Page 18 of The Demigod

“I really wish there felt like there was another way,” she said, finishing chaining me back up, her gaze finally cutting to mine.

The grief in her eyes—for a complete stranger, and an evil one at that—had that little voice whispering at the back of my mind again.

Mine.

“Just do me a favor,” I said.

“Anything.”

“Once you hear the screaming stop, give me an hour or two before you come down.”

“Why?”

“Give a demon a chance to heal up a bit, will ya? Gotta keep up appearances. Can’t be denying you this gorgeous face, now, can I?”

That got a small laugh out of her.

“Okay. I can do that. What about, uh, food? Sustenance?”

“I don’t need to eat,” I told her. Sure, I liked it a fuckuva lot more than my demon friends did. I mean, if you couldn’t appreciate a deep-fried onion blossom, something was wrong with you. “But I wouldn’t mind a warmer shirt,” I said, thinking of a long night trekking through the grounds with her.

“Done,” she said with a firm nod.

“Where do you go?” I asked, not quite ready for her to leave yet. Even if I knew she was risking herself with each moment she stayed here during the daylight hours.

“What do you mean?”

“When you’re not here, where do you go?”

“I’m always here,” she said. “I have a room rented in town. They gave it to me on a song since no one wants to visit the ‘suicide town’ anymore. “It’s the other way down the road we took. Sits all by itself in the middle of nowhere. Honestly, it’s creepy. But it’s cheap. There’s hot water. I can’t complain. It’s better than being chained to a wall in a freezing basement.”

“Oh, shadow girl, don’t go worrying about me. Get some rest. I’ll see you in a few hours.”

She hesitated again, not wanting to leave me, even if this was her very idea. Good to her core, this one.

Eventually, though, she did turn, making her way toward the steps. Watching her, I swore she struggled to keep putting one foot in front of another.

My stomach twisted, worrying that she might not be able to make it all the way back to safety without being discovered.

But she was the pro at this, I had to remind myself. She’d been taking care of herself without me for a long time.

She didn’t need me.

Mineminemine, the strange voice croaked at the back of my mind even as I started to drift back off to sleep.

Only to be woken up by pain.

CHAPTER SIX

Nox

I heard his screams in my dreams.

I woke up crying, tears streaking down my cheeks, soaking through the cheap motel room pillowcase.

My hands pressed to my ears even if I knew I couldn’t actually hear him, that it was just the lingering hold of the nightmare keeping its grip on me.

I guess it was hard to differentiate dream from reality when I knew, not far from me, Daemon was likely being tortured—body and mind—while the gods took joy in his suffering.

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