Ruby Shadows Read online

  Laish’s face darkened. “There is no way you should have been able to hear us—we were cocooned in a circle of silence.”

  “Well, I heard anyway,” I snapped. “Heard exactly what you and Belial think I’m worth—nothing.”

  “It is not that Belial is an uncaring monster or that he dislikes you—he is simply protective of me,” Laish said, frowning.

  “What about when he asked you why you bothered with me?” I demanded, not willing to let it go. “When he asked why you went to all the trouble and pain for me and you said…” My voice cracked but I forced myself to hold my head up and keep the hot tears that were stinging my eyes from falling. “You said you didn’t know. You didn’t know how you felt about me or even why you cared.”

  “Because I didn’t!” For the first time, Laish raised his voice. “I didn’t understand the hold you had on me, my little witch. If I were still the being I was created to be, I would have said that I loved you. But I am a demon—I have no love in my heart. For that matter—I barely have a heart to love with. And yet, you draw me to you like a moth to the flame. I cannot free myself from your spell.” His voice dropped. “I do not even want to.”

  “Right.” My voice trembled, tears threatening to push through my wall of protective sarcasm. “Why should I believe you?” I asked him. “Why should I believe your lies?”

  “Because they are not lies. Look.”

  Turning me around, he marched me back towards the mirror. When I realized where we were going, I began to struggle in his arms.

  “No—no! I’m not looking in there again!” I shouted.

  “Be still, Gwendolyn,” he said firmly. “You are not going to look into it—I am.”

  “What are you talking about?” I demanded as he reached the mirror with me in tow.

  Laish turned to face me.

  “Belial told you how it works, did he not? That the first thing the mirror shows you is the thing you love the most?”

  “Well…yes,” I admitted grudgingly. “He said something like that. It showed me Grams the first time I looked into it.”

  “Of course it did.” He sighed. “And the second time it showed you your sister. Do I dare to ask if it showed me to you at all?”

  I thought of the brief glimpse I’d gotten of his face before the strange blonde girl with the feathery wrap around her shoulders showed up.

  “No,” I said firmly, lifting my chin. “It didn’t show you at all.”

  His mouth tightened. “Then this should be a humiliating experience.”

  “What should?” I asked, frowning.

  “We are going to look into the mirror together, Gwendolyn. Or rather, I am going to look and you will stand behind me, looking over my shoulder—in this way you will see what I see.”

  I didn’t want to do it but he seemed determined. He positioned himself in front of the cracked surface of the mirror and I stood just behind him, standing on my tiptoes to get a look over his broad shoulder.

  At first I saw only the two of us reflected in the silvery surface. Laish standing there, his broad, bare chest hiding my smaller form and me peeking over his shoulder like a little girl afraid of monsters. Which I was to be honest—no way did I want to see that freaky HellSpawn coming after me again.

  Then the kaleidoscope colors began. When they finished swirling, Laish had faded from the picture and it was just me, standing there in my white nighty and robe, looking frightened and unsure.

  “I don’t get it,” I said, frowning. “You disappeared and it’s just me.”

  “Exactly.” His voice was low and warm and when I looked away from the mirror—I was able to do it somehow, maybe because it was showing things to him and not me—I saw there was an unreadable look in his ruby red eyes.

  “Laish…” I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”

  “Neither do I,” he murmured. “But the Mirror of the Eye cannot lie—it shows what is in a person’s heart. And you are in mine, mon ange.”

  “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