Page 107 of Dancing With Demons

I scoffed, glaring at him. “You think you’re tripping? I’m the one who has to wake up tomorrow morning without her.”

Tristan glared right back. “Are you serious? Dumbass! Thanks to you and your phone tricks, so do I!”

Oh, yeah, that. I forgot. “This isn’t about you,” I gritted. “I’ve lived two hundred and twelve years without her, and two months with her, and there’s no contest for which time of my afterlife was most worth living. So tell me how to get her back. How do I make her smile again?”

Tristan’s gaze was serious. “Belphe. You already know the answer to this one.”

My face hardened to stone—tears evaporating. “And you know why it’s not an option, No-Name, so stop fucking around.”

He sighed like I was stomping on his nerves. “Fine. If you’re choosing the hard way, there’s only one thing you can do now.” Despite the topic, a grin stole over his punchable face. “It’s a good thing you’re not the prince of pride, because this is the part where you grovel.”

Chapter Thirteen

Charlotte

The next morning, I dressed in a long, black A-line halter gown with black pearl earrings. As I got ready, I could hear pure soul Dora in my ear, telling me how pretty I looked.

My hands shook searching for my piercing. In the bathroom mirror, black blood stained my fingertips.

I spun away, gasping on air and head spinning. The Dora cursed with the pure soul spell wasn’t the true Dora, but still, we had fun and started our own little routines since she became the new student at Abaddon Academy. Right about then, she’d be running in with a cup of hot cocoa to cheer me up from whatever asshole thing Ronin had done.

But cocoa’s not fixing things this time.

Turning back, I ran a hand over my smooth scalp as I thought through the plan. Even though Ronin was the reason I cut my hair, it was fitting that I did this. After losing our parents, one of the things I despised the most was how outwardly everything else was the same.

The house was the same. The neighbors and their routines were the same. I looked the same. Even Dora’s nurses wore the same scrubs and rubber clogs from week to week. This horrible, life-imploding thing had happened to me and my sister, and the world just kept spinning like it wasn’t even a blip on the radar.

Not this time.

I rubbed soothing, scalp oil over the raw, cool skin. This time, I’d make everyone feel how dark and desolate the world had become without her in it.

That done, I walked out the door, and scowled. “What the hell do you want?”

Ronin leaned against the opposite wall, hands shoved in his pants, and staring at the ceiling. I hated that, even then, he was so gorgeous it made my head spin.

Another shower left his thick, wavy hair curling and clinging to his horns. Red kissed his cheeks from a hot shower, or from running all the way over here so he could post up looking all nonchalant by the time I came out. Since his chest was heaving pretty fast, I’d go with the latter.

“What are you doing here, Ronin?”

“I’m here for you.”

My traitorous heart thumped.

“I promised to protect you,” he went on. “More than a few braindead fucks are going to think you’re fair game now that you’re pissed at me, Radu’s dead, and you’re no longer hooked up with Lucifer’s daughter—”

“All three of those things were your fault!” I snapped. “And Dora wasn’t his daughter. The only thing that monster had to say about her death is that I better not use it as an excuse to deny his rightful power. A bastard like that doesn’t get to be called her father.”

Ronin dipped his head. “I understand.”

“You don’t understand anything,” I replied as I stomped off. “If you did, you wouldn’t be here.”

“I’m only here to protect you, Hunter.” Ronin trailed behind me. “To keep everyone else off your back.”

“Hmm. Didn’t you tell me before you tricked me into that bond that it would alert you whenever I was in danger, precisely so you wouldn’t have to follow me around all the time?” I glared at him over my shoulder. “Or was that yet another fucking lie?”

“You shouldn’t have to deal with any danger of any kind right now. One look at me next to you, and no one’s going to try.”

“Behind me, Ronin.” My voice was icy cold. “Never next to me. Never again.”