Page 83 of The Misfit Mage and His Devilish Desires

“A few days.” Kell shrugged. “If I was bragging.”

“How long for the both of you?”

“A few weeks,” Wally said. “We have different methods.”

“Nonsense.” Kell smiled. “You’re brilliant.”

“I know that. My intellect was never in question.” Wally squinted at Kell before turning his attention to me. “We just have different approaches. It collides in the wrong way. But she’s got a better grasp on the research than I do.”

“So Kell will work on the orbs while you focus on defensive measures.” I flexed my muscles, channeling my essence in preparation for combat. For war. For a one-sided battle againsta thrashing devil. “I’m gonna stall for time. Get you at least one day.”

“I can help distract Lilith,” Wally insisted.

“You are helping by securing this place,” I said. “Kell needs peace and quiet to work.”

“I really don’t,” she said, tinkering with tools. “I thrive in chaos.”

“Well, Weather and Antoninus need somewhere safe to rest their heads.” I pointed to the Cerberus and Wally’s familiar.

“They’ll be in the safest place,” Wally said. “Tony, I need you and Weather to go to the well.”

The familiar protested with a clack of his claws, but when the essence inside Wally blossomed, the scorpion settled. Claws coated Wally’s hands, horns grew three times the size they’d ever been, his tail flicked and snapped against the floor, and his cherub wings swelled and transformed the tips of each feather with sharp blades.

I nodded approvingly. “Someone’s finally slipping in and out of his essence with ease.”

“The less I think about it, the more naturally it syncs with my desires.” He stared at his claws, watching the ombre effect reach his forearms.

“Hey, bug.” I stopped the familiar. “Take this with you.”

I tossed him the ruby holding Remington’s soul.

“On the off chance I don’t survive this, I want to ensure he remains in that damn stone.” I smirked. “I’m petty like that.”

Tony carried the gem on his back and shuffled to the back of the store, toward the well, which served as the safest place in the entire Diabolic Oasis. It had more magics protecting it than the rest of the city combined ten-fold. But since the well held Agatha’s Heart, the still beating tool that fueled the dimensional cloak of the city, Mora made it such a priority that no one except for Kell and Wally had access.

“Dog, wait.” I patted my thigh, calling Weather over. I gave each head a few pets and then a kiss on their furry foreheads. Cloudy yipped with excitement. Sunny licked my face in return. Stormy growled and pulled away.

“Shut up.” I held his head, staring into his fiery blue eyes. “You’re gonna accept my kissies, and you’re gonna like the kissies.”

Stormy huffed and conceded. I gave him the biggest smooch before giving Sunny and Cloudy one more little forehead kiss because, obviously, they’d only whine if I played favorites.

After I sent him off to the well for safety, I found Wally filling a bag with artifacts.

“And what are you doing?”

“Putting together a lethal combination of diversionary magics.”

Once he’d filled the bag to the brim, I snatched it from his grasp.

“Hey!”

“Is for unicorns, and unless you’ve got one on hand, you won’t be joining me.”

“I can help,” Wally snapped. “I can actually hold my own against Lilith.”

I glared. Quite the personal jab he threw out, but all the same, his luck against Lilith the last time they clashed didn’t mean he could hold his own.

Facing a devil on my own would be the end of me. There was no way around it. The only chance I had of surviving, of besting a devil, came down to the fact her focus was divided into so many tasks. Her essence split across the entire world, fighting Mythics, mortals, the Collective, and any Fae who deigned to assist. Probably several thousand, at the very least, who found themselves trapped on this dying rock with Lilith barricadingthe dimensional walls. Plus, while she escaped Beelzebub, her essence was in a state of decay, barely holding on.

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