THIRTY-FOUR
Their late lunch on the terrace was grueling.
As Lila and Abyssian shared their second meal ever—plates had arrived with both demon and Sylvan dishes—he continued to seethe. Because she wouldn’t look at him?
She was half-tempted to say, Whip out your dick, and I’ll examine it for hours if that’ll make you feel better.
He expected her to get used to so many things at once! She’d told him she adapted. And she was ready to, but give her a freaking nanosecond to keep up.
She’d noticed that he’d donned boots. Sensitive males. She supposed this would be a bad time to ask him what in this hell he was eating? The dish kind of looked like eggs—if they’d been painted by a modern artist.
The demon’s table manners were fine—his utensils were larger by necessity—but he and Lila would never be sharing a dish.
“Why aren’t you eating?” he demanded, seeming eager to resume their hostility.
Since she’d officially tied her fortunes to his, she wasn’t as keen to; cooperation was a more logical route. But she would go toe-to-toe with him if she had to.
“It’s Sylvan fare. Is that not even good enough for you, princess?”
She stiffened, hating when he called her that. “Are you always so moody?” Why did he have to spoil such a beautiful day? The ash had been tamped down by rain last night, and the late-afternoon sun was bright. When she’d gotten her first daytime glimpse of the Mercury Sea, the light had beamed across the water, reflecting off its silvery surface.
“Moody? Perhaps I already see the writing on the wall.”
“Which is?”
“I doubt you will ever be satisfied here.”
“So will you let me go?”
He leaned forward, his lips drawing back from his fangs. “Never.”
She leaned forward as well. “Then fucking satisfy me, Abyssian. It’s not difficult.”
“Ah, this I must hear. How would one go about such an epic endeavor?” He settled back in his chair, as if he expected a long-winded reply.
“Play up your strengths.” Like the way you made me feel last night. “And don’t be a prick.” The way you are this afternoon. “Simple enough for you?” She rose and headed for the terrace railing. Gods, that demon gets my back up!
Inhaling for calm, she gazed at the sea. Lila might not be getting along with hell’s king, but his kingdom called to her.
What creatures lurked in those depths? The tide was lower than before, revealing the shoreline. Was the beach . . . green? Algae must cover it.
She had wanted to explore the castle; now she could. She had wanted to know more about this realm. He’d said he would take her out—
Some animal breached the surface of the sea! When its red scales glimmered in the sunlight, she sucked in a breath.
Abyssian was beside her in a heartbeat. “What?”
“A sea serpent!” She pointed, but it’d disappeared.
“You saw one?”
“I swear. It was right there,” she said, her excitement dampening her anger. “I’ve read about them, but didn’t know if the accounts were true. They’re supposed to be like limbless dragons, right? Each one’s bigger than a train, weighing dozens of tons.”
With an unreadable expression, he said, “We should investigate.” He took her elbow and traced her.
She blinked, getting her bearings. They’d appeared on the green beach.
Not algae. Eyes gone wide, she dropped to her knees to scoop up shiny grains of sand. Peering at Abyssian, she said, “Jade?” She sifted tiny pebbles through her fingers.
Nod.
“Get the fuck out!” A jade beach. Why not? As she stood to kick off her sandals, her attention strayed past the demon. Purple and orange fish leapt from the water. They each had a horn like a unicorn! She sprinted closer to the seaweed-dotted shore.
Abyssian traced in front of her, one arm outstretched, the other pulling her against his back. “Tell me before you run away.”
“Is there some kind of danger—”
A gigantic serpent shot out of the water like a geyser and plummeted onto the beach, its body crashing directly against Abyssian.
The ground shook; she choked on a scream, but the demon hadn’t budged a single inch.
She didn’t know what shocked her more—Abyssian’s show of colossal strength or that he’d started petting the great creature.
“I haven’t visited here for a while, and they get excited,” he said. “This one in particular.” The creature’s head coiled around, its slitted eyes taking her in. Its forked tongue—as long as she was tall—flicked with curiosity.
