“You haven’t lost your touch. Are you after a job?”
The man laughed. “No, I’m done with all that. I live happy now. I am not one of the forgiven, I never will be, but I am happy. That is all that matters.”
“So why are you here?”
“To gloat.”
Asmodeus nodded. “Yet in all your gloating you have enlightened me.”
“Of course. Am I not the original deceiver? My love for my lost kingdom brought me here. I want it to be strong, and to become great again, the lord himself needs tuition.”
“Should I take that as some form of compliment, that the old master comes to the new, to aid him?”
“God, no. Never trust me, or my diamond. Tai is, as we say in exile, plotting to kick your ass. And I shall be by her side when she does. So Asmodeus, lord of all that is darkness, grow some balls and man up. Don’t take, don’t possess, swallow your own pride and love her, this Elizabeth. Only then will you truly deserve the title of Satan.”
A smile, a wink, and the man was gone, like a wisp of the blackest smoke. Asmodeus had been taught a lesson by the devil himself, Lucifer. With a deep sigh and the last swig of his drink, he stood and walked past the people in the bar, who had returned to their normal selves. He had things to do.
Chapter Ten
Elizabeth tried to calm her pounding heart. She’d been grinding the fennel plant for the last hour, doubling up her normal intake. All her stones and other baubles would help to get her out of the buildings without any of the concubines finding out her movements. Her hands trembled as she slowly started to tip the crushed leaves into the tea strainer. The trembling turned violent and she spilled a pile of the ground fennel next to the mug of steaming water.
“FUCK!” She dropped the dishes with a loud clatter onto the desk top.
Elizabeth took a step back, stabbing her fingers through her hair and closing her eyes tight. Tension ran a path through her body and she took in deep breaths, trying to calm her heightened anxiety.
Normally, if at home, she would have popped a pill for this issue. She needed the herbal supplements to not have any blocks while she got out. Looking out the window, Elizabeth took in the darkest point of night. It was nearly two in the morning and still she didn’t feel fatigue, just panic and an irrational sense of confusion.
After Asmodeus got her off on the table top, they’d had a reasonable lunch. Just like any dating couple would. He chatted with her, clearly reading her confusion and ridding her of distraction when he’d started to ask about what she wanted to go to college for. Elizabeth was getting too comfortable. She quickly cheeked at him that it would no longer happen. Asmodeus’s warm, large hand covered hers, assuring her that he would allow her any education in any establishment she wanted.
“At what price?” she asked him.
His brows furrowed and he attempted to change the subject again.
The Asmodeus that was present at the table eating with her was in direct conflict with the Asmodeus she’d grown to hate and loathe, the one that tried to seduce and ply her with indecent scenes of sex and violence. He threatened, killed, and fucked, trying to get her to succumb to him. He didn’t cloy her with food and conversation like a normal man.
She wondered for a moment.
Was this the man he was trying to be by claiming her?
Or was this his simple deceptive seduction methods?
She paced over to the window and leaned her head against the cool stone frame. Her eyes darted over the landscape as confusion warred with her rational mind. Something about Asmodeus seemed like it fit. When they just talked—when he acted normal—she felt...calm.
Maybe she should stay, see how this all would play out. The running had become exhausting and perhaps she could make a deal with him. Get him away from this horrible place and on their own so they could learn one another. Fate had deemed her his bitch, so why not see what he had to offer?
A bubbling feeling filled her chest, her brows creased, and she exploded in fits of laughter at her musings.
Give the beast a chance to send her to hell?
The laughter was maniacal. It filled her room and possibly the sleeping convent. Sleeping? Maybe not; she had heard moans filling the halls only a few hours earlier. No doubt Asmodeus fucking one of the nuns because she wouldn’t.
Why did that tighten her chest and make her ache?
Shaking off the last of her confusion, she went back to her task, setting the tea to simmer. She was wasting valuable time worrying herself over something simple.
Get away, get to Jared, and find a way out of this horrible debt.
With her mind set, she finished packing up the rest of her things in one simple bag. She had printed out the directions to the small seaside town, had managed to get to the offices without being noticed. The fucking, and her quiet escape from Asmodeus earlier, no doubt put them in a false sense of ease.