with. Sorrow.
Just like that, I know my mother’s dead.
I want to say it’s exactly what I expected. She made a deal with a demon and never came home. I’ve been operating on the assumption that I’m an orphan for years now. It’s just that . . . after I saw the contract, a small part of me wanted to believe that maybe she had chosen to stay in the demon realm for some unknown reason. That maybe she was still alive. That maybe I’m not really the last of my family.
I knew better, but apparently that hopeful little child who misses her mama hasn’t quite died of sorrow yet. Or at least she hadn’t until she saw that same emotion reflected in Azazel’s aura.