Page 3 of Demon's Beauty

I felt so righteous, so right, so hurt that she threw me away, too.

And now…

Descending the main stairs back to the coven hall’s entrance chamber in half a trance, I almost don’t notice the witch standing at the front door until I nearly run into her.

“Whoa,” Allie says, hand on my shoulder as I careen out of her way. “You alright?”

“I… yeah. Fine. I’m fine.”

Little furrows of concern show on her forehead as she studies me, then nods toward the floor above. “Just come from Esme’s office?”

I huff a small, tense laugh. “Yes.”

“Sorry about that.”

Another laugh, and I run a hand through my hair, still a rumpled mess from the days I’ve spent brewing.

“At least I caught her between meetings,” Allie says with a sigh. “What kind of mood is she in today?”

“She’s… well. In a veryHigh Priestessmood.”

Allie snorts. “Yeah. That sounds about right.”

“You’re meeting with her?” I’m desperate for a change of subject. Some small talk. Anything to get my mind off my own problems.

“You could call it that. ‘Meeting’ sort of implies it’ll be a two-way conversation though, you know?”

“At least you’ve got another realm to go back to when you’re finished. That’s gotta count for something.”

She gives me a searching look before nodding slowly. “Yeah, I suppose that’s true.”

Goddess, that sounds good. A trip through the Veil to another world. One without High Priestesses or inter-coven politics or a future I’d do just about anything to put off right now.

It sounds so good my whole body aches.

So good that I open my mouth and start talking before my brain has caught up to what it is I’m going to say.

“Would you take me with you?”

Now where the hell did that come from?

Allie doesn’t owe me anything; she certainly doesn’t owe it to me to take me back with her. She’s got an entire freakingrealmto rule. Sure, we’ve crossed paths in the past, notably when she brought me over to help cure Joan’s poisoning, but we’re not exactly friends.

She arches an eyebrow. “Where? To the demon realm?”

“Yes.” I nod, a shaky plan forming at the edges of my mind.

An escape.

“Vayla… she… the last time I was in the demon realm, she asked for my help in working through some of the potions recipes in Ariana’s grimoire,” I say, not really knowing where I’m going with this, but determined to make it up along the way. “We didn’t have the chance to get started before I had to come back here and start preparing for my Ascension, so…”

“So you… want to go back and help her?”

“Yes.”

That eyebrow’s nearly touching her hairline now. “Isn’t your Rite in like… a couple of weeks? On Samhain?”

“Yes.”