Page 111 of A House of Gold
"You need to leave," Croesus says to Ash. "Now. Before I decide that your demon blood would make an interesting addition to my collection."
"I'm not leaving until I talk to Raven," Ash says stubbornly. "Alone."
"Croesus." I put as much authority into my voice as I can manage. "Let me talk to him. Five minutes. Alone. Then he'll leave."
Croesus turns those gold eyes on me, and through the binding I feel the war inside him. The possessiveness screamingto say no, to keep Ash away from me, to eliminate any threat to his claim. But also the respect he has for me, the autonomy he promised.
"Five minutes," he says finally. "In the receiving room. I'll be outside the door." His eyes fix on Ash. "If you touch her, I will know. And I will remove your hands. Do we understand each other?"
Ash swallows hard but nods.
Croesus gestures sharply, and one of the servants appears. "Show them to the receiving room. Then leave them." His eyes fix on me one more time. "Five minutes, Raven. Not a second more."
He stalks away, and through the binding I feel his fury and jealousy and possessiveness all tangled together, barely under control.
The servant leads us through corridors that seem to stretch longer than they should. Ash is silent, but I can feel the tension radiating off him. His demon blood is reacting to being in an angelic space. I can see the faint sheen of sweat on his forehead, the way his hands keep clenching and unclenching.
"This place," he mutters. "It's wrong. All of it. The way reality bends, the way it feels is just...awful."
"You get used to it."
"Do you?" He looks at me. "Or do you just forget what normal feels like?"
I don't answer.
The receiving room is small, intimate, gold walls, two velvet chairs, a table with a decanter of something amber. The servant bows and disappears, closing the door softly.
We're alone.
For about three seconds.
Then Ash pulls me into a hug so tight, I can barely breathe. "Jesus Christ, Raven. I thought, I was afraid..."
"I'm okay." I hug him back, feeling the familiar warmth of him, the cigarette smell, the solidness. It's grounding after weeks in the house where everything is beautiful and alien and strange. "I'm sorry I didn't call more. Things have been complicated."
"Complicated?" He pulls back, hands on my shoulders. "You're bound to one of the Seven. And then each in turn after that. Vera came to your apartment and told me. I thought... I didn’t realize.”
"I knew you'd try to stop me." I meet his eyes. "And I couldn't let you. This was the only way to protect Luna."
"There's always another way."
"There wasn't." I pull away from his grip. "My grandmother made deals with all seven houses. When she died, those contracts passed to me. If I didn't honor them, they'd have come after Luna. This way, she's safe. Protected."
"For seven years. Seven different angels." Ash's voice drops. "Raven, do you understand what you've agreed to? I know you know angels exist, but serving them, being in their domains, under their power, it changes people."
"I know."
"Do you?" He moves closer. "Look at me. Really look. You've been here what, a month or two? And you're already different. The way you stand, the way you talk. You're starting to become part of this place."
"I'm adapting. Surviving."
"Are you?" His hands cup my face. "Or are you forgetting who you were before?"
I don't have an answer for that.
"Come with me," he says suddenly. "Right now. We'll leave. I'll help you hide Luna, help you disappear."
"Ash."
