Taming Demons for Beginners (The Guild Codex: Demonized #1)(18)

He leaned in for a closer look at the page—and his head jolted. A shimmer distorted the air as the barrier rippled from the contact. Hunching to avoid the invisible force, he studied the encyclopedia page, then looked up.

My heart leaped with something approaching terror. I was kneeling close to the circle’s edge—closer than I’d ever gotten before. I could see the smooth texture of his skin and the dark, narrow pupils almost lost in the unbroken glow of his crimson eyes. I could’ve stretched my arm out and touched him.

“How am I like this animal?” he asked, snapping me out of my daze. “It is nothing like me.”

“Snakes can see heat too.” I pulled the book away and shifted backward, distancing myself from that dangerous line, then scanned the page. “It’s called ‘infrared thermal radiation sensing.’ Humans don’t have that ability.”

His attention had returned to the waiting cake. I slid him the next slice and watched him eat it with renewed curiosity.

“You said you wanted to see me properly. Why?”

“Why not?” he retorted. “Only three hh’ainun come here—you and two males. I see them only with … infrared thermal radiation sensing.” He pulled a face as though the term disgusted him.

I pursed my lips, surprised and a touch uncomfortable. He picked up new words very easily. How much was he learning from our interactions?

“I’ve seen two demons,” I remarked absently, distracted by my worries. “Including you.”

Interest sparked in his face. “Two?”

I recoiled under his gaze, but I saw no harm in revealing the nearby demon. Trapped in his dome-shaped prison cell, Zylas could do nothing with that information. “There’s a second summoning circle here with a demon in it.”

“Who is the other? His name?”

“I don’t know.”

“Describe him.”

“Um … very large. Long horns, big wings, a thick tail with a bony plate on the end.”

Zylas’s eyes gleamed. “Na? Him?” His head tipped backward and he laughed, the husky sound rolling through the room.

I inched away, my stomach dancing with fearful butterflies. Cruel delight lit Zylas’s face.

“To see his arrogance ground under a hh’ainun’s foot …” He sighed wistfully. “I would like to watch that.”

“You … you know that demon?”

He pointed at the last piece of cake. “Ask.”

Disturbed and no longer sure I was enjoying this conversation, I thought of Uncle Jack and Claude, of the other demon “ready” for a contract, and of Zylas’s refusal to negotiate or interact with them.

“Okay,” I said slowly. “My final question … why won’t you talk to the summoners? The other demon—”

His hand whipped out so fast it was a blur. I lurched back as his fist hit the barrier and ripples erupted across its transparent surface.

“Kanish!” The guttural word snarled from his throat, his eyes blazing red and face twisting with fury. “They sent you, didn’t they? A meek payilas to disarm me, na? Make me pliant? Satūsa dilittā hh’ainun eshanā zh’ūltis!”

Gaping, I shoved backward across the floor on trembling limbs.

He slammed his fist against the barrier again. Scarlet light burst over his fingers and snaked up his wrist. “Kanish! Get out of my sight!”

“Th-they didn’t send me,” I whispered, stumbling over the words. “They didn’t—”

“Get out!”

“Please listen to me—”

He bared his teeth—revealing pointed, predatory incisors. My mind blanked with terror. Tears stung my eyes, my hands shook, and my lungs quivered. Confrontation always undid me, even without murderous intent behind it. If Zylas could have reached me, he would’ve torn out my throat.

Actually, I corrected, he’d always wanted to kill me. He was a demon. Killing me would be the highlight of his imprisonment.

Gulping painfully, I forced my eyes up from the floor. Zylas’s burning glower sent my gaze skittering away, but I forced it back and focused on his slightly less petrifying chin.

“They didn’t send me,” I repeated, hating the quaver in my voice. “I’m not supposed to be down here. I—I only came to read the books. Uncle Jack doesn’t know I’ve been talking to you.”

His glowing eyes narrowed to slits. “Then you are too stupid to realize they are using you.”

“They aren’t using me,” I told the floor. When had I looked away? “I barely even talk to them, and when I do, it isn’t about you.”

Painful silence, pulsing with Zylas’s rage, stretched through the room.

“When you speak to them again,” he snarled softly, “tell them my bones will turn to dust in this cage, because I will never submit to a hh’ainun.”

His vehemence drew my stare up, but black night had filled the dome, hiding him. My lips quivered and I pressed them together. With unsteady motions, I nudged the final piece of cake over the silver inlay, then collected the plate.

I looked back with every step across the floor, but Zylas didn’t speak. The cake sat untouched. I slipped out the door and around the corner, then pressed my back to the wall and counted out a full two minutes.