Page 48 of Sealed By Fire (The Nature Hunters Academy 2)

“Beast will come for you when it is time for us to meet. I will consider your payment for leaving my realm deferred for now. For your sake, your proposal better be worth my while,” Osiris told him without acknowledging the fire king’s words. His eyes were on Shelly, and he looked greedy.

“Very well,” Viscious said and then was gone.

“Beast, you need to head back to your level and make sure your little minions are getting back to work. They were awfully enamored with the female,” Osiris told the demi-lord demon.

Beast snarled as he glared at Ra, and then he disappeared.

Ra’s attention went back to Shelly, and he took another step toward her. He felt drawn to her the way the tide was pulled by the moon. She suddenly seemed to be his gravity, dragging him to her.

He didn’t remember walking closer, but a few seconds later, he stood right beside the table where she lay. Her skin was flushed. Her blonde hair was long and lush, fanned out around her. She was slender, built like a dancer. Her face was pinched tightly as if she were in pain.

“Already enamored with her, I see,” Osiris said as he stepped up on the other side of the table.

Ra couldn’t deny it. He was completely captivated. She was breathtakingly lovely.

“She looks to be a gentle creature,” Osiris continued. “I wonder if she will be able to handle living in such a harsh environment. She might be too delicate. That would be a shame.”

“Bloody hell!” Shelly suddenly gasped as she shot up into a sitting position. “Someone is going to die a very painful death, and I don’t give a fly-flipping pile of dog crap who it is.” She shook her arms as if trying to rid herself of some unseen burden. Then she shook her hair out and made a strange growling noise. “Where are the demons who kept poking me?” she asked as she glanced around, appearing not to notice Osiris or Ra. She flung her legs around the side of the table and hopped off. She yelped as her legs crumbled beneath her. Ra barely caught her before she fell all the way to the ground.

“Oh snap.” She huffed. “Apparently, burning alive makes one weak in the knees.” Her head rose slowly, and her eyes met Ra’s. “Whoa.” She breathed out slowly, and her skin suddenly turned bright red. “You aren’t a demon.”

Ra’s lips tilted up slightly. “No,” he agreed. “I am not.”

“You’re, um, you're the guy…” She screwed up her face, apparently trying to formulate the correct words. “You’re Elias’s friend.”

Ra nodded. “I am. My name is Ra.”

She silently stared at him. It wasn’t until Osiris cleared his throat that she finally looked away.

“What is this? The land of sexy men?” Shelly said as she frowned. “Is this my own personal version of hell? To be burned and then tempted by men I can’t have?”

Osiris chuckled. “And here I thought you would be a wilting flower.”

Her scowl grew even darker. “A wilting flower? I’m about as much as a wilting flower as you are an altar boy. Who are you? Satan’s brother?”

“Shelly,” Ra said gently. “It might not—”

“Oh, you are a delight,” Osiris said. “Not his brother, little one. I am in fact lord of the underworld, and you are soon to be my queen.”

Shelly’s eyes widened. She looked back at Ra and then to Osiris. “Did he ask me to marry him?” Her eyes got even wider. “Shit fire, did I say yes?”

10

Shelly wracked her brain, trying to remember if she’d been proposed to. Surely she would remember someone as handsome as the devil before her, but she couldn’t. And she was certain she wouldn’t have said yes to the lord of the underworld, no matter how attractive he was.

“You’ve never even met him before, Shelly,” Ra said in his deep, quiet voice. It was soothing, and she found herself leaning into him.

“Then why does he think I’m going to be his queen?”

Ra leaned closer, his lips brushing against her ear. “Being as powerful as he is, he’s a bit delusional.”

Shelly grinned. “I suppose that’s to be expected.”

“I think you can allow her to stand on her own,” Osiris said, sounding very irritated.

Shelly’s face heated as she realized she was practically wrapped in Ra’s arms. She smiled and then stepped back. When she looked down, she saw that she was still in her prom dress. And it was not a pile of ash around her. In fact, it looked relatively untouched.

“Why isn’t my dress burned up?” she asked.

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