Page 99 of Of Mercury and Mist

Samuel wrapped a steadying arm around my back. “We can have that, you know. You can be by my side; you’d want for nothing. You’d be a princess, my queen. You could do whatever you wanted; I’d fuck you whenever and wherever you wanted.”

I didn’t know what I wanted, and my thoughts raced through my mind. Lights and sounds started spinning and I gripped the edge of the table. After a moment, he tugged me onto his lap. “Put your head back,” he instructed me.

I did so and felt mildly better. It wasn’t that I felt bad—I felt really damn good, I was just overwhelmed and unable to hold a thought for more than a second. Micha’s face swam before my eyes, and I could’ve sworn he was here. When I reached out to touch him, there was nothing there.

There was a rustling, and the sound of marching feet before I heard Diego, call out, “We have a sentencing—and then we shall feast.”

THIRTY-FIVE

Ashley

My first thought was Micha and Josiah, that they’d been captured. That wasn’t what happened.

A contingent of soldiers gather around the opposite side of the table and they deposited a woman with long, wavy red hair in the center. Her dress was similar to mine, the fabric highly unique and incredibly soft.

Micha wouldn’t want feet on the table.

“What is happening? Is there a woman on the table?” I asked Samuel. I no longer trusted my own eyes.

“There is,” he answered with excitement. “This is common. You’ll start looking forward to it.”

“Huh.”

She didn’t really fight her predicament, having been set down among the platters of food as if she were a centerpiece. It’d never occurred to me to use a person for a decorative accent. The demon world was certainly full of surprises, and I was curious to see what was next.

“She’s pretty,” I stated.

“They always are. That’s the highlight of a sacrifice. If they were flawed, it wouldn’t mean as much or taste as good,” Samuel informed me.

“Wait—what?” I shook my head, temporarily dislodging some of whatever had deadened coherent thought.

He sighed. “She’s a sacrifice, Ashley. She committed a crime, and we will eat her sins. They nourish us.”

Diego and the man I’d seen at Angels, Elijah, stepped up to the table and the room fell into silence.

“I have an announcement,” Diego declared. “I’d like everyone to welcome Lord Elijah. He’ll be filling the space left empty by Ezra’s murder until we find someone suitable.”

Elijah’s brow furrowed just the tiniest bit, and I glanced around. No one else seemed to have noticed his displeasure over the passive aggressive comment and I didn’t think I’d hallucinated it. Samuel’s eyes were fixed firmly on Diego, and he gave no indication anything was amiss.

“As such, you will honor and obey his commands, showing him the reverence the esteemed position demands.”

Everyone bowed their heads, murmuring, “Yes, my lord.” Except me.

I was too busy watching everyone else and furtively glancing at the body slightly wiggling on the table. Thankfully no one noticed.

Except Elijah. He stared with narrowed eyes until I quietly said, “Yes, my lord.” Satisfied, he dropped my gaze.

My hands trembled as I reached for my glass and quickly downed the remainder. The rest of the evening was spent with me feeling as if I were having an out-of-body experience. Wine flowed; blood flowed.

Chunks of the screaming woman were removed from her thighs as Elijah chewed away at her neck. Samuel and Ethan joked and laughed, their voices wrapping around me like steel vines. If Samuel hadn’t held me on his lap, an arm firmly tucked around him, I would’ve been under the table.

Tears were shed when I remembered being under a desk and then I asked him not to let me fall before I asked if he had a bow and arrow because he sort of looked like the guy from Lord of the Rings.

“She’s wasted, you need to take her home,” Ethan complained, his voice sounding as if he were at the end of a tunnel.

“She’s fine, I’ve got her.”

“She thinks you’re a movie star.”

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