My Demon Husband novel · Chapter 10 of 32

Chapter 10: Night Ten

"Andras," Malphas said.

"Old friend." The man on the railing tipped his head. "You look well. Domestic."

"You're too close to my house."

"I'm on Greaves's roof. Royce bought it in the spring. Didn't you notice?"

The building next door had been empty for months. I'd thought it was for sale.

Andras uncrossed his legs and leaned toward me across the gap.

Up close his eyes were pale, almost no color at all.

"I came to meet the bride," he said. "You made quite a show on Tuesday. A whole file turned to ash. My, my."

"Your lawyer should've backed up his files," I said.

He laughed. It was a lovely sound, and it made my skin crawl.

"I have an offer for you, Mrs. Malphas."

"It's Kimball. And everybody has an offer for me lately."

"Mine is better." He spread his gloved hands. "Don't let the bond seal. At sunrise on the sixteenth, simply say no. Walk away from him. And I will let all two hundred and twelve of Royce's tenants go. Every year, every lease. Free."

My heart jumped. I couldn't stop it.

Two hundred and twelve people. All at once. No nosebleeds.

Malphas didn't move. He didn't look at me.

He was letting me choose.

"Put it in writing," I said.

Andras's smile didn't change, but something behind it went still.

"My word is my bond, my dear."

"Then it should be easy to write down."

"A demon who writes a promise is held by it," Malphas said quietly. "That's why he won't."

"So he's lying."

"He's leaving himself room."

I looked at Andras.

"I work at a courthouse," I said. "I don't sign anything that isn't on paper. And I don't take deals from men who sit on other people's roofs."

He sighed.

"What a waste," he said. "Sixteen days is a long time for a girl with nosebleeds. Ask your husband what happened the last time I wanted one of his houses."

He stood up on the railing, in his cream suit, six stories over the street.

Then he stepped back off it, into the dark, and was gone.

The string lights came back on.

The tension dropped out of my shoulders.

"What happened last time?" I asked.

Malphas looked at the empty railing.

"I had a hearth before this one. A long time ago. He wanted it. I wouldn't give it."

"And?"

"He burned it," he said. "With the people inside."

I took his hand. It was cold again.

He didn't say anything else, and I didn't make him.

That night, at midnight, he knocked and lay on top of the blanket.

Neither of us slept.

Neither of us said a word about the bench.

On Saturday, we went down to Opal's dinner.

Opal made meatloaf and asked Malphas if he'd kissed me yet.

The whole table went silent.

"Opal," he said.

"That's a yes," said the nurse from 3A.

The boy from 4D said, "Gross," and ate his whole plate anyway.

I laughed until I couldn't breathe.

We climbed back up to 5C at eleven.

The bond wouldn't wake for an hour.

He went into the kitchen and started washing a pan that was already clean, which he does when he doesn't know what to do with his hands.

I stood in the kitchen doorway and watched him.

He'd stood between me and Royce. He'd carried me out of a courtroom. He'd let me choose on the roof, when the easy thing would have been to choose for me.

He'd stopped, when I asked him not to, and told me I'd still want it tomorrow.

It was tomorrow. It had been tomorrow for a whole day.

"Mal."

He turned around with the pan in his hand.

"It's eleven-fifteen," I said. "The bond is asleep. I'm not."

He put the pan down.

"I want you," I said. "Not the bond. Me. I wanted you on Wednesday when you ate my eggs. I wanted you on the roof. I want you right now, before midnight, so you never have to wonder."

He didn't move.

"Say it again," he said, very low.

"Yes. I want you. Tonight."

He came across the kitchen in three steps.

He didn't kiss me yet. He put his hands on either side of my face and held it, and looked at me.

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