How to Love a Blue Demon (32 page)

Eyoen took her by the upper arms, pulled her forward, turned her slightly and said, “Open your eyes and look up a little.”

Cass did, and saw his smiling face. It was the perfect first thing to see in a new place – something familiar and dear.

She grinned and stood on tip toe to kiss him. “Clever puss.”

“You called me a cat,” he said curiously.

“Term of endearment, sire.”

“Ree! You’re here. I’m here!” Cass threw her arms around the demon whose eyes bugged comically before he cautiously patted her back, eying the prince warily.

Cyani demons were not known to be kind to other males touching their females, but Eyoen just smiled indulgently.

Cass stood back and took her first look around. “My God,” she said. “It looks like Earth, only without buildings. Everything’s so clean and crisp and vibrant. That water’s green!” She ran toward a pond, dropped to her knees and looked into the water.

A
small fish swam up and looked back at her. It smiled, showing two perfect rows of razor sharp teeth.

“Shit!” Cass fell back on her butt.

Eyoen burst out laughing and picked her up. “Careful, dear. You might want to move a bit slower until you get the lay of the land.”

“Indeed, miss. There are many wondrous and beautiful things on Cyanus, but everything you see is not always as it appears,” Rierdane cautioned.

Recalling the predatory glint in that cute little fish’s eye, Cass believed him.

“Point taken.”

“Eyoen!”

He turned, arm firmly around Cass’ shoulders and raised his hand to the man walked toward them from perhaps a m
ile away. “Materen! It’s my second oldest brother,” he told Cass.

“He looks just like you except for the eyes and he’s not as tall.”

“No, but he’s a very gifted builder. You’ll see his work when we get to the palace.”

“
Yes, I remember you telling me about him. Where are we now?”

“In the yard behind the palace.”

Yard? It was more like a plain. There was nothing as far as the eye could see in any direction except shrubs and trees, or a close approximation of trees. These were tall and narrow, but the trunks were curved not straight, almost wave-like, and the branches were the same. She realized nothing around her was stick straight, and the tree leaves were blue and pink, while the flowers were green, a neon, lemony green that waved cheerfully in the breeze.

The air smelled wonderful,
like cloves laced with honey, and Cass walked toward the scent as the breeze touched the flowers of a nearby shrub. Eyoen grabbed her hand.

“No, my dear. The smell is a trick. It lure
s animals closer for the trees food.”

She blinked at him. “The tree
s eat animals?”

He nodded.
“It’s one of many safety mechanisms at play out here. That’s why you will never be away from the palace unescorted.”

Suddenly she felt a little queasy.

“Breathe through your mouth, miss,” Rierdane urged.

She did and instantly felt better.
“And I thought the streets of Chicago could be rough.”

“This must be your Cass.”

She jumped and spun around at the new deep voice and found herself looking into a pair of bright, sparkling green eyes in a slightly older version of Eyoen’s face.

How had he gotten over here so quickly?

Magic, my dear. He only hailed us from a distance to be polite.

Ah. Magic. I’d forgotten we could talk to each other this way. Will you always poke around in my mind?
She teased.

Yes, my dear. I shall eventually lay claim to everything about you.

Cass pondered that statement. It implied a level of intimacy she’d never experienced, nor ever really wanted, if she was honest. She’d never even considered it. Never seen hide nor hair of it outside song lyrