“Are you planning on skinning me?” Once again, I blurt out the words without thinking.
“He’s not.” Azazel stands slowly. “If you harm so much as a hair on her head, your territory will be forfeit. The magic binding in the contract will know.”
His territory.
I slump back against my chair. Well, fuck, I suppose that’s a big enough stick to ensure good behavior, even from monsters. For the first time, it strikes me that Azazel has his own reasons for arranging this auction. Surely he has enough money that he doesn’t need payment, no matter how much he’s charging these monsters for us. If territories are on the line, that sounds a whole lot like a different word for kingdom or country. Either the demon really intends to keep us from harm…or he intends to ensure he takes every territory he can in payment.
If I were a betting woman, I would bet on the latter.
Azazel picks up the contract, and it vanishes in a surge of shadows in his palm. “Ramanu will be along periodically to check on Briar. If you need anything, ask them and they will provide it.” He glances at me. “Seven years and then you’re free.”
I was married to Ethan for thirteen. Surely I can survive this dragon for half that. A small price to pay for freedom. Or that’s what I tell myself as I fight to my feet and follow the dragon out the door behind Azazel that I’m certain wasn’t there before.
Sol opens it and steps back, motioning for me to precede him through. Instinct demands I don’t leave him at my back, but what does it matter? He’s a predator, from his size to his claws to the teeth he’s flashed that are obviously meant for ripping and tearing prey. Having him behind me simply means I won’t see my death coming.
I find that thought strangely comforting, which worries me a little bit. I take a breath and step through the doorway…into another world entirely.
Chapter 5
Briar
The first thing I notice is how different the air feels. It’s as if I just stepped from a desert to the high mountains. I inhale deeply. Maybe not the high mountains. It just feels like the country, or at least how I imagine the country would smell. I’ve never spent much time outside the city. But it smells…green. I don’t register Sol following me until the door shuts softly behind him.
It’s right around that moment when I realize we’re alone.
It leads into a wide and airy stone hallway. The blocks beneath my feet are so large, it defies comprehension that someone created a building with them, but the scale of everything seems larger in this…realm. There are even charming open arches overlooking greenery down below.
Even as I tell myself to hold still—that’s what you’re supposed to do with a predator, right?—I can’t stop from scrambling away from Sol. The hallway that seemed to have plenty of space before is now too narrow with his presence filling it.
Sol looks down at me, his features too dragon for me to read whatever emotion might be found there. “Come along.” He moves down the hallway, leaving me to either follow or stay huddled here against the wall.
I try to calm my racing heart. He didn’t do anything. He barely looked at me. Staying here might satisfy the terrified gibbering part of my brain, but if I’m to be here for seven years, I’m hardly going to spend it all in this hall.
It still takes far more bravery than I want to admit for me to push away from the wall and edge my way after Sol.
I move slowly to the half wall—which hits me about chest level—and peer down into a lush garden. Or I assume it’s a garden. It looks like a mini forest, the only indication it’s enclosed at all are the corners where my hallway makes a ninety-degree turn at either end.
“It’s beautiful.”
“You’re welcome to explore. Later.”
I jump nearly out of my skin. I’d been so enraptured by the garden I hadn’t thought to clock Sol’s location. I spin around to find him a few short feet away. Distantly, I’m aware enough to realize he’s being very careful with me the same way I would be with a wild animal that wandered into my apartment. Not that there are many large wild animals in New York, but there are a lot of pigeons, and they can be real bastards.
I slap a hand to my mouth to keep my giggle inside. Not yet. I can lose my mind later. Right now, I have to focus. It takes several beats before I have enough control to drop my hand and say, “Okay.”
Once again, he leads the way. I study his back as I follow him around the corner and through another series of halls leading away from the garden. His pants are obviously tailored around the existence of his tail. It’s a nice enough tail, I guess. I don’t know how such things are measured.