Page 60 of The Misfit Mage and His Devilish Desires

“I bet.” Bez scoffed.

“Any who,” I continued. “Turns out I was really more of a consolation prize, one she never planned on having to begin with. Her real motive was offering my head to Beelzebub.”

“Who she released from Hell,” Bez added. “His Hell. Currently, they’re both in Lilith’s domain.”

That immediately caught Mora and Kell’s attention. Both women stared wide-eyed with straightened postures and slack jaws as we explained everything about our trip, our escape, and how Corson warned those flaming keys were extensions of Lilith’s power so she’d never find herself trapped inside her own dimension like Beelzebub had. It was a preventive measure in case she was ever overpowered by her demons, by another devil, and afforded her an opportunity to regroup and regather her essence.

“So, if she feels Beelzebub will best her in combat—”

“Which he will,” Bez interjected.

“Then she’s going to flee her Hell—”

“Probably dragging Beelzebub with her,” Bez added. “Since he doesn’t suffer cowardly foes.”

“And since Corson is currently eradicating all of Lilith’s other keys scattered across the universe—”

“Which he never elaborated on,” Bez said, barring the fact he’d told the prince he didn’t care how he did such things.

“Now, we’re here hoping to remove any keys that’d bring Lilith—and possibly Beelzebub—into our world.”

“Smart idea,” Mora said.

“Kell, can you please return the copy of the key you made?” I asked. “I’d like to destroy it just in case.”

“Key?” Kell raised her eyebrows.

“You know the one you and Bez insisted would be a great way to seal a devil away and might actually now be the very thing that unleashes one…or two.”

Bez rolled his crimson eyes. “When you say it like that, you can makeanythingsound bad in retrospect.”

“I’d love to throw it away along with all my hard work put into creating the damned thing, but unfortunately, I don’t have it anymore.”

What. The. Fuck?

18

Bez

Of fucking course Kell and Mora had dropped the ball in our absence. I practically ran this city in my spare time. Not that the desire met my fancy, but obviously, those kept in line by my presence decided to pounce on the vulnerability of this tragic oasis.

“You can reel back the arrogant bravado.” Mora folded her arms.

“Pardon?”

“I can always tell when your thoughts get smug,” she said. “Suppose you think you could’ve done better.”

“I’m just saying, the witches didn’t strike under my watch.” I smirked. “And if you’d let me handle them before my departure, then we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

A situation that consisted of Kell and Tony working laborious hours to pinpoint the witch coven through scrying spells while creating a thousand different counter-incantations to the slewof traps conjured by a group who’d declared themselves a movement. A group of witches bent on ruling the Diabolic Oasis, which they’d probably remain something witchy.

I had no idea what they’d stolen from the shop, but based on Wally’s increasingly furrowed brow as he ran through the listed missing inventory, it was a lot.

“You’re sure about these?” he asked Antoninus, and the scorpion clacked one claw for yes.

Tony had compiled a list of everything stolen—because of course the bug knew more than Kell, who only paid attention to her projects—which allowed them some idea of what the witches were plotting, but apparently, they’d become quite adept at hiding their presence in the city.

“With these items, it’s no wonder you can’t track them,” Wally said, listing off several dozen things while naming various spells or concoctions one could make.

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