Page 41 of The River of Fire

“That’s just wrong,” he says with feeling, and I have to agree – looks like having a daddy demon kink is more acceptable to my psyche than a daddy angel kink. “Don’t scar me like that, there’s enough going on already.”

“Anyway.” I change the subject to a more important one. “What the fuck were you thinking coming here alone? Lucifer’s burning ballsack, do you realize how idiotic that was?”

Kevin stands up and starts pacing restlessly. “Well, yeah, now I do. Wasn’t thinking much at the time.”

“Yeah,duh? Now we’re both stuck here and Liam, Ethan, and Jessica are alone. Oh.” The information I got from Ashtaroth should have been the first thing I said to Kevin. As always, I got distracted. “There may be a chance Simone is alive.”

He stops pacing and whirls towards me. “What? How? It’s been years and we’ve heard nothing.”

I nod. He’s not saying anything I didn’t consider myself when Ash told me about an Elioud woman. It feels dangerous to hope. “According to Ashtaroth’s informants, Asmodeus was holding one of ours captive about a year ago.”

“A year ago?” He seems to deflate and his shoulders drop.

“I know,” I commiserate. “Ash went to get some information now.”

Kev gapes at me. “Ash?” he repeats incredulously. “And why does ‘Ash’ care, anyway?” The invisible quotation marks are obvious.

I decide to just gloss over the embarrassing nickname thing. “He considers him a brother of sorts,” I explain. “Actually, I’m pretty sure your girl is Asmodeus’ daughter,” I add, with no small amount of glee.

Predictably, Kevin blushes. “Not my girl,” he mutters, and sits back down, the burst of energy having clearly left him.

“Right,” I scoff. “I’ll let you know what I find out.” He nods, his eyes growing heavy. I punch him in the shoulder. There’s too much nervous energy inside me and since he was dumb enough to follow me here, he’s going to be the one I talk it out with.

“Ow!” he hisses, eyes now wide open.

“You deserve it. Now tell me what happened at Abaddon after I got kidnapped by one of the oldest creatures in existence to be his sex toy.”

???

I’m roused by a now familiar feeling of being carried bridal style and held against leather armor. The smell of warm sugar and crisp outdoors confirms that Ashtaroth is the one carrying me.

“You will no longer sleep outside of my bed,” he decrees, once I wrap my arms around his neck. I don’t say anything, just roll myeyes sleepily. Clearly I fell asleep with Kevin. I hope he’s alive.

“What did you find out? Did you see a rift into the human realm?” I ask about his trip to Asmodeus’ ziggurat instead of asking about Kev’s wellbeing, a part of me knowing he wouldn’t hurt my friend. If nothing else, it wouldn’t put me in the mood to make the two-humped camel. He’s being awfully considerate for a notorious ancient monster.

He looks down at me, eyes narrowed like he suspects where my thoughts went. “No. And he did not hold her there.”

“But you know where, right?” I intuit. He must have carried me for a while before I woke up because I see we’re in his wing already.

He nods, opening the door to his chambers with the ether. “There is a cave system on the other side of Asmodai’s domain. The confined lieutenant I spoke with suggested that may be where he would have taken her to hide her from the court.”

“Why would he do that?” I ask as he sets me down on the bed. “And could you free the caged demons?”

Ash crouches in front of me and shakes his head. “No. And I do not know why. He has had lovers aplenty, as is shown by his numerous progeny. Perhaps he did not trust his subjects around this one. Regardless, we will scout the caves tomorrow for any evidence of her stay.”

This wakes me up a bit and I brace myself on an elbow. “You’re taking me with you? I thought I was a ‘distraction’,” I ask, still surly.

His eyebrows raise. “You would have been a distraction in his stronghold, seeing as I would have been protecting you from hundreds of starving demons, rather than asking them questions,” he says, like it should have been obvious.

Oh. Well, if he had just said that earlier, maybe I wouldn’t have pictured his balls on a chopping block for half the day. “I think you need communication lessons to go with the consent ones, Your Majesty.” I blink at him innocently. He scoffs and his face scrunches slightly in affront. My hand reaches out unthinkingly and I smooth the frown lines between hiseyebrows with my thumb. Blushing, I cover the action by asking, “Uh, do you need to feed?” Wait, how did I possibly think that question would make things less awkward?

The effect of it is instantaneous as flames leap to life in his eyes and his mouth hardens. “While I do not need to feed daily,” he begins, and brings the hand I moved away to his mouth so he can nibble on my fingers, making my breath catch, “I would.” He grins salaciously at my lust-drunk expression. “But you are unaccustomed to the expenditure. It’s making you tired,” he finishes.

That explains why I’ve been sleeping so much. I was worried I had narcolepsy for a minute there. “That’s very selfless of you,” I accuse teasingly and he scoffs in denial. “Am I… less potent than a demon would be?” I ask hesitantly, half dreading the answer, wholly dreading the reason behind the question. I’m actually feeling insecure.

“You being mortal has no effect on that.” He shakes his head and surprises me by kissing my palm before he sets it down to stand up. “You must, however, recuperate more frequently.”

He throws the blanket over me and I dare to ask, “Does your niece know that? Kev seemed a bit… wrung out.”

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