Page 9 of The Demon's Queen

“You’ll find the doors locked to you.” I open my mouth to continue, to explain that it’s not safe, even in this territory, that I have enemies who don’t like the changes I’ve made, that those enemies are more than eager to take advantage of any perceived weakness, thatsheis my only perceived weakness...

But Eve slams the door in my face before I can get a word out.

I sigh. “Fuck.”

EVE

I strip out of the yellow gown and dig through the wardrobe until I come up with clothing better suited to my needs. My mind still whirls with everything I’ve seen since yesterday. Monsters of every variety and yet still seeming so human seeming. Women handed over to them without a single hesitation. And... Azazel.

I pause, my hands on the buttons of my gown. He lied to me in so many ways. The contract, his history, even his appearance. Because the... being... who came to my door just now is the very same one who presided over the auction. He was tall as a human, but now he’s got to be more than seven feet, and his shoulders explain why the doors here are so wide: any narrower and he’d have to go through them sideways. His skin is several shades darker than Ramanu’s, and his horns are downright majestic, jutting from either side of his bald head and up. He’s even handsome in a rough-cut way, though I’m not currently in the mood to admit it.

But for all that, his eyes are the same: a deep brown that veers close to black even in the bright light. Filled with too many things when he looks at me.

I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter.” I can’t stay here, but I’ve seen enough today to understand that I’m out of my element in a way that’s almost laughable.

So, first order of business—gather information and see if there are allies to exploit. Judging by how things went earlier, Azazel is something of a king here. That complicates things, because I can’t go over his head to someone more powerful. Still, there are other ways. There arealwaysother ways.

I drop the dress on the ground and pull out another dress, one shorter and easier to move in. Just like the first—and all the others I tried on—it fits me perfectly.

It’s enough to make me wonder how long Azazel has been planning this: to trick me, to take me away from everything I’ve ever known. He may have seemed tormented when we spoke just now, but I don’t care about his feelings currently. I could shove him out a window with how furious I am.

I yank on a pair of shoes—another perfect fit—and march to the door. HesaidI have free rein of the castle, but we’ll see. I try the door and am actually surprised when the handle twists easily in my hand.

The hallway looks different from the last time I stepped out of my room, when I joined the other women also being herded to the auction. I frown and peer around. There are no doors lining the walls here, and the hall turns in a sharp right angle instead of ending in a door. “What the fuck?”

It’s possible I am misremembering things in the chaos or I somehow ended up in a different room than the one I started in... but I don’t think so. I press my fingers to the wall. It’s solid, not some magical illusion.

Funny that my mind hardly stumbles over the idea of magic and monsters, but what am I supposed to do? From the moment I woke up, evidence of both has been shoved in my face. EitherI’m in a coma and dreaming all this... or monsters are real and so are magical bargains and the whole lot.

I pick a direction at random and start walking. The stone underfoot is polished to a gleam but not slippery in the least. The walls are equally polished and bare except for sconces that must be magic because their flames give off no heat or scent. Neat trick.

I’m not really thinking about my path, just taking the only route available to me—left, left, right, left again, right, right, right—until my legs start to ache. Only then do I frown and look around. I haven’t seen a single door or staircase. “What kind of building plan is this?”

It doesn’t make any sense. No builder would make a hallway like this. I’m hardly an expert at architecture and the like, but hallways exist for a purpose—to transition from one space to another. Often from one place toseveralothers. To have one so long and strange without a single exit defies belief.

Magic, again. It has to be.

While glaring at the hallway, I press my fingers to the wall. Surely there’s some illusion in place hiding alternate paths from me. I just have to figure out the trick. “I want to find the kitchen, damn it.” With my hand dragging lightly along the wall, I set off walking again.

Except when I turn the next corner, I find a familiar door with a covered tray in front of it. Somehow, despite all logic, I’m back at my room again.

CHAPTER 5

AZAZEL

“The castle is fucking with her. It has been for days.”

I press my fingers to my eyes and spend a fruitless moment wishing circumstances were anything but what they are. “The castle fucks with everyone.” It’s not, strictly speaking, the truth. I’m not in the mood for the truth. Just like I’m not in the mood to have what promises to be an uncomfortable conversation. “Leave it alone, Ramanu.”

Ramanu saunters over and perches a hip on my desk. “When were you going to tell me that you signed alifetimecontract with her?”

I should feel comfort that Eve is speaking to someone at all, even if that someone isn’t me. Instead, jealousy sinks bloody thorns into me. I want Eve to talk to me the way she used to. I’m truly a fool, because I want the connection we shared to be real. It’s obviously not on her end; it never was. Even if she’d held some small fondness for me, I annihilated the chance of that growing into more when I brought her here. “I’m not in the mood to entertain this conversation.”

“Azazel.” Ramanu’s tone is uncharacteristically serious. “If there’s danger that stretches beyond the human realm, I should be apprised of it.”

I’m not fuckingsureit extends past the human realm. Every step I’ve made has ensured that my enemies will find no traction in the other territories here. But mine? There’s plenty of bargainers who would rather go back to the way things were when Caesarea ruled. When we took what we wanted and damned all the rest. When we didn’tsharepower. “Brosh has graduated from posturing to actual threats. I have it on good authority that he was in New York, and there’s only one reason for him to be there.”

They sigh. “You should have told me. I’m entertaining, and a delightful asshole, but I’mgoodat my job.”