Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 54848 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54848 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 274(@200wpm)___ 219(@250wpm)___ 183(@300wpm)
“That seems to be the general consensus these days,” Arick said, waving a hand in the air, making it almost shimmer for a moment. As soon as it stopped, Arick seemed to snap out of whatever stupor he was in. “I wish I had more answers for everyone. And who are you, lovely?” he asked, looking at Charlotte.
I didn’t mean for it to happen, but a low, threatening growl escaped me, making a smirk toy with Arick’s lips.
“I had a feeling that was the case,” he said, nodding. “Quick for you. Must not be easy. What with your hatred of humankind and all,” he said, smirking. “So, what can I do for you?”
“Well, first Ace wants to know what you think is going on. You know… with the old gods.”
“I’ll bet he does,” Arick said as the tattoos on his body seemed to start almost… shaking. I wouldn’t pretend to know much about warlocks and their magical tattoos, but something about it made me uncomfortable. “And the other reason you’re here?”
“To ask about my brother.”
“Daemon?” he asked, head snapping in my direction, making it clear that he and my brother were much closer than Arick and I were. Which made sense. Arick’s notorious parties full of the rich, the beautiful, and all the frivolity the world had to offer, were just up his alley. “What about him?”
“No one has heard from him.”
“In how long?”
“I’m not sure exactly. A week. Maybe a little more.”
“No one has heard from your brother in a week, and you’re just thinking to come to me now for help?”
“He’s immortal,” I reminded him.
“Yes, but times are… uncertain. Things are not the same as they were. Chances can’t be taken for creatures like us,” he said. Even though, objectively, Arick was much more human than he was creature. But I got what he was saying. Warlocks were rare. Ones as powerful as he was, even rarer still. That was how Arick afforded to live in the lap of luxury, never having to want for anything or have a worry in the world.
“I wasn’t in town to come to you until recently,” I told him.
“And then, from the looks of you, you were barely able to get out of the bed. I don’t blame you for rejecting him, beautiful,” Arick said, turning his charming smile to Charlotte. “It isn’t always easy to love a curmudgeon. I will say, though,” he went on, waving in the air next to her head, then looking at it as though he was seeing something. Because, I imagined, he was. Even if the two of us couldn’t see it. “Is it not always the grumbly, grumpy loner in those books you read? The one who loves and likes no one but the heroine? Interesting premise.”
“How did you…”
“The same way I know a certain gorgeous demonslayer plied you with drinks not long ago,” he said, stroking a fingertip down her cheek.
I didn’t intend for it to happen.
I wasn’t even fully conscious of the level of possessiveness I felt at that moment.
One moment, I was just standing there.
The next, my fucking wings had shot out and enveloped Charlotte completely, blocking Arick’s contact with her.
And from inside their depths, I could feel Charlotte tense and then almost immediately relax as her hand lifted, and a single fingertip stroked down my wing.
I just barely managed to keep the fucking shiver in as she teased over me, as she explored and got to know this new part of me.
I tried like fuck not to read too much into it.
She was curious.
That was her nature.
And she was hammered.
She wasn’t acting like herself.
“They’re so soft,” she mused to herself. “I can’t think of what to compare them to, but they’re super soft. And warm,” she added.
Having her wrapped up in one of them was the warmest I’d felt since I’d been forced out of Hell. That realization, that hope, mingled with the almost bone-deep certainty that, eventually, she was going to reject me for good, had the pain shooting through my system, nearly doubling me over.
“What is it you want to know about the old gods?” Arick asked, and I got the feeling he did so to try to distract me from the pain.
“What you think is going to happen, I guess.”
“Chaos. As you are already seeing. But then in greater amounts. Wars. And with wars always come the usual. Extremists. Recessions. Famines. I predict a very uncomfortable lifetime or two.”
“Do you think you’re in danger?” Charlotte asked, but she wasn’t attempting to try to move out of my wing, or even see over it.
Instead, she stayed exactly where she was, her shoulder brushing my side, the flat of her hand pressed against my wing.
“Yes. And everyone else the gods might find interesting or threatening.”
“The gods have always been known for being super prideful and vengeful. Very human traits. Which is sort of silly for some omnipresent beings. Sorry,” Charlotte said. “I keep talking about them like they don’t actually exist. This is taking some getting used to.”