Page 9 of Nope, No Regrets
Sota
Two days was a long time to wait when your prize was in sight. I didn’t care about going on tours, or seeing Earth. I wanted to end Kudan and bring Rei home. Barbatos kept me busy by trying to track thatyaroudown while we waited. We never found him, but Barbatos assigned some of his legion to watch the prison and report if he came back. He never did.
We were back in the lobby, waiting to be called into her office, and I swore on my demon that if we didn’t leave with Rei, I was going to eat the warden. I was bouncing my knee, waiting to be called back. Barbatos was the picture of calm.
“You’re making me nervous. Stop that.”
“You’d be doing the same if your daughter was involved,” I hissed.
“No, because I know she’s capable of handling herself. I know the next words out of your mouth will be about me going to the Underworld and Olympus to help her, but I didn’t know she existed. It was a reunion and a playdate.”
“Most dads don’t bring their armies on playdates with their daughters.”
Barbatos fingered his goatee.
“They probably should. We had a blast.”
I snorted and rolled my eyes. Just then, someone came out to get us to bring us to Warden Snow. When I arrived at her office, Rei wasn’t there. What game was she playing? We all knew she was a demon. Barbatos gave her a whole fucking extra day!
Warden Snow pulled out a walkie.
“Hurry up!” she snapped.
She’d better watch how she talked to my wife. When the door opened, I wanted to kill everyone inside. Rei walked in, but I couldn’t enjoy seeing her for the first time. She was with an enormous wolf, and Warden Snow was angry Rei was even there. She barely let it show, but I could tell she wanted to murder the wolf.
“What are you doing, CO Faust?” she snapped.
“I let the prisoner know what was going on… she has… conditions.”
“She doesn’t get conditions!”
Barbatos held up his hands.
“I’ll hear her out.”
I stood up and bowed to her.
“Rei-Chan, it’s an honor to meet you finally.”
She wrinkled her nose at me like she didn’t understand the honor and deference I was bestowing upon her. Did I just blow meeting her for the first time?
“Which one of you is the fiancé I didn’t know about?” she demanded.
I sighed. That answered it. Of all the places they could have sent Rei, theyhadto hide her in America. Our area of Hell was going to be a tremendous culture shock for her, and no one arranged marriages there. We had stopped that, too, but Rei and I were special.
No one told Barbatos who to marry, and Bael was smitten with a shadow demon. I was not too fond of the idea at first either. I was seventeen when Rei was born, and they arranged the whole thing. I didn’t want to marry some Kitsune I never met, even if it meant being that close to the throne.
When it became my sole responsibility to track down Kudan, she was a pain in my ass for the longest time. After a bit, things changed. I realized this was just as unfair to her as it was to me. She undeniably had it worse than I did. She was all alone. Everyone in Hell was aware of what went on topside, but most of us didn’t actually want to go there. WelikedHell. Topside was good for a vacation, but none of us wanted to stay there permanently.
I didn’t know Rei. There was the possibility I might get to know her and not be able to stand the sight of her, but hat didn’t mean I couldn’t try. I felt sorry for her, and I had every intention of making this work. She didn’t deserve any of this because her brother was a murderous traitor.
At first, I just intended on killing her brother and trying to make her transition to Hell, and the throne, as smooth as possible. Somewhere along the way it became my life’s mission. Iwantedit more than anything, and I wanted to marry her.
I was already messing this up. I was a little angry at that guard for telling her. She had every right to know we were here to get her and state her conditions, but I should have been the one to announce our engagement to her. I cleared my throat and faced Rei.
“That would be me. My name is Sota, and I have no intention of rushing you into this. Hell is going to be quite an adjustment for you, even without having to worry about a wedding. We can get to know each other while I show you around.”
“I have people I want to bring with me, or I’m staying here.”
