Page 73 of Dragon in Boots

Vile.“Then?”

“Sky said I had to go away. She said her new life had to be clean, happy, and beautiful. She said I was an ugly, diseased little cockroach, and she never wants to see me again.”

Sky wasn’t completely wrong, but it was a little harsh. “I’ve seen very nasty roaches, Pet,” he said reassuringly, “and you’re nothing like them.”Because I can get rid of those.

She looked up at him with big, blue, hopeful eyes. “You think I’m pretty?”

“Hit the sex-brakes, tiny porn star. I would not go that far.”

She covered her walnut-sized face with her penny-sized hands and bawled. Damien watched as Pet’s sobs turned into a full-on meltdown, her tears drenching her tiny white toga.

His chest constricted.Dear gods. Why does it affect me when women weep?“Pet, you’re not ugly. Stop your crying.”

“No? But I heard you! You think I’m disgusting.”

Damien rolled his eyes. “I think you are avoiding the true issue here: Sky dumped us all.”

“She sure did.” MF came up behind him with Maxton in tow. She plopped down on one of the overstuffed chairs and put her booted feet up on the coffee table. Maxton sat next to her.

“Great,” he said flatly. “You’re all here.”Can’t a man sulk in peace in the comfort of his obscenely large mansion?“We’re just missing Bonbon and Gorg.”

“Heya, boss. I heard the bad news.” Bonbon trotted up. “And Gorgonzolina likes to be called by her full name.”

Damien sighed with resignation. They were never going to leave him alone, were they?

“So, what’s the plan?” MF asked.

“Plan?” Damien stood. “Well, I intend to sleep for twenty-four hours. Then I’m going to my shop.”

“Damien,” Maxton said in his deep, low, haunting voice, “are you not alarmed by what we saw?”

Hell yes.Before, there was only one set of gods, who’d thankfully retired. Now there were two of each—excluding Cimil, unless she’d made a backup. Who knew what the outcome of all this would be?

“I would classify the event as diabolical on Cimil’s part and catastrophic for the rest of us,” Damien said. “The original gods will not be pleased about being replaced. They are far too narcissistic to permit being sidelined.”

“How did Cimil even pull it off?” MF asked.

“She took all those 3D body-printing machines and loaded them up with sack juice plus some dragon eggs,” Pet said. “I watched her do it. She said that the splooge and yolks were rich in powerful supernatural building blocks. She has an entire walk-in freezer full of the stuff. So yummy.”

Everyone except Damien winced with disgust. He was more interested in what Cimil planned to do with all that material.Can’t be anything good.Perhaps she was planning to build an army after all. Like he said, the original gods were not going to be happy about being replicated. She’d need something to fight back with.

“She made new gods out of that? Impressive,” said Maxton.

“But what does Cimil want with you, Damien?” MF asked.

Sky said that was part of the deal with Cimil. She had to exit Damien’s life for good. “I do not care,” he said. “I will never lift a finger to help Cimil or Sky again.”

They all chuckled. Apparently his posse of degenerates did not believe him.

“No, I really mean it this time. You’ll see. Now, if you do not mind, I need to get some sleep.” It had been a very long few days, and his heart had been stomped on yet again.

Though, oddly, this time, it wasn’t as bad. He had been given closure, and it was the one silver lining. Sky’s decision to disappear from his life showed exactly how she felt, and it explained her sudden change of plans back in Dallas. She’d never intended to cross over permanently. She’d only said that to explain her absence from their lives. He guessed that once they all returned to LA, Amelia and Miguel would have been miraculously freed. Sky would have said goodbye, and none of them would ever have known about her side deal with Cimil.

At least I didn’t trash a car for her in a fake death.Yes, perhaps it all worked out for the best.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

After several hours of tossing and turning, Damien had not been able to sleep, so he decided to get to the shop and catch up on a few pending alterations.

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