Page 30 of The Demon's Pet

I turned over to look at him, eyes wide like saucers. “You forced a kiss on me. How would that help me?”

“I didn’t force it.”

“I was in stocks!” I yelled.

He frowned, looking put out by my accusation. “I know when someone wants me. And when I came forward, you didn’t move back. And when I kissed you, you didn’t struggle, you moaned and let me in and—”

I covered my ears, making my shackles jingle. “Shut up. That’s not consent, you idiot.”

“You wanted me. I know it.”

Damn it, if I got out of here and got my powers back, he’d be the first one I attacked.

Smug bastard.

“Let’s say I did do something bad. Who would punish me?” He cocked his head, and a gorgeous lock of golden brown fell across his flawless forehead.

He had a point there.

“Another celestial?” I asked.

He snorted. “You really don’t understand them at all. None of you country bumpkins do.”

“Them? You mean you and them?”

He was quiet again.

“So how did you get the executioner job?” I asked caustically. “Were you so heartless you were perfect for it?”

He laughed, a cold, empty sound. “Yes. But also because I enjoy it. And no one else wants to get their wings dirty.”

“Dirty?”

“You know, when an angel commits mortal sins, his wings darken.”

I swallowed because I had no idea, and I figured he was probably only telling me this because, in the morning, he would kill me.

I looked at the tiny, barred window to my cell and stood as much as I could to look out of it.

The village was quiet and sleeping. No one was waiting outside the jail.

No one gave a shit that I was here, which made sense.

“Your wings are black,” I said. “What does that mean?”

He grinned. “Think about it.”

I tried. I wasn’t sure which mortal sins he committed to be that way. I was a bit curious how many murders it took to go completely black.

“How many people have you killed?” I asked.

“Countless,” was his reply.

“And you enjoy that?” I asked. “You get off on it?”

He didn’t answer that, just got off the desk to roam around the jail as if he hadn’t even heard me. Angels really did move to the beat of their own drum.

I still couldn’t believe I was talking to one. The closest thing to a god in our world. The only higher gods, the elder gods, never visited, leaving the archangels to do their work.

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