Page 7 of Nope, No Regrets
Rei
Earning a new tail was such a strange process. I felt funny for days. When it finally sprang out, I lost control of my fox. It was way worse with the third tail than it was with the second. I had a feeling that was because Faust was in the room. My foxreallyliked Faust. She was drawn to his wolf. I seriously bit him, like shifters marked their mates. I should have felt weird about that, but I didn’t regret it.
Ihatedsolitary before my transfer to Silverhold, and this wasn’t much better. Four concrete walls and a toilet. I’d apparently gained the ability to set things on fire with this new tail… but had no desire to incinerate myself, so I wasn’t playing with any of my new powers.
I nearly cried in relief when Faust came back. Now that I had three tails, my fox instincts were much stronger. Faust smelled fuckingamazing. I wanted to brush up against him and have him yank my tails a bit… where did that even come from?
“New development, Rei. It may be good or bad.”
“Did Warden Snow file charges?”
That had to be coming soon, but I didn’t see how that could possibly be good, not unless she was about to let me out of solitary. Now that I was awake, I didn’t want to stay here any longer.
“Rei, did you know Hell has issued a decree that states demons are never supposed to serve prison sentences here? They are supposed to go back to Hell. This became a big thing after the kings of Hell found out what happened to a demon at Scorchwood. They’ve finally come for you.”
“How is that a fucking good thing?!” I shrieked.
“Well, your brother and your fiancé showed up and—”
“Back up a fucking minute. Where was my brother when I grew up here, alone, and why do I have a fiancé I don’t know about?”
I wanted this. Not a fiancé, but I wanted answers about my family. There were so many times in my life I wished for a demon to pop up, tell me everything, and take me to Hell… but not like this. Hell probably had some pretty strong opinions about stealing, and I might end up in an even worse jail.
“From what I was told, you’re some sort of Hell royalty. Your brother was a threat to you, so you were sent here as part of some sort of demon witness protection program so he couldn’t get to you. He saw you on the news and bribed his way out of Hell to get you. The fiancé is working with some Duke to get you out of here before your brother can get to you.”
I wished there was at least one piece of furniture in there at that moment, because that’s the kind of news you had to flop on something with oversized cushions to process. It wasa lotto take in. It made sense, but why now? I got they didn’t want demons in jail here, but if my brother was dangerous, he couldn’t get to me in here.
The Aether Circle certainly could. I was fucked either way.
“That’ll get me out of solitary, but then this dude will expect me to marry him. Guys don’t just break a girl out of jail without expecting something from them in return, Faust. He probably knows all about me, and I don’t even know his name.”
“His name is Sota. I don’t like the idea of arranged marriages when it involves my fucking mate, but this could be a good thing. If you’re important in Hell, then there’s a good chance that when you get there, you’ll be in a palace, not a jail cell. I could retire and go with you.”
My mind started whirring. I’d never been important anywhere. Hauser treated me that way, but even the people who bought the shit I stole tried to nickel and dime me by saying there were other thieves out there who they could pay less.
I didn’t know if my random fiancé, who was sent to fetch me, felt the same about this arrangement as I did, but I knew I’d be expected to go through with the marriage when I was in Hell. I didn’t know how feminist Hell was, or if my opinion on the entire thing was even going to matter.
I could still make demands. No one couldforceme to marry a demon. Well, maybe they could, but I could still try. Yeah, I wanted out of here, but we tried to break out of as a team. Rajack and Dakarys had more than served their sentence. Wren probably shouldn’t be unleashed on the general public, but I wanted her with me too.
“You’ll really retire and come with me to Hell?”
“After you bit me? Fuck yes. If you don’t want to marry the guy, I can always make him disappear.”
“I want my friends to come. I have a list.”
Faust let out this little growl in response. I knew he hated the idea, but he was going to have to get used to it.
“That probably won’t happen, Rei. Warden Snow is pissed about Brody. She doesn’t have a choice about letting you out, but she’s sure as shit not going to let the others go… especially Rajack, since he took the fall for me.”
“Hauser likes to gamble, I played cards with him and his friends all the time, every Wednesday night at Hauser’s place. I never missed it. I’m anexcellentbluffer, and I always know when to play my hand. If I absolutely have to have some demon fiancé, then I’m totally going to play that card. He’s going to have to woo me, and he can do that by getting you all into Hell.”
Faust cocked an eyebrow at me and crossed his arms.
“I cooked for you, and I had a lot more planned when you got out. I was looking forwards to all those assholes being out of the picture because you were out, since they’re all lifers. The demon might have similar feelings about sharing you. You’re asking a lot.”
“Are there cameras in here?” I asked.
I hadn’t seen one in this concrete tomb, and Hauser had trained me well to spot cameras when I was casing a joint to steal from. Just because I hadn’t seen one didn’t mean it wasn’t there. I didn’t trust a damn thing in this prison. I got I was in here to keep society safe from my thieving ways, but was it crazy to think I’d be safe in this fucking place. It wasn’t just Venus and the witches, Brody tried to kill me too.
