Page 54 of Quiet Burn

“Salem, do you have everything you need?” I ask, feeling bad as he buzzes around the kitchen in his dress clothes. “I could?—”

“Nope,” Oriel says with a firm head shake. “You will stay in your chair and let us handle this, Kit Kat. You’ve done enough standing up tonight.”

My face turns bright red and I mumble to Dottie as she clings to my neck. They made me go change while no one else has, and the display of beautiful demons in perfectly tailored, but rumpled formal wear is making it very hard to concentrate. Since theincident, I haven’t felt an iota of desire foranyone, but the sight of my caliphate does the weirdest things to my body. I feel like my skin is tingling so much that I’m going to sparkle into the air.

Zavida tilts his head, studying me with a curious look. His tails are resting beside him, a sign that he’s truly comfortable at the moment even in our room. “Kit, are you okay?”

I nod, smiling weakly. “Yeah. It’s hard coming down from a half-formed attack, you know? The adrenaline isn’t fully spent and my body aches a bit because of the muscle freeze? I’m sure Salem’s food will help me get some energy to refill the reserves.”

“It will, little demon.” Slash looks pleased at my answer and flutters kick up in my stomach.

Why is that praise making me feel so damn good? Fucking weird.

Jasper is sitting in his chair, still quiet as hell. I don’t know what his problem is, but it makes me edgy. I’m just waiting for him to unleash a torrent of nastiness to soothe whatever shit he’s got stewing in his brain. So far, it hasn’t come, but I’m certain it will. He deals with emotions he can’t handle by lashing out and I’m his favorite target.

“Perhaps some of us should change? My couture is going to be amessafter this,” Xerxes says. My gaze swivels to theirs, and there’s something I can’t quite place in it. They have a reason for this suggestion, but it sure as fuck isn’t about having to iron his fancy duds. All of them have their clothes cleaned by a service—X won’t have to lift a finger.

Anton nods, leaning in to press a kiss to their head. “That’s a good idea, babe. I’d like to get comfortable, and I’m sureeveryone else would as well. Now that we have Salem started and KK tucked in, we can go a few at a time.”

“I’m not a baby,” I grumble as I sink into the blanket Oriel brought me from my room. “I can sit here while Salem cooks without all of you staring at me like a giant bug.”

Slash snorts, arching a brow. “If we all go, you’ll be on your feet by the time the door closes.”

Damn him for being right.

“Slash is right,” Salem says as he dances to the tunes in his head at the stove. The smells are delicious and my stomach rumbles, making him smirk over his shoulder at me. “Kit Kat will jump at the chance to get over here, especially if he’s hungry.”

“I don’t snitch while you cook—that much,” I protest. Dottie chitters, giving me a reproving look, and I sigh. “Okay, fine, I do, but it’s because the food here is so damn good. Salem being the cook makes it even better. I don’t think I’ve ever had food that tastes this good, truthfully.”

Jasper snorts and my gaze flits back to him. I know what’s coming.

“Because you have demon blood, shrimp. The delights of Hell have been missing from your diet and your body will now crave it, especially as you continue to emerge.”

I’ll be a redheaded step-child; he didn’t insult me.

“The Prince is correct.”

Slash’s confirmation makes me feel a bit better; being hungry a lot as a girl in our realm is associated with things I’mnevergoing to want, so knowing it’s normal here helps my anxiety. Ofcourse, I haven’t done the thing you need to do for that to be possible since… the trauma.. but it’s so ingrained. Girls fear what isn’t even possible because of the stupid Puritanical horseshit up there. It’s a tool of the fucking patriarchy, and luckily for me, it doesn’t seem like Hell gives a flying fuck about that.

My eyes widen for a second as I realize I have not one single goddamn clue what various shifter or demon anatomy looks like or how they reproduce other than a vague guess about the mechanics being similar. That is very bad and I may need to have a private discussion with Dank about it. I don’t foresee it being necessary anytime soon, but being ignorant isn’t my jam. I want to have all the information possible so if something terrible—or not so terrible—happens, I can make smart decisions.

“Kit? Hey, Kit, did we lose you?”

I blink, looking at Oriel in confusion. Obviously, I blipped out for a minute thinking about demon sex and reproduction, which I amnotgoing to admit to these jokers.“Um, yes. I spaced a little, I think. Sorry.”

X gives me another one of those assessing looks and I duck into my big chair more so I don’t squirm. “I think Annie and I will go first, then. Jas and Slash can follow, then Zav and O.”

“Guess I’m just fucking stuck then, huh?” Salem snarks from the kitchen and I chuckle. “The chef always loses, man.”

“Salem, you can go anytime once the food won’t burn. I’d help, but no one will let me,” I say softly. He looks less pissy as he smiles at me fondly, and I have to adjust in my seat again.

These demons are going to be the death of me.

I waswrong about the stupid suits being the worst outcome—soverywrong.

Biting my lower lip as I wait for Salem to finish plating our dinner, I swallow hard. The guys came back from shedding their tuxes and suits pair by pair, and I haven’t been able to breathe since. X and Anton have some sort of matching silk pajamas and tanks in colors that make them look statue-esque and cut like diamonds. The material flows around their bodies, clinging to lithe muscles in a way that’s damn near indecent. But that’s not the worst of it… oh, no.

Zavida and Jasper have ridiculously fancy PJ pants with tight tees and bare feet, looking like the very picture of the bad boy and the nerd as they lounge together. Zav is curled next to Jasper’s legs while he messes with his tablet, but the fond hand that occasionally ruffles his hair is making my chest ache. The Prince loves to be a jackass to everyone, but he’s not afraid to show his affection for the kitsune.

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