Page 53 of Hell Sent

He looked down at her. To his amusement, she just smiled at him, as if she had no misgivings about him at all.

He couldn’t dislike someone who worried over Raiya as much as he did.

* * *

On their thirdnight with the Roamers, Raiya persuaded him to sit with her and the others around their bonfire while she ate dinner.

Jai had been persuaded by the group to sing while musicians played their twanging stringed instruments. She’d been sipping sweet cider all evening, and her face was glowing blue-black in the firelight.

When the song ended, she laughed and quickly sat down. She covered her face as the group applauded, but she was still smiling. He could feel her mingled pride and embarrassment from where he sat.

Azreth had never been young, exactly, but he had spent his first year of life in constant fear and confusion. There had been no joy. Not like this. He envied her.

But he knew now that it wasn’t as simple as that. Young mortals were carefree and happy, but also sensitive and contemplative. Their emotions were intense. Jai was usually smiling and laughing when she was among others, but more than once, he’d seen her sitting alone with tears welling in her eyes. The first time he’d seen her that way, he had watched her for a few minutes, then approached her.

“What happened?” he asked.

She looked up at him, startled, and a tear dripped down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away. “Nothing.”

He moved closer to examine her. “Are you hurt?”

“No.” She sniffed and smiled a little. “Are you worried about me?”

He had never felt a protective urge toward anyone but Raiya, but he found himself wanting to help Jai. He didn’t like seeing her upset and alone.“If someone hurt you, I will make sure they don’t do it again.”

“No one hurt me.” She shook her head. “You wouldn’t understand. Did Raiya tell you to come over here?”

“No. She is with the shepherds.”

Jai sniffed, crossing her arms. “Ironic that the only one here who cares about me is the demon.”

He frowned, perplexed. “But everyone here loves you.”

“No they don’t.”

For a moment, he wondered if he had greatly misunderstood the other Roamers’ behavior toward Jai. But then he realized that she was the one who was mistaken. Perhaps she even knew it, deep down.

He knelt beside her. “You must keep moving,” he said. “You must not give in to despair. A mortal life is too short.” She gave him a narrowed glance, and he sensed her flare of irritation, but he went on anyway, raising his eyes to the hills behind them. “I was asked to fetch water. Can you show me the way to the river bank?”

“It’s right over there. It’s not hard to find.”

“Please show me.”

She reluctantly got to her feet and stalked in the direction of the river.

Gradually, her bad mood faded, and soon she was smiling and chattering as they walked, even though Azreth could still sense a sadness hidden in her. A lot of mortals had that sadness buried deep within them.

* * *

While Raiya usedher research from the temple’s library to work on developing another counter-enchantment for his binding, Azreth had free time, which was something of a novelty. He spent much of that time watching the other people in the camp. At first, he’d watched out of wariness, but after he grew more comfortable among the Roamers, it became something he did merely out of curiosity.

He realized he could tell which people were mated by watching whether they went into the same tent at the end of the day. He watched those ones particularly closely. The happiest ones seemed to spend a great deal of time together and touched each other often.

He couldn’t help but notice that he and Raiya did both of those things, too.

The pair he was most curious about consisted of a young, pale human boy and a dark-skinned girl who spent much time together but still seemed shy around each other.

From what Raiya told him, the two were in the midst of some kind of courting ritual. They both wanted to be together, but they could not tell each other that they both wanted to be together, even though they both knew that they both knew they both wanted to be together… Or perhaps Azreth hadn’t understood it correctly, because that seemed too convoluted to be feasible.

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