Page 45 of Myths and Manuscripts
Which made keeping him at arm’s length even more difficult. There was something about a powerful man being so open and sweet that sent butterflies racing in my stomach. He probably had to ask around about this garden, which meant he’d gone out of his way to plan this for me. Nobody had ever put that kind of thought and effort into our dates before.
Not that this was a date.
I cleared my throat and stared up at a bird flying overhead with a long tail of fire, its wings bright in the darkening sky. I’d never seen a phoenix before, but it was a sight to behold! I’d heard their tears could heal most wounds and a single feather could warm a family’s house all winter.
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered, as if a loud voice might scare the creature away.
“So are you.” A small smile tugged at the edge of his lips as he watched me. “This was definitely the right place to visit.”
I put my hand over my chest, my heart racing as the magic of this garden, and his words, overtook me. It wasn’t just the physical magic in the air, but the magic of all the creatures and plants thriving here when the rest of the world in this book was trying to keep them down. It was almost too much to take in and made me even more sure that this final book had to end in a surprising way. There were just too many beautiful and miraculous things in this village to have it end in bloodshed.
As we walked, the Demon Lord filled me in on his trip to the normal world. “Nyssa and Oren are literally buried in books researching library magic while the dragons and knights run around them causing chaos. They were playing tag of all things.” He scoffed, but his lips betrayed him with a hint of a smile. “The purple dragon won, of course. He always does.”
“That’s the one who follows you around, right?” And perched on his horns, which he pretended to hate. I was starting to see through that grumpy exterior though, because he looked pretty proud as he nodded. “I’m glad you got to visit them for a bit. How’s Gran?”
“Well, I know where you got your stubborn side from now. She had me working before I even knew what was going on. Planted me in a chair and told me to assemble hand warmers.” His laugh was warm as I paused to examine a plant. “Sounds like she chased off a possible apprentice, but she’s doing okay. She just seemed worried about you.”
I winced. “You told her I was stuck in a book?”
“Well, yeah, but she was fine with that part. Happy actually.” He leaned against a tree, watching me closely. “She said it would be good for you to be stuck in one place for a while, so you’d have no choice but to follow your dreams.”
“Sounds like her.” I shook my head, standing up andbrushing the dirt off my hands. “Only she’d be happy her granddaughter was stuck in a book.”
Working on this book had been kind of fun so far though. There was something fascinating about learning the story by being inside it. That wouldn’t be true for anything else I wrote, but maybe just this once, Gran had been right to push me to do this.
The Demon Lord might have a little to do with all the fun I’d been having lately too. Being able to talk to somebody about my stories again felt really good, like an itch I hadn’t been able to scratch in years. It mattered to him in a way my stories had never mattered to anyone, not even my Grandpa. This was personal to him.
So personal that he needed to start making some decisions himself if we were going to finish this story.
I moved closer to the tree he was leaning against. “Remember when I was joking about different names for you?”
“Don’t even start with the Lord Shadowbuns again.” He covered his face with a hand, sighing. “It just doesn’t suit me, okay?”
“Well, I know that,” I said with a laugh, “but have you thought about what would suit you? It’s about time you gave yourself a real name. We’ll need it for the book.”
His eyes widened. “Don’t you want to decide that? You’re the writer.”
“And you’re the person who’s going to have to use it for the rest of his life.” I shook my head, leaning against the tree beside him. “No way am I picking that name. I’ll help you if you want though.”
He gazed up as the setting sun painted the sky in brilliant shades of pink and orange. The phoenix from earlier had landed on a tree on the other side of the garden, flames licking the branches without setting them ablaze somehow. I should ask ifthe professor had a phoenix I could meet or see if this one was tame.
The Demon Lord took a deep breath. “I’d appreciate help. I have thought about it, but none of the names feel quite right.” He glanced sideways at me. “Promise you won’t laugh?”
“Promise.”
“There’s a character in a book I really like named Elias, but it felt too soft.” His brow furrowed. “So then I tried to think of evil sounding names like Lord Darkmire or Ashbane the Terrible or Dreadthorne the Undying.”
I bit my lip, trying so hard not to laugh, but I couldn’t help it. “Ashbane the Terrible?? Is that because you have ashen skin or what?” If looks could kill, I’d be in serious trouble right now. I forced myself to stop laughing and took a breath to calm down. “Sorry. I actually think Elias suits you pretty well, but might not be as imposing as you’re looking for. What about the Thorne part of Dreadthorne? Thorns draw the blood of anyone trying to hurt the plants they’re protecting, which feels like it suits you pretty well too.”
His glare softened. “Thorne, huh? I do like the idea of stabbing anyone who tries to touch you. Like that soldier...” He glanced behind us, turning to sweep his gaze across the whole garden. “Where’s your bodyguard?”
Shoot, I’d forgotten to tell him about the whole Dain going off to kidnap the hero thing. “Well, funny story, but remember when you tried to punish him by sending him on a suicide mission to get the hero?” I waited for him to nod before continuing. “Well, I sort of casually mentioned how nice it would be to talk to the hero, and he took that as a command to go finish that mission you gave him. He swears he’s got a plan though, and I made him promise to come back if things got dangerous...”
My voice trailed off as he stared at me with a look I couldn’t place. It felt intense, but in a soft way, like he was impressed byme for some reason. I took a few steps back, kneeling to look at a black rose that was growing nearby. It had extra sharp thorns just like we’d been talking about and really did remind me of him.
Beautiful, but prickly.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I know he’s one of your demons and I didn’t have any right to send him away.”
