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“Then yes, I would like you to show me around.” I don’t tell him I’m as curious about him as I am about the castle. “But for now, you can get the castle to tell me about Monty.” My soul guardian squeaks as if he’s happy with my choice.
“Bloodthirsty mate,” Theo mutters.
“Flattery is appreciated, but it still won’t get you laid.”
There he goes with the curve of a smile flirting around his mouth again. He asks Shadowvale to tell me the most gruesome war legends of the great Montejanus.
Monty perches on the bed as though he can’t wait to hear his own achievements. Pride looks conceited yet frustratingly hot on Theo, but it’s downright adorable on Monty. I can’t help but grin at him. The castle launches into a soft narration of the wars between the hell dimensions and the witch who almost brought them all down for her demon lover who went on to become a demon king.
I almost ask Theo if this is the story of his family, but his grip has gone lax on my hand. He sleeps. I’ve tried to stab him with a letter opener, a sword, and almost went after him with a freaking hatchet. The man has little reason to trust me. I don’t know whether I should be touched or offended that he would risk being this defenseless around me.
Then again, I kept him alive and even helped heal him after he passed out. So I suppose the truce will last as long as we’re useful to each other.
Too bad we’ll be enemies once again as soon as my friends are safe.
I’m an insomniac with a million-track mind when I’m home in my own bed with my weighted blankets and lavender-scented sheets. There’s no way I can sleep here. So I plot and plan as tales of Monty’s fierceness in battle continue, a background track to my scheming for revenge.
How does someone out-deal a royal family of dealing demons?
I’ll figure out a way.
Then I’ll confront my own lying, demon-summoning Mom and horn-handed, curse-hating Nonna.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Theo
“Oh, what’s this?” Val rushes into the room I’ve already had swept by security. “A magical chemistry set?”
She doesn’t wait for an answer, and I don’t try to keep up. My mate has hurried from one attraction to the next since we reached Shadowvale’s resort floors. Her excitement bubbles so much that I can almost taste it. The woman has more energy than a cracked-out kelpie. Even with the healing boosts, I’m struggling to race behind her rapid-fire change in subjects, boundless enthusiasm, and seeming disregard for any notion of her personal safety.
Like now when she grabs a colorful bottle to hold it up to the light and watch the rays refract in the prism of the crystal. Ora, the dwarf who runs this showcase, puts out her palm in agimmemotion for my mate to hand over the mystery potion.
I nod my thanks to her. On top of being able to keep my mate from setting off whatever might be in that elixir, the dwarf’s a top-tier alchemist. She fled here for sanctuary when her horrible husband took her experiments and tried to replicate them bycasting rogue spells in an attempt to turn the alchemist herself into gold. A messed-up Midas version of a piss poor match that I didn’t make but did my best to correct.
“Welcome to my potion perfumery,” Ora says, tipping her head back to look up at my mate. The dwarf might be short, but she’s sturdy and could bench press a car. “Would you like to craft a personalized fragrance based upon your natural charm?” The alchemist glances my way. “Or perhaps one to evoke a specific mood, eh?” Her innuendo leaves no question as to her meaning.
Val shakes her head, not an easy feat with Montejanus racing along her shoulders, around her neck, and under her ponytail. “We’re not?—”
“No?” Ora asks, raising a bushy gray brow almost into her beaded braids. “The prince doesn’t escort just anyone personally, and he certainly wouldn’t allow a soul guardian near his people if you werenot…as you say.”
I keep my human glamour tightly in place since wings knocking over a bottle or two might cause mass destruction given the alchemist’s love of explosive chemicals in her potions. “Ora, meet Val Bonetti, my fated mate. We’re still working out the details, but she hasn’t tried to kill me yet today so we’re making progress.”
“It’s not like that,” Val insists. “He kidnapped me.”
“To bring her to safety,” I add.
“And tricked my friends into signing matching contracts before shipping them off to god knows what dimension.”
“To their fated mates.” I couldn’t have sent them to better places in the universe.
“Not Ava,” she argues.
“She’s with him now.” Seriously, the kraken found his way to Ava within moments of her leaving the house.
“No thanks to you.” Val crosses her arms, and I swear if Ora wasn’t standing here, she would have Shadowvale magic her a blade to break our truce.
Montejanus rises on his front paws from Val’s shoulder and hisses at me, tiny fangs flashing.
