Page 55 of The Tenth Muse

Okay, so maybe this one’s actually sane. But that doesn’t mean they won’t cause mischief of their own.

“Well, I—How do I know I can trust you?”

I’m surprised I don’t also see wings when they cross the cauldron to stand closer to me. However, I am surprised by the way I’m mesmerized by their hips as they do so.

“Sweetheart, you called me here. I am a demon, at your beck and call, here to do your bidding. As long as you trust yourself, you can trust me.”

A demon that wears crisp leather jackets and has a short white bob? With two pointed horns that are lengthening as wespeak? Yeah, suuuper convincing. But, weirdly enough, Idofeel calmer with them here now. And another magical person would probably know best how to deal with the witches, so they’re kind of my only hope of getting out of this situation right now.

“What’s your name?” I ask before we go any further.

“Donella, darling.” They lift their hand towards me and I flinch thinking they’re going to touch my hair, but they simply drag their fingers down my arms. “Yours?”

“Lellies.”

“Lellliessss.” Donella draws my name out slowly, like they’re tasting every letter. Donella inches closer to me, almost pinning me to the wall. They’re taller than me, which doesn’t happen often so I have to raise my head to keep eye contact with them.

They drop their head closer to me and whisper, “And you, Lellies, how did you end up here with those two?”

Oh, right.

But it’s hard to think now, with Donella’s breath on my cheeks and an arm leaning on the wall above my head and their lips right at eye level. In fact, I don’t take my eyes off them when I respond, “If I ask for help, will it cost me?”

Donella gives me some space again, folding their arms and setting a wide stance. Their horns have stopped lengthening now, sitting in a curl and pointing up to the ceiling. I breathe a little easier now. With Donella so close, my cheeks flushed, like the temperature in the air surrounding just the two of us had risen. And, I mean, I love flirting but now’s kind of not the time.

“Well that depends on what you’re asking.” Donella says, looking me up and down like they want to take a bite out of me. I almost want them to.

But I need to stay focused. Donella seems calm and hasn’t tried to shank me yet so I’ll give them that, but I still need to cover all my bases.

“I’ve readThe Thousand and One Nights. I'm not going to say something vague and then you get to ‘interpret’ that as a command just so you can do something … nefarious.”

Donella smirks, shaking their head slowly. “Never. That’s not the kind of being I am and that’s not the kind of game I play. And, honestly, as long as you let me take these two with me, I couldn’t care less what you ask of me right now.”

“Wait, really?” The words fall out of my mouth before I’ve had a chance to even halfway think them. I can’t keep the smile off my face when I say, “That’s actually all I need you to do. Take them away from here and make sure they can never come back.”

Donella’s smile is—wow. The gray skin around their eyes crinkles and they have one dimple on the left side. I only get to see it for a moment before they turn around and assess the state of the witches.

“Absolut—” they turn back to me with a look of confusion, “Do you know who these two women are?”

“No, I was at a party and they kidnapped me.” I’m not worried about telling them the truth now that I know they’re going to take care of them. “I woke up here and I was trying to get away and then you appeared.”

Donella’s reaction confirms my gut feeling. Eyes wide, breath staticky, they even bring a hand to their chest as they take two steps back.

Theyareon my side!

Donella takes a breath like they’re about to speak and then stops. They take another look at the sisters and then step forward and bend down to me. “Pretty girl,” they whisper, “I’m so glad you’re okay. But I don’t just show up randomly. What else happened?”

Ooooo, you think I’m pretty?

Okay, stop, focus. My chest cringes at the idea of having to come clean but I certainly haven’t done anything nearly as badas what they were planning to do to me. And Donella seems smart, charismatic, sexy as hell … Where was I going with this?

I trust them to help me figure out what to do.

“They were going to kill me. They said they wanted to steal my youth and that the spell would kill me and that they’ve done it to other girls as well.” Once I start talking, the words come out faster and faster like they're on a runaway train careening off the tracks. “I didn’t want them to be able to get away and steal other people’s lives. I didn’t know what was going to happen, I didn’t know you’d get summoned here, but I knew she was going to put orange slices in the cauldron so I figured they could reap what they sowed and,” I don’t want to say it out loud but Donella’s expression doesn’t look judgemental at all. In fact, they’re nodding me on, like they would’ve done what I did.

“I … I cut them like they planned to cut me. And then when I saw the oranges, I threw them in there too.”

“Ahhh, the full story.” Donella opens their arms in a silent invitation and I all but throw myself into that hug. “From now on, I want you to always tell me the full story, okay?”

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