More serpents streamed out in the water. “They’re tame?”
“They are with me. Come pet it. You’ll like the sensation against your fingertips.”
She raised her brows at him. And for my next trick . . .
He said, “It’s safe.”
She eased closer. He nodded again, encouraging her, so she reached for the creature. Muscles rippled beneath iridescent red scales the size of dinner plates.
She was about to hyperventilate from exhilaration/fear/holy shit! “I’m petting a sea serpent!” She grinned over her shoulder at the demon.
As if he couldn’t help himself, his lips curved. His moods seemed to be as changeable as the sea’s tide.
Her own irritation melted away. When her strokes slowed, the serpent shimmied for more, making her laugh.
In Demonish, Abyssian murmured, “Wants your touch as much as I.”
Be nicer, and you might get it. “How many are there?”
“A hundred or so in the sea, more in the swamps to the south. This one was a hatchling when my brother and I were pups.” Sea serpents can live that long? “Its dam died, so my sire gave us the egg. We kept it in our room, checking it every five minutes for weeks.”
The idea of Abyssian Infernas as a little boy, waiting for an egg to hatch, softened her toward him. She imagined him with miniature wings, downy horns, and a missing baby fang.
When her smile deepened, he gruffly said, “What are you thinking about?”
“I bet you were a handful growing up. Were you forever getting into trouble?”
“Always the first to trace into danger. Everyone said my life would be short. Little did they know.”
She smoothed her palm along a crease between the serpent’s scales, and it twitched. Ticklish? “What do you call your large pet?”
“We named him Loki.”
She raised her brows at the demon. “After the greatest trickster ever to live?”
“This one was a crafty hatchling, always figuring out ways to get free from his cage. Similar to my fey pet.”
“Watch it, demon,” she warned. “Here be dragons.”
Another curve of his lips. “How did you escape?”
“My ring came loose, so all bets were off.”
“And the vines?”
“I made wearable shields out of your gifts.”
“I see.” Seeming to make a decision about her, he asked, “You like to swim?”
“I love it. But I haven’t been a single time in Gaia.” She tapped the tip of one ear. “I could never hide these in the water.”
“I’ll take you now.”
She surveyed the sea serpents. “Isn’t it a bit crowded out there?”
By degrees, Sian’s ill-temper had faded, his mate’s excitement contagious.
There were so many things he could show her. Not just in hell, but in other realms as well. He wanted to experience these places anew with her.
Already he was viewing Pandemonia differently. The sea had never gotten him to raise a brow. It simply was. The same with the sea life and the jade beach. Yet she’d been breathless, her eyes flashing teal.
Hell was putting on a good show for its new queen. At least his kingdom satisfied her.
Could he? Again he wondered to what strengths she’d been referring. The way he’d pleasured her?
Maybe Sian should strive to live in the present, enjoying her for as long as possible. “If you want to swim, I could send them hunting. Not that they’d ever hurt my mate.”
She bit her bottom lip. That Calliope was even thinking about getting in the water was a testament to his mate’s courage. “I don’t have a swimsuit.”
He wanted to say, This is hell! Not Gaia or Sylvan. But she’d asked for patience; he could . . . attempt it. “You can leave your underwear on, and no one but me will see you. This is my—our—personal beach, and I’d sense any trespassers. In any case, most are terrified of the serpents.”
“I’ll swim. If you go first.”
“Fine.” He patted the serpent, and it lumbered off the beach into the water to join the others. They departed like a school of fish.
Sian reached down to yank off a boot. Pride still stinging from earlier, he couldn’t resist saying, “You should turn away. I don’t want to offend your fey sensibilities.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, muttering, “Moody prick.”
He turned to remove his other boot. As he was standing on one leg, something cold, wet, and slimy ran down his back. The little witch had used her speed to retrieve a clump of seaweed, then shoved it down his pants.
Yanking the mass free, he pinned her gaze. Her haughty smile faded when he grated, “Run.”