Page 389 of Flirting with Darkness

But I have no suitors. No friends. No hobbies.

Such is the life of service and conscription.

I would have made a good friend to someone. A lovely bride.

But I’m wed to the creature housed in the chest in our cellar. Although I will have to wed someone and bear a child. Likely soon. Another Aderyn, another Keeper must carry on this work. Training takes years, and my father and I won’t live forever.

I scoop a bit of egg onto my toast and chew it. I can’t afford to be weak. Not when each night it tests all my faculties. I might want hotcakes, but eggs and toast are all I have and that will have to do, despite my mind screaming to follow the rules. The routine.

Washing the bedclothes every day. Bathing the sweat and demon scent off my skin every morning. Wearing the dress that corresponds with the day. And having the proper breakfast on the proper day.

Breaking routines gets people killed.

It almost killed me.

The one time I broke the rules, the only time I ventured below the house to the room with the twelve-sided chest, I almost freed it.

Almost unleashed Hell’s worst abomination on the world.

I was just eighteen then. I didn’t yet understand the power it had over my mind and body. Didn’t realize I’d allowed its sweet temptations to guide my actions.

I thought it was a dream.

A handsome lord called to me. Said I was his love forever and always. Bade me come to his bed.

So I did.

I disrobed and went to his bed.

I’m lucky it’s so drafty in the cellar. My fingers were inches from the latch. A breath away from the key that hangs around my neck.

I’d skipped prayers that morning and that one slip left me vulnerable to the demon’s wiles. One missed prayer was all it took.

When I woke shivering, my toes covered in cellar dirt, and the demon key inserted in the lock, just a twist away, I vowed never to let my control wane again. Never.

To always follow the rules. The routine.

And sometimes that means I’m irritating to others, mainly Mother. But I think she understands.

I think she knows the reason Father and I are so strict with ourselves. We must be.

If we aren’t, people die.

I might die.

And a demon gets loosed on the world.

* * *

The forest is alive with sounds. Chittering and singing songbirds…

“Little bird, you’ve finally come.”

I spin, my favorite azure dress twirling out around me, finally seeing the owner of that honeyed voice.

I bare my teeth at the sight of him. “This can’t be your real face. Unfurl your illusion and show me your true self, demon.”

The demon lifts a single dark brow. “And just what should I look like, princess?”

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