Devilish Deal by Jenna Wolfhart

31

We were prisoners trapped inside a gilded cage. Scowling, I strode from one end of Az’s ebony penthouse to the other while Serena curled up on the sofa reading a book. Hendrix perched on the table where I’d left him a bowl of breadcrumbs. Az was in his bedroom, making phone calls. And two guards—Valac and Bael—stood on the other side of the single door to prevent any unwanted visitors.

Or a hasty escape by yours truly.

My skin bounced like it wanted to jump off my body and run. We’d been told we couldn’t leave unless accompanied. And I hated every minute of it.

Serena sighed and set down her book. She was re-reading A Dance with Dragons for the millionth time. The TV show hadn’t satisfied her thirst for finding out what had happened to Jon Snow, and so she read the series over and over again, waiting for the next book to come out. Once Serena got her mind on something, she never let it go.

“Can you stop pacing?” she asked in a plaintive voice. “You’re making me nervous.”

“I hate being trapped in here.” I stopped and caught the haunted look in her eyes. “How are you doing? You haven’t said much since last night.”

She pressed her lips together, hugging the book to her chest. “I feel like an idiot. Noah was using me the whole time. Why didn’t I see it sooner? Looking back on our relationship, it makes so much sense. He was always so interested in my job…”

“Serena, you can’t blame yourself for this. You weren’t being an idiot. He actually seemed like a nice guy for awhile.” Until he didn’t.

She sighed and shook her head. “I knew something was off when he got weird about you and your past. We had a huge fight about it, and then he completely turned it all around and said that he’d never once doubted you. That should have been a red flag. Good sex makes my brain fall out of my skull.”

“Tell me about it,” I muttered.

Serena sat up a little straighter on the sofa. “Um, excuse me? Don’t tell me that you and…” She whipped her head toward the closed bedroom door, and heat crept into my cheeks. I hadn’t had a chance to tell her about my, erm, encounter with Asmodeus. She probably wouldn’t approve. I wouldn’t if I were her.

She popped up from the couch and pointed a finger at me. “That look. You’re embarrassed. I knew it. I absolutely knew it. My god, Mia. You had sex with a Prince of Hell.”

“To be fair, he isn’t one of the evil Princes of Hell.”

Snorting, she laughed. “So, how was it?”

“What do you think?”

“I’m guessing you got an answer about what his dick looks like.”

“It definitely does not have a weird spade demon thing on the end of it.” I grinned back, relaxing from the familiar banter between us. It had been a terrible past few days, but Serena was alive and I was alive, and that was all that truly mattered.

The door clicked open, and Az stepped into the room. My smile died as the flames in my cheeks grew hotter. I really, really hoped he hadn’t overheard our conversation. How mortifying.

Serena cleared her throat and plopped back onto the sofa. She grabbed her blanket and hid behind the book, clearly abandoning me in a sea of awkwardness. I shifted from one foot to the other and eventually settled on joining her. There was nothing left to say. Az had made up his mind, and I had too much pride to beg him to reconsider.

“How’s Jon doing?” I asked Serena.

“Oh,” she said sadly. “He’s about to get stabbed. I hate this part.”

I shot her a fond smile. “Then, why do you keep reading it over and over again?”

“Because your favorite books burrow their way into your heart.” Her eyes turned to the page, and awkward silence filled the penthouse. Az still hadn’t said a word, and he’d made no indication he’d overheard my conversation with Serena. Of course, that didn’t mean he hadn’t. Demons had better hearing than humans did.

A heavy knock sounded on the door, rescuing me from humiliation. Az growled and stalked toward it, yanking it open. Phenex stood on the other side with a slip of paper between his fingers. He held it up, waving it in the air.

“Looks like someone got an invitation to the Covenant Ball.” He craned his head over Az’s shoulders and waggled his eyebrows at me. “Your little date worked.”

Relief and panic tangled together in my gut. This was a good thing. It was exactly what we needed. Now, we could get inside that ball so Az could do his thing and save some souls. Great, right? Except it was probably going to be pretty dangerous. And it would be the last time we would ever see each other.

Az took the invite and nodded. “Thanks, Phenex, but I’m not sure this is a good thing. I’m having second thoughts about this.”

Phenex frowned and ducked inside the penthouse. The door slammed shut behind him. “Second thoughts? But we’ve been working toward this for weeks.”

“It’s too dangerous,” he said, stalking toward the dining table and tossing the invite on top. “Mia is a human. What if something goes wrong? She needs to go back to normal life before we get her killed.”

“Um, excuse me?” I strode over to the table and snatched up the invite. “You honestly can’t be backing out of this now. This whole fake relationship was so that you could get inside the Covenant Ball. It’s why you hired me. It’s why you made that deal.”

“I know.” He turned to give me a tortured look. “I never should have put you in this position to begin with.”

“Nope. Absolutely not. I’m not letting you back out of this now.” I waved the invite at him. “There are human souls on the line, and this is your only way in.”

“I don’t want to put your life in any more danger, Mia.”

“I don’t care,” I snapped back. “We said we were going to do this thing, to save people, and so we will.” With a glare, I whipped toward Phenex. “You agree with me, right?”

“Ah.” He shifted uneasily on his feet, running his fingers through his red hair. “I think maybe I don’t want to get in the middle of…I, oh hey, Serena, what you reading there?”

Phenex drifted off, leaving me and Az glaring at each other. Again. We seemed to do this a lot. With a frown, I folded my arms and met his gaze. He could kick me out of his club and his life. He could hide me away with a fake name in an apartment far away from here. But I wasn’t going to turn my back on all of this now.

“We have to save them,” I said.

“Mia…”

“We’ll have the Legion with us. I’ll get out of the ball before anything goes down.” I took another step closer to him, steeling my nerves. “As soon as we get inside, I’ll leave. You’ll stop the sacrifices and save a bunch of souls. And then we can part ways, just like you want.”

He winced and flicked his gaze away. “You don’t know what you’re asking to do.”

“Yes, I do.” My heart pounded as he reached out, and his fingers grazed mine. “It’s just one more fake date, Az. One more, and then all of this will be done.”

“You’ll do everything I ask you to do?” he asked insistently. “You’ll listen to me if I tell you to run?”

I nodded. “Of course.”

“Alright.” His brilliant ice-blue eyes slid shut. “We only have a few days until the ball, and you and Serena will stay here until then. It’s the best way to keep you safe. The Legion can come here for our meetings. We will develop a fail-safe plan while I find you somewhere else to live. And then we will say goodbye.”