Page 104 of Monsters in Love

How was there such warmth in a demon’s gaze? She couldn’t understand it, and perhaps she didn’t need to. Not yet. All that mattered right now was that she and Emmi had a chance to survive this place. “This one has done us no harm, and we have to believe its intentions are pure.”

“Butstairs?” Emmi hissed. “In thetunnels?”

Belle could only shake her head. “I can’t explain it. I never mapped anything beyond the tunnels.”

The creature’s brows lifted and it gestured upward again.

Her lips twitched. “Our unlikely savior makes an excellent point,” she said, giving Emmi a gentle tug. “The only way to discover the truth behind these stairs is to keep going.”

“And I thought getting tossed in a pit was scary,” Emmi grumbled.

Me too, Isabelle thought.

Hand-in-hand, they continued.

It felt like an age, but in truth it was likely only a matter of minutes before they reached the top of the staircase. She stumbled onto the landing alongside her sister. The skirts of their old-fashioned dresses had grown heavier with each turn of the stairs, and Isabelle’s breaths were labored. Half-bent over her knees, Emmi didn’t appear to have fared much better.

Isabelle leaned against the wall and regarded a round door set in the stone wall across the landing.

A portal to salvation, or an invitation to an untimely demise?

The creature opened it, sending the wooden circle swinging inward, and motioned for her and Emmi to enter. She couldn’t see much of anything beyond, just more gloom—though there did appear to be a strangely-hued glow coming from one side.

It made her think of a fading sunset—or inhuman eyes in the darkness.

She glanced at her sister.

“Ah, Belle…” Emmi peered warily at the round portal. “Maybe we should wait here for a moment?”

Eyes fixed on the opening and its odd light, Isabelle gripped her sister’s shoulders and inched away from the opening. “Perhaps we should. Yes. I rather think we should catch our breath for a moment before entering this fine creature’s home…”

Faint cries wavered up the stairs.

Oh, gods.

Her entire body stiffened. Were the other demons still chasing them?

She held her breath for a moment, listening as carefully as she could. A chill snuck down her spine. No doubt about it, those wails belonged to the demons they’d left in the tunnels.

And they seemed to be getting louder.

“Gods have mercy.” Eyes wide with alarm, she glanced at Emmi and found her worries reflected in her sister’s gaze. “Perhaps we should go inside,” she said, desperately trying to sound calm. “It would be rude to stand out here when we’ve been invited in.”

“Y-yeah.” Emmi’s lip trembled. “Can’t be rude.”

“No. Never.” Isabelle’s attention shifted to their guide. “Ah, thank you. Kind—”Demon. Creature. Terrifyingly large monster who has us at his mercy and might be feeding us to their young. She swallowed hard and used the most neutral term she knew: “—Ser.”

It inclined its head and motioned for her to enter.

“Right. Yes. Should get going…” Sharing another look with her sister, Isabelle sucked in a deep breath. Did she go first, to check things out? Or last, and stand between Emmi and their guide?

Biting her lip, she thought about the smaller creature they’d glimpsed earlier, about the host of things that could await them within that room.

First.

Definitely first.

She smiled hesitantly at the creature, then scooped up her skirts and ducked through the portal into a narrow room. Squinting into the gloom, she warily pushed past a hanging drape—and gasped.

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