Ruby Shadows (Born to Darkness #3)(100)

“But why? How?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. You are changing me, I think. How exactly you are doing this or what you are changing me into, I have no idea.” He shrugged, his broad, bare shoulders rolling with the movement. “It is…disconcerting to say the least.”

“I don’t know what to say.” I left him and went to sit on the far side of the couch. “I’m not working any spells on you, if that’s what you think. Not that my magic could have much effect on a powerful demon like you.”

He laughed, a low, rich sound I could feel in my bones.

“I do not think you are doing it on purpose, my little witch. Nor do I blame you for it.”

“But it’s ruining you—stealing your power,” I argued. “You gave up one of your most powerful forms for me. And Belial said it causes you agonizing pain every time you feed me with your blood.”

His face darkened.

“That was not for Belial to speak of. I will have to have words with him.”

“But is it true?” I demanded.

He frowned. “Well…yes,” he admitted at last. “Is that why you refused my offer of supper?”

I crossed my arms over my chest.

“I’m not going to have you hurting yourself for me every time I get a little ‘peckish,’ as Grams says.”

“Gwendolyn, I do not think you understand.” He sank down on the couch beside me and took one of my hands in both of his. “Look at me.”

I didn’t want to but the force of his eyes on my face compelled me.

“What?” I asked at last, looking up unwillingly.

“It is my pleasure to feed you,” Laish murmured, stroking my hand and the inside of my wrist in a way that made my heart start to pound. “My pleasure to sacrifice for you…to bear pain for your sake if necessary. I care for you in a way I do not understand but it makes me want to give of myself to you. Will you let me?”

“I…” I bit my lip, my heart thudding in my ears. “I don’t know,” I said at last. “Maybe…maybe later. I’m not very hungry right now.”

“Will you let me give you comfort, then?” he asked softly. “You are trembling like a leaf.”

“Am I?” I took stock of myself and realized that I was. Maybe it was the shock of what had happened with the mirror sinking in but I felt cold despite the fire’s warmth—so cold I thought I might never be warm again.

“Gwendolyn, come here.”

Laish gathered me into his arms and for some reason I let him. I pressed my cold cheek against his warm chest and breathed in his cinnamon and dark spice scent, trying not to think about Keisha and everything else I’d seen in the mirror. Trying not to cry.

“They are just tears, mon ange,” Laish rumbled, stroking my hair. “Let them fall.”

I tried to stop myself but I couldn’t help it when a few hot drops rolled down my cheeks. Laish stroked my back and shoulders and held me tight.


“I don’t know what’s happening to me,” I whispered at last, trying to get control of myself. “I never would have tried to kill anyone like that before—not the way I was about to do it. My plan was to put a revenge spell on him—one that would make him waste away and leave Keisha alone. But just now I…” I swallowed hard. “I wanted to rip his heart out and squeeze it to a pulp. That’s what I was trying to do before that…that thing appeared and tried to get me.”

“Doubtless it was the HellSpawn working its will on you through the mirror.” Laish shook his head. “I never should have let you come in here alone with it. Belial told me that it opened for you but I thought it had only one picture to show. I never dreamed that the thing which seeks you would be intelligent enough to track you through it.”

“Does it know where I am now?” I looked up at him anxiously, wiping my eyes with my fingers. “Does it know my exact location?”

“If not the exact location, then it will have a very good approximation.” Laish sighed. “I have taken some precautions to throw it off your trail—I had four different demons wear the clothing you had on yesterday and spread your scent in four different directions.”

“You did?” I asked.

Laish nodded. “I hoped to buy us an extra night to spend recuperating here where it is relatively safe before we pushed on. But now…” He sighed again. “Now I fear we must continue our journey tomorrow. We must cross the barrier between Dis and the Sunless Sea as soon as may be.”

“Cross the barrier…right.” I bit my lip as I considered the implications. “I…I guess that means we have to pay the Sin Tax tonight after all,” I whispered.

Laish looked troubled.

“It would be best. There is no privacy by the barrier that leads to the Sunless Sea—it is right in the middle of Dis by the Great Hoof.”

“Is that a landmark?” I asked.

He nodded. “As well as a literal hoof—one of Beelzebub’s. It has been made into a tavern now.”

“Of course,” I muttered. For a moment I pictured a huge hoof so big you could go and have a beer inside it. But the picture couldn’t hold my attention for long—not when I knew what we had to do. “The tax,” I said, looking up at Laish. “Does it…does it have to be paid in lust?”