Page 42 of A Realm of Fire and Ash

"Really?"

"You were sound asleep, so I refilled your canteen at the river and left you a basket of bread and butter just outside your door. Didn't you see it?"

"Oh." I deflate. "I'm sorry, I didn't leave my hut until Aggonid dragged me out of it that night."

He hums in response. "You ready to untether yourself from the devil?" Amusement coats his voice.

"Will it hurt to get the key?"

He's quiet for a moment. "It doesn't have to."

I'm taken aback by his softness and compassion once again. It's something I don't expect from a demon, but his warning not to trust him still hangs in the back of my mind. "What do you mean?"

"I'm a master of elements, but I need to feed from you to coax the key up your throat."

My breath catches. "You need to ... feed from me. Like a vampire?"

He chuckles. "Kind of."

"What will it feel like?" I swallow hard.

"If I make it hurt, you'll feel like I'm pouring molten metal through your veins."

I flinch. "But you won't, right?" I've had more than my fair share of agonizing torture. It comes with being a phoenix.

"I could make it feel good."

"Well, of course I'd want—"

"It'll feel like the best, most drawn-out orgasm of your life," he interrupts, "and you will climax."

"Oh ... that sounds ... nice." My face heats.

He laughs and I swear there's a hint of tenderness in it this time. "You'll try to get us both naked."

"What?" I sit up straighter.

"It's an intimate process, and that’s why Caius is against it." His voice drops an octave.

"What other alternative is there?"

"Cutting it out of you, or hoping it passes, though it's unlikely on account of its shape."

"You've done this before?"

"Once. It was during war, and the enemy had swallowed the key to Aggonid's chains. I made it hurt."

My heart squeezes. Someone chained him? Suddenly, the fact that I put my own chain on him eats at me.

I want to get him out of them now more than ever.

"Let's do this."

He chuckles. "In here?"

"Where else would we do it? I don't want them watching." On the other hand, maybe I should, since he already established, he can't be trusted.

"The bed would be better. More room." To emphasize his point, he shifts in the cramped space.

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