Page 62 of A Dark and Lovely Devastation

Still, he didn’t appear.

My shoulders slumped.

“You called, your majesty?” a voice murmured in my ear.

I leapt to my feet, slamming back into the table. Ornan raised his hands, that sly smile on his face. “No need to get overwrought. You summoned me, did you not? To what do you owe the pleasure of my company?”

I’d moved to the deepest recesses of the library for this meeting. So far that if I screamed, I wasn’t even sure Palon would hear.

I held up the token. “I’m ready to make my next deal.” I refused to call them wishes.

His clawed hands dropped, and his cold inky black eyes caused a shiver to slide through me. “You disappoint me,” he said, soft with a predatory edge. “I would not have rushed out here if I’d known this was merely going to be a business transaction. I was hoping you’d want me for more… delectable pleasures.”

My teeth grit together. “Life is filled with disappointments.”

He sighed, drawing out the chair next to me and sat, propping his bare feet onto the table. “I suppose you are right. What do you wish of me?”

I sank into my chair, still holding up the token. I’d only use the other if I got the answer I wanted from this one.

“Information.”

He almost looked annoyed. “Again? How very unoriginal.”

I touched the pages of the books, shoving aside a tome entitledThe Rules of the Courtin favor of a much smaller text. “I’ve tried to research demons. There isn’t much written about them.”

He shrugged, but I saw the dangerous glint in those inky eyes. “What can I say? Demons prefer to keep their secrets close. In fact, what is the title of that book?” His feet dropped, and he leaned forward. I slammed the text shut and drew it into the folds of my dress.

A chuckle ground out of him.

“In the book, it said that demons are confined to the Dark Wood. That no demon can go beyond their boundary line unless granted permission by a faerie of royal blood.”

For the first time, Ornan didn’t look unflappable. His claws dug into the chair. “So?”

“So, how are you here?”

“I am one of the High Nine. Selected to represent my kind. As such, I have been granted…permissionto move about in the world.”

“That’s a good thing, right? Demons are dangerous and evil.”

Ornan’s eyes narrowed, his clawed hands peeling the wood of the armrest in slow deliberate scrapes. His voice became a low, animalistic growl. “Is this your wish? To know about demon captivity?”

“No, I was just—”

“Then I suggest we get on with it.”

Fine, if he wanted to move on, we’d move on. “First, you can’t require information from me in return.” If I failed to find the answer I was looking for, I didn’t want him discovering my most closely held secret.

He raised an eyebrow, the dark predatory rage fading as hunger filled his face. “I do not grant pre-wish stipulations.”

Damn it. “Never mind then.” I sucked the token into my palm.

A clawed hand clamped down on my arm. “Ah, but now I am ever so curious. So this once, I will allow it. Besides…” His eyes raked over me, his grin taking on a wicked air. “There are so many other ways you can pay me.”

“You have a problem.”

The craving in his smile grew, his inky eyes flashing. “A demon cannot change its nature, your majesty.”

I jerked my arm from his grasp, refusing to think too deeply on what he might require me to do. “Okay. My question is this: How do you break magical bonds? Like deep, old, magical bonds made lifetimes ago.”

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