Page 120 of The Music Demon

“Maybe not as much as you think. Lyric was just lucky enough to get a head start. You haven’t had a chance to hear the whole story. How you’d be wasting all that potential on a music demon.” He sneered the phrase ‘music demon’. “If you pledge yourself to me, we could rule the world of elementals like gods.”

“The answer is no. ‘Twill always be no. You may as well let me go now.”

He sighed. “Well. Boredom can be a powerful motivator. Let’s see how you feel when you’ve spent some time in solitary with no stimulus of any kind. Just clouds. I’ve been told it can drive a person mad.”

She crossed her arms.

“Okay. I’ll check in when I think about it. Maybe a few weeks. See if you’re ready to make me the most powerful demon alive. Even if not the happiest.”

Shivaun waited for him to disappear.

Nothing happened.

He went through a series of rituals and antics.

Nothing happened.

She started to laugh. “You’re trapped here, too. Aren’t you?”

When he turned toward her, his grudgingly handsome face wore a mask of anger and fear. “Shut up.”

He’d been tricked by that old hag. If he ever got out of there, he’d make her pay.

“I do no’ know much about different kinds of demons. I have no’ been part of your world for long. I do no’ know what you call it when a bein’ can pretend to be someone else.”

“Shapeshifter.”

“So you’re that. And truly stupid as well.” She sighed. “No matter. Lyric will find me and get me out of here.”

“He’ll never find you, female.”

“He will.” She said it with the confidence of a person who can read the future plain as day. What’s more, she believed it.

CHAPTER SEVENTEENDon’t You Love Her Madly

As Roundabout was coming down from the high of performing, Lyric stood off to the side and beamed at Doo. The regular band members patted him on the back and praised the way that he’d managed to meld his style with theirs seamlessly. They said they’d been dubious, thought they should cancel, but that it was beyond expectations - that no one would guess they hadn’t been playing together forever.

When they moved on, Lyric came forward to give his own congratulations, but before he had a chance Cass rushed in, jumped on Doo, and began peppering his face with kisses. Through his laughter, Doo noticed Lyric and winked.

Lyric gave him a nod, a smile, and knew that the kid understood his wordless message. He was proud.

As he turned to leave and make his way back through the crowd to the spot where he’d left Shivaun, he felt it.

The sudden absence.

He hadn’t realized he’d developed a link with Shivaun until he felt the devastating loss of it. It had grown so gradually he hadn’t recognized it, much less named it. The abrupt loss created a vacuum and so much distress in his midsection that he almost doubled over.

He didn’t need to keep looking through the crowd.

Heknewshe wasn’t there.

Lyric was one of the oldest creatures alive. Yet he’d never experienced stress, much less panic. His mind was racing in a way that could only be described as frantic.

He raced to the Abbey courtyard and was about to head inside when he caught movement on the training field. The hunters were practicing various forms of physical exertion and martial arts, which was of no interest to him. What did matter was a head with flaming red hair.

An archery range had been set up on the periphery of the field purely for recreational purposes. He appeared next to the archer and said, “Shivaun. Why did you leave? When I couldn’t find you…”

As soon as Sheridan turned her face toward Lyric he knew it wasn’t Shivaun.

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