Page 140 of The Devil's Trials

Her eyes narrow, and I catch her wrist when she takes a step toward him. “I think we’re going to have dinner soon,” I chime in, looking at Xander to step in before his half-sister and demon bestie get into a brawl in the living room.

“Yes,” he confirms. “Gio is almost done in the kitchen.”

Once we each have a drink in our hands, we proceed to have the most awkwardly silent dinner in history.

Harper and I sit on one side of the table, while Xander and Blake sit across from us. The conversation is limited to surface-level small talk about Harper’s drive and how nice the house is. Harper makes a comment about putting a Christmas tree up in the living room, and it’s only then I realize we’re only a few days from the holiday.

“We can,” Xander offers. “I wasn’t sure where we’d be for Christmas this year so I didn’t buy anything, but feel free. My home is yours.”

“Yeah, you don’t want to tell her that,” I warn, “she’ll redecorate the entire place immediately.”

Xander chuckles. “I’m not concerned about that.”

“Yeah, it could use a splash of personality,” Blake says.

“So long as it’s not yours,” Harper chimes in, using a sickly sweet, completely fake tone.

I glance between the two to find them locked in a death glare, though there’s a spark of amusement in Blake’s eyes.

When my eyes shift to Xander, I find him already looking at me. “Have you spoken to your parents yet?” he asks.

I push a little potato around my plate, shaking my head. “I think it’s something I need to tell them in person.”

“Your dad is scheduled to be at headquarters next week,” Harper says, turning her attention to me. “So he’ll probably be in Seattle for Christmas. If you ask him to come, he definitely will.”

A brief frown touches my lips as I consider that Dad being in Seattle for the holidays means Noah will be spending them alone. I push the thought away. I unfortunately have more immediate things to worry about. “Right. Yeah, we can head there tomorrow.”

“Uh, we can’t,” Blake chimes in, turning his gaze to Xander. “You have a council meeting.”

“What makes you think you’re invited to Christmas?” Harper asks, crossing her arms.

“Harper,” I murmur, shaking my head to say,enough.

Of course having Xander and Blake around for the holidays would be an impossible sell on my parents, but I may need Xander there to help me explain what’s going on.

“Fine,” she says with a sigh, reaching over to squeeze my knee. “We’ll figure it out, babe.”

After we finish eating, Harper and I return to the living room while the guys clean up from dinner. We drop onto the couch, and Harper grabs the heavy throw blanket off the back and drapes it over us.

“Talk to me,” she says.

“I’m not sure what Xander already told you.”

“Danielle is trapped in hell. That’s basically the extent of what I know.”

I nod. “Right, well, I’m going to get her back.”

Harper smiles. “Of course we are. We’ll come up with a plan and send Xander’s council there to—”

“No,” I cut in, my brows knitting. “I mean,I’mgoing to hell to bring her back here.”

She blinks at me, then reaches for my hands, holding them firmly in hers. “You are with the most powerful demon alive. Let him do this.”

I press my lips together, unable to ignore the subtle fluttering in my stomach. “I can’t. She’s my sister. I…I have to do this.”

Harper looks conflicted, like she understands but wants to argue with me. “You know I’m on board to help in any way that I can.”

The flare of reassurance brings tears to my eyes. I’m absolutely terrified about the thought of going to hell and everything that’ll come with that, which only invites more doubt to my ability to trust my instincts, but Harper’s immediate willingness to get on board makes me feel like maybe I can trust my gut in this situation. “Thank you.”

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