Touch of the Demon by Diana Rowland Read Free Book Online

spent some time here.
    Safar finally entered a chamber that wasn’t my cell. A big window draped in dust-free emerald silk dominated the far wall of a room about the size of my bedroom at home. In other words, not very big. A comfy looking chair of golden velvety stuff nestled by the window. A larger table and matching chair of heavy oak or similar wood dominated the center of the room. Déjà vu reigned supreme in here, and I knew without doubt that a bedchamber was beyond the closed door on the wall to the right.
    Safar guided me into the chair at the table and then released me. I sat gratefully, rested my elbows on the table and rubbed at my head, grimacing. He stepped back into the corridor for a brief moment then returned with a mug that he placed before me. “From Gestamar,” he stated.
    I took the mug and peered briefly at the contents. Couldn’t tell a damn thing about it except that it was liquid and it had a weird and tangy scent. Fuck it. It wasn’t as if this day could get any worse if the stuff turned out to be foul.
    I slugged it down with only a slight grimace. It wasn’t vile, though I doubted I’d be asking for seconds.
    “Your chambers are here,” Safar said as I placed the empty mug on the table. “Bed and bath there.” He gestured toward the door with a claw.
    “
My
chambers?” I said. “You’re not taking me back to that other room?” My spirits dared to rise a few millimeters.
    He crouched and shook his head. “
Dahn
.”
    I peered at him. “How hard is it to learn y’all’s language?” I asked, pretty sure it was hard as hell given the gutturals, stops, and sounds that were just plain weird.
Kri
meant “yes” and
dahn
meant “no.” I’d picked that up from my dealings with demons through the years but not a lot else, since the demons I summoned all spoke or at least understood some English.
    Safar spread his wings in a bone-popping stretch then settled them again. “Difficult for humans. Most who spend time here learn some words and phrases. Few become conversant. Only three have gained fluency.”
    Most Who Spend Time Here.
Well, let’s just hope I’m not here long enough to learn more than a few phrases.
I grimaced and amended my mental statement.
And not because some asshole lord decides to kill me because he thinks I’m a threat to his world.
    “So, what do I do now?” I asked.
    He peered at me. “Eat, bathe, rest, whatever you choose short of killing yourself or leaving the grounds.”
    “Eat?” I asked as my stomach gave an accompanying growl. “Real food?”
    He bared his teeth. “Kri…yes. It will be here soon.”
    I eyed him dubiously. “Not that broth stuff, right? Real, solid food?”
    Safar rumbled in what might have been amusement. “Real, solid food.”
    My spirits rose a couple of inches this time. “Any chance I can get clothing? Underwear? Nifty shit like that?”
    “In the bedchamber, awaiting.”
    Now for the money question. I pursed my lips. “What about a toothbrush?”
    “You will find the basics in either the bedchamber or the bath chamber.”
    Hot damn. I pushed up from the table and headed for the bedroom, along the way realizing that my headache had vanished in the past couple of minutes.
    Relief wound through me when I found my own clothing and shoes on the bed, obviously clean. I checked out the bath chamber next and stopped dead in my tracks, eyes fixed on the graceful gold-stone bath tastefully adorned with a pattern of leaves.
    “You carved this for me?” I hear myself say, barely able to contain my delight.
    Szerain sits on the edge of the tub, fingers idly tracing patterns of light on the surface of the water. He looks over at me, smiles. “Finished only yesterday. You will abide for some time to come. Rhyzkahl and I came to agreement.”
    “And what of Giovanni?” I ask, barely daring to breathe or hope. He looks away, and my heart sinks. “My Lord?”
    And there I was alone in the bath chamber staring at a tub already