Page 24 of A Cursed Heart
An Innocently Told Lie
Malacoda
SeemedasifRyanhad already forgotten the most important thing about me: I was a liar and a cheat. My bond with him was not so fragile that I could not exist in another room without him. The couch just sounded like an uncomfortable and lonely place to sleep.
His fate was solidified the moment he didn’t kick up a fuss when I accidentally ended up in his lap in his vehicle. Purely by accident, not design. The space had been much too small for both of us to reappear inside. I had misjudged the roomavailable and, luckily, found a sort of comfortable place to land, if I ignored the steering wheel in my back.
Ryan’s body was hard and soft in all the right places. There was more to like about him than just his perfect body. He did present a challenge, since he had not responded to my flirting. Ryan hadn’t reacted either way to my current form in his arms, he hadn’t balked or complained. There had been no physical reaction. Was he just indifferent to me, or was he not interested in men in general? Time could overcome both situations given enough effort.
I wanted to make that effort for him. Gone were the thoughts of controlling this man. Just up and vanished into the chilly spring air. He had a certain ruthlessness about him that I appreciated. For a change, I wanted to follow and not lead to see where he would take us. Ryan, though human, possessed a strength of character I felt could overcome the pull of the gem.
He could be my long wished for master. The one to end it all. If that meant my death, then I was ready. I was tired.
Truthfully, I had expected more of a fight about sleeping in the same room with him. I certainly had not expected to be permitted to share the bed with Ryan. After so long in my gem, I would have been content with the floor. Just being able to stretch out would be a luxury. To have a form once more was like a dream. Having a soft, comfortable place to rest was heavenly.
Even with how little I knew about Ryan, it was doubtful that he even considered the floor as an option. He had been far more affected by my story than I thought possible. Was my history so bad it elicited sympathy from a virtual stranger?
When I thought about it objectively, yes, it was. Though I had committed many, many crimes against my brother, and also the rest of my family, my punishment felt disproportionate to those said crimes. Centuries trapped alone, only being set free long enough to serve a revolving door of owners… it was a wonder Ihad any sanity left. Yet, here I was on the other side of it, with a chosen master for a change, and I felt like even if he wasn’t the one to grant me my freedom, then spending time with Ryan would be enough to get me through the years after him.
I followed Ryan into his building. It was in a complex of buildings with assigned parking, as he explained. All were clean, with trimmed bushes and neat lawns bracketing the parking lots. The area had a pleasant feel. Ryan’s hands twitched at his sides as he walked us in. He appeared nervous to take me home. Common sense, really. I was a stranger to him. A demon, too. He had to be reeling from that alone. In such a short space of time, Ryan had to adapt his worldview to add in the supernatural. It was remarkable how well he was taking it all.
We took the elevator to his floor, delightfully pressed together in the small box as we rose through the building. Ryan kept looking at me and shuffling away. His reaction to me now was more uncomfortable than when we were pressed together in the car or even when I was in my true form.
“Mal, there’s no need to stand so close,” Ryan grumbled. Heeding his warning, I took two steps away. “Thanks.” He visibly relaxed. “Okay, my sister, Lydia, is two years younger than me and knows some of my college friends, so I guess we can say we met recently through my gym… not that I’ve been going much. You called me needing a place to crash, and I picked you up after I was done with Salvatore.”
“Your sister knows about Salvatore?” I asked, surprised.
“My sister knows everything,” he said in a flat tone.
“Even about your ex-wife?”
“Yeah.”
If his sister did not condemn him, it truly had to have been accidental, not just a lie he told Salvatore. I had no opinion either way, and as his pet demon, I would obey him in all things. Alright, that was a lie. There were things I would not do. If Itruly did not like a task, I would refuse. Ryan did not have the power to make me do something outside of my will, unlike many of my previous masters. He had no magic, after all. Neither was he a violent man. Still, I believed Ryan would not ask me to do anything truly heinous like those in my past had. When I had refused them, often resorting to magic to distort their order or outright avoid it, I had been punished, sometimes even breaking and performing the task ordered of me. In my heart, I knew Ryan would not ask me to do anything he would not do himself, or anything I would disagree to.
The elevator opened onto a clean hallway. The tile floor shone, though some tiles were worn by regular footsteps. No doubt someone would replace them when necessary. “My neighbor likes to clean and check up on us,” he offered as an explanation when he caught me studying it.
“Do you like living here? All on top of each other?” This way of life was strange to me.
He studied me. “Not what you are used to?” he asked dryly.
“Not really, though it has been so long since I lived in the castle or my manor.” My words came out a little wistful. “I like this. Being so close to others.”
“Really?” When I nodded, he appeared relieved. Did my opinion matter to him? “I wish I could have afforded a place with a yard so we could get a dog, but this was in my budget, in a good area for school for Freya, and had a great reputation for safety.”
With a child in his life, that was important. Ryan was an impressive young man.
Ryan’s hand paused on the lock. “Please don’t tell Lydia anything other than our cover story, okay? I’m too tired for drama. I’ll tell her, just not now.” Looking closer at him, I could see dark circles under his eyes and feel the air of exhaustion around him. My master needed sleep.
“You have my word.”
He scoffed. “Could you try to sound more normal? Your speech is weird.”
“It’s difficult to stay updated with vernacular and accents. The technology you have these days is remarkable, connecting people so readily from all over the world. I have spent much of my time observing it rather than how your language has evolved.”
“Dude, that’s not helping.” He gave a sigh and shook his head.
“I’ll try harder to fit in.”
