Page 13 of Sent To A Fantasy World and Now All the Men Want Me 7

“So, what’s the plan?” Rowan asked. “Find his bedchamber and then bang on the door until he lets you in?”

“No.” I showed him the bundle tucked inside my cloak. “I brought him a peace offering. Chocolate chip cookies I baked earlier. A way to a man, er, demon’s heart is through his stomach.”

Rowan pinched the bridge of his nose just like Briar did when exasperated. Seemed my men’s quirks and mannerisms were rubbing off on each other. “Does Captain Glutton know about this master plan of yours?”

“Not exactly.” I nibbled the edge of my bottom lip. It was my turn to be sheepish. “I may have waited for him, Cal, and Briar to pass out before sneaking from the room.”

The pre-dawn fuck-fest, on top of their busy schedules that day, had worn my men out. The last nail in their sleepy coffins had been the cookies and decadent hot chocolate I had stuffed them with for dessert. With their bellies full, they had zonked out shortly after we’d returned to our room. Oreo had been snoozing too, sprawled out on the rug in front of the fire.

“Clever,” Rowan said, fiddling with the clasp on my cloak. “And devious. You’ve made me proud, little treasure.”

“I learn from the best.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere.” He leaned forward and gently bumped our foreheads together. “But damn if it doesn’t make my heart soar.”

Movement from the end of the hall had the three of us lunging toward the dark corner Rowan had materialized from and squatting down.

Koga and Mae appeared. They both worked in the castle. Koga oversaw all of the staff’s duties and helped in the vegetable garden, while Mae was the seamstress. She held a stack of folded sheets and spoke softly to the tall male demon beside her, who held a big, probably heavy, basket of clothing.

Once the two of them rounded the corner and were out of sight, I stood back up and inched along the wall Mission Impossible style—Muffin Impossible?—making sure no one else was around.

Rowan quietly laughed. “It’s a good thing you’re cute, little treasure. That scraping sound of your clothes against the wall kinda defeats the purpose of being stealthy. You’ll never make it as a spy.”

No lie detected there. If my clumsy feet didn’t give me away, a random cough or sneeze would, as evident from past eavesdropping and covert-ish missions.

“Yeah, yeah.” I grabbed Rowan’s hand, then Lake’s. “We should get going. The second Maddox wakes up and finds me gone, he’ll storm this castle looking for me.”

I shuddered at the thought. Though… whether that shudder came from fear or the excitement of being hunted down by my big, muscled captain I wasn’t sure. Dark romance slut, remember? Men in masks. Big, brooding grumps. I was weak for them all.

“If he does, we can always throw a muffin at him,” Rowan suggested. “Not sure about Lord Onyx, but the way to Maddox’s heart is definitely through his stomach.”

Lake released a rough sound and turned his face away from us. After all this time, he was still bashful sometimes when he laughed. It was endearing.

The three of us continued down the corridor. Reaching a narrow staircase, we ascended the steps up to the next floor before stepping out into a moonlit foyer.

A set of tall windows showed a lush forest and a starry sky, no sign of the storm clouds from earlier that morning. There was a touch of familiarity to the room. I vaguely remembered passing through it the night Onyx and I had slept together.

Something then caught my eye. The shadows to the left of the door stirred before a distorted figure appeared. With a thin and gangly body, the thing stood at least seven feet tall, and its head sat lopsided. Long arms hung at its sides.

“Um.” I pointed at the shadowy newcomer. “Do you guys see it too?”

“Aye.” Lake brought me closer to his side, as if he wasn’t sure yet if the thing was a friend or foe.

“Wait.” I squinted at it. “I think it’s Bob.”

“Bob?” Rowan turned to me, one brow shooting skyward.

“He escorted me back to our room once before,” I explained, remembering how I had followed the somewhat creepy shadow creature after Onyx pounded me into the mattress, then sent me away for the night. “He’s a good shadowy boy.”

At least, I hoped Bob was good. He could also come running at us like a freaky thing from a horror movie and eat us. Maybe drag us into a dark dimension. As a shadow mage, Rowan would probably survive though.

“Hello, Bob,” Lake told the creature.

I had the urge to laugh but not the capability. I was too creeped out. Bob glided closer. His legs were mainly for show, as his feet didn’t exactly touch the floor. The tips of them kind of brushed across it.

“Amazing,” Rowan said in awe, staring at the creature. He reached out a hand. “Look at ’im.”

Bob’s form flickered before he neared Rowan, losing all interest in me. He stopped in front of Rowan’s outstretched fingers and hunched lower, his lopsided head becoming more so as he turned it. Something about the sight made me think he was just as curious about Rowan as Rowan was of him.