Page 36 of Dancing With Demons

“What?” I seized, spinning around. “What did you say?”

“I said your sister’s under the pure soul spell,” he dropped like it was nothing. “Angelic magic, so I’m guessing Lucifer did that to her.” He shrugged. “Although, one of his angel enemies could’ve done it too.”

“You’ve heard of this before? But Tristan said no one other than angels knows a thing about their magic or spells.”

“And he’s right,” he replied, reclining back in his chair and watching Dora dance with a pillow. “Angels are incredibly tight-lipped about the secrets of their magic, but all lips loosen in the presence of my father.

“One tried to teach my father angelic magic in the hopes of currying his favor, but the Lord Sloth has little interest in learning new things,” he said. “But Father did admit that among her boring droning, one spell did pique his interest”—Ronin gestured to Dora—“the pure soul spell.

“It’s a spell that washes away your sins and reverts you to a state of complete innocence and tranquility, removing even the capacity to think about doing something wicked.” Ronin met my eyes, a smirk dancing on his lips. “It’s a spell that guarantees you’ll get into heaven.”

“What?” I cried, jumping up.

Immediately, I swayed—pain ricocheting in my head and dropping me back down. “Get into heaven?” I forced out, rubbing my temples. “But then why... is she still here?”

“She’s still undead. But if you killed her now”—a lance went through my heart—“while she’s in this state, heaven is where she’s sure to go.”

“No!”

“Whoa, whoa, easy,” Ronin soothed, throwing his hands up. “I wasn’t suggesting it. I was just answering your question.”

I breathed hard, clutching my chest as visions of Mother plunging that knife in Dora’s heart assaulted my memory. Of course Ronin wasn’t suggesting he’d hurt her. It was me who asked, and he who answered honestly.

I just need to calm down and breathe. Dora and I are safe now, and safe is how we’ll stay.

There’s just one thing I need to do.

“You haven’t brought it up on your own,” I began, “and I appreciate that, but we don’t need to drag it out. I’d said I’d take your deal. I’ll do the sub bond thing, so l-let’s just get it over with.”

I was proud of myself. My voice only cracked once.

Ronin got to his feet. “We can get it over with, sure, but let’s do it in private. You’re both under my protection now, so it’s time we moved you out of that hovel,” he said. “You and your sister can have the room next to this one. I’ll remove the external door and make it adjoining so that the only way someone can get into your room is by going through mine, and no one is going to break into mine.”

“You d—”

Before I could finish saying he didn’t have to go that far, Ronin snapped his fingers three times.

“Agh!” sounded from the hallway. “What the fuck!” Thud! Thud! Thud! “What’s going on!”

I was about to ask that myself when a door as grandiose as the rest of the room appeared beside the fireplace.

Ronin gestured for me to check it out.

Shakily, I rose up and reached for Dora’s hand. She happily skipped behind me as I led her into the next room.

It wasn’t as nice as Ronin’s, but it was much nicer and twice as big as the one Dora and I were in now.

Two full-sized beds claimed one side of the room, and scattered before them were two wardrobes, two desks, a small sitting area with two armchairs, and another door that likely led to a bathroom. Honestly, it was perfect for our needs—which weren’t many. I just wanted to fall asleep without the hissing of hungry vampires or the baying of lust-addled demons in my ears.

Ronin brushed past. “I assume it’s a mortal custom to dress like a lunatic in public.”

I couldn’t stop the blush stealing over my cheeks.

“But if you could see your way to letting that custom go, you could wear these.”

Ronin opened the wardrobe and my eyes bugged. Dresses, tops, shoes, pants, and skirts for all occasions swung on the hangers. All occasions, but not all price points. One look told me that each and every single item of clothing in this wardrobe was screamingly expensive.

“I— I can’t accept this,” I blurted. “Ronin, seriously, I don’t need all of these things. All I’m asking for is protection—for me and my sister.”