Page 9 of Ashes and Lilies
It couldn’t be anything else. He definitely wasn’t my boyfriend.
“Not really,” I told him. There was no real reason to dispose of Mr. Weaver today. While he was a frustrating man and a terrible cook, it wasn’t like one woke up in the morning expecting to be murdered. I stood up, stepped away from Damen, and brushed off my skirt. “I think it’s kind of sad,” I told him.
Besides, I had to figure out how to make Mr. Weaver move toward the light on my own. That was my job.
Mr. Weaver made an offended sound, but the shikigami caught my attention. It had craned his long, elegant neck at my words until it looked directly at me.
As creepy as it was, I also couldn’t look away from its beady, black eyes. It almost felt as though I was being assessed. It was more than a bit disturbing.
I wasn’t in any mood to be judged by an animal.
“She’s exactly as the legends have foretold,” the bird creature said in a guttural, curiously accented voice. “You’ll need to watch this one,” he told Damen.
I jumped—unable to help myself—and grabbed Damen’s arm. I hadn’t imagined it at all. The thing had been seizing me up!
And what was with this unflattering analysis?
“It can talk!” I pulled at Damen’s sleeve. “Is that normal?”
“What?” Damen blinked, seemingly surprised himself, before he shook his head. “No… Well—” he looked at me. “No need to worry, Bianca. I’ve expected Kasai to talk eventually—just maybe not this soon.”
That didn’t exactly answer my question.
“So it’s not normal?” I clarified. Perhaps my presence had broken something. “Because I’m pretty sure it didn’t speak before.”
“Perhaps I never had anything to say,” the bird—Kasai—responded. It sounded cheerful, but I wasn’t sure animals could feel amusement.
I gaped as the voice stunned me for the second time. I couldn’t figure out what made it so pleasing to the ear.
Damen began to regain his composure. “Stop joking around.” He looked at his companion, who only ruffled its feathers in response. He then turned his attention to me. “It’s not unheard of for shikigami to communicate with human language—they can take on an animal or human appearance.”
My earlier suspicions were confirmed. The thing even had the audacity to preen as it radiated glee at my scrutiny.
“Stop that.” Damen had also noticed the bird’s actions. “Ignore it,” he told me. “Kasai just likes you.”
I couldn’t let my guard down. I’d learned early on to trust in my instincts, and it was evident that something unnatural was happening here.
Bonded. Realms.
The cursed creature was a demon.
And, apparently, considering its newfound ability to speak, it’d gained power! Damen was far too calm about this situation for my liking. But it all made perfect sense. After all, these were obviously the signs of demonic possession: conjuring ceremonies, spiritual forces, and strangely erotic accents.
Somehow, despite his power and status, Damen had become the vessel of this creature and his demonic plans. How long had he been this way? How could the others have missed what was happening? Without my assistance, Damen would eventually be drained of his life force and die.
I had to save him. I refused to lose my friend to a servant of Satan.
But I would have to be clever about it. Demons were tricky beings. The bird would know something was up. It would be looking for weakness and would be distrustful.
I narrowed my eyes at Kasai, and it cocked his head back at me. Watching. Plotting.
“She’s going to try to purify me,” it said.
I gasped and touched my chest. Mostly in surprise at the horrible but true words. “Why would you—”
“Please don’t mess with my shikigami, baby girl.” Damen looked at me knowingly.
Now, I was offended. I’d been downgraded back to ‘baby girl,’and our previously earned intimacy had been lost. This was all Kasai’s fault.
