Page 84 of The Demon's Delight
“I don’t know,” I repeated. “But I think getting you to Revalia has become urgent for more than my own selfish reasons.”
We packed up, working in hushed tones as we set the lodge to rights. Hailon hid the key under a little ceramic pig stationed near the door, and we said goodbye to our second little cabin haven, urgency tingling under my skin.
Chapter 37
Hailon
“We’ll use the mirror,” Seir said, “when we stop to eat. See who they sent and guess how close they might be.” Our fingers were linked together, and he pulled my hand up near his face to drop a kiss on my palm.
“Alright.”
He was mostly talking to himself, completely focused on getting us as far down the road as possible. We’d used his new ability to glide on and off for the distances he could manage without it becoming cumbersome and walked the rest.
After leaving the little lodge behind, we’d covered a lot of ground, but our time was truly running short. We seemed to both be feeling the invisible clock ticking, like at any moment he could disappear again.
“I’ll be fine out here by myself. If it comes to that,” I offered again, for perhaps the third time. I was trying to convince myself as much as him.
“I’d rather that not happen. I’d rather someone be with you, Hailon. The councilman is still unaccounted for.”
“I know.” And I did, but from what I’d seen of the man, he wouldn’t be much of a challenge to me in my current, healthy state.
“Give the notebooks and samples to Rylan. There are a lot of very studious minds in that school. I’ll bet they can make heads or tails of what those men were after with their… experiments… and whether it would actually work or not.” He made a sound deep in his throat, teeth showing in distaste. “Rylan reports to the mage council, besides.” His head tilted to the side. “I gave your description of the councilman to my brothers. Perhaps they’ll get lucky. Though I’d really prefer nothing be done to him until I can be present, his punishment should be left to you for the crimes he committed.”
“You seem very confident he’ll be easy to find. Quick to capture.”
He smiled at me, but there was an edge to it. “Men like that are often blinded by their own ego. They never believe they’ll be caught, so they make mistakes, not realizing others have started paying attention to them.”
“I hope you’re right.” A sense of calm washed over me at the idea of being able to put to rest that whole part of my life. With no other dangling threads, no more of those men still alive and able to show up unexpectedly, I might be able to truly move on. Have a whole new life.
“Do you have a proposal for your unit leader? Something good?”
Seir smiled. “Yes. I think it could be perfect. Plenty of time here with you and enough time there that I get to keep my tail.”
“Your tail?”
He swung our arms between us, a smile gracing his handsome face. “When a demon commits to living anywhere other than Hell, they must sacrifice some of their demon features. My teeth would become more blunted, and my tailwould disappear, so I appeared as human as possible if I came here full time. Rylan and Vassago seem unbothered by the cost, but I’d like to keep them if I can.”
“It would definitely take me some time to get used to you without them,” I mused. “When we first met, I remember thinking how strange it was to see your tail move, to think it was normal. But now…” I shrugged. “I prefer you as you are.”
He smiled wide and kissed my hand again, several little smooches to express his appreciation for my compliment.
It was well after midday when we finally found a place to stop and eat. Seir almost immediately pulled the little mirror out of his pocket once we’d set our things down.
“Oh no.” He looked crestfallen, staring at the little piece of glass in his hand.
“What’s the matter?”
“My brother is going to be very cross with me.” He didn’t elaborate, but rather started speaking the words to activate it. The first attempt wasn’t successful, nor the second or third.
My heart stuttered when I saw the terrible crack nearly halfway down the mirror as I peered over his shoulder.
“May I see it?” He handed over the mirror and started pulling out food for us. I tried to mend the mirror with my healing magic. I’d never tried to fix an inanimate object before. Unfortunately, the glass seemed resistant to my magical stitches.
I tried the words myself several times, unsure why a crack would disable the magic in the odd communication device altogether. If it did, that seemed like a terribly fragile thing to put such powerful magic into.
“Hello?”
I gasped, nearly dropping the device. My heart pounded, both from the near tragedy and from the relief of having reachedsomeone. A man with black hair was looking back at me in the mirror.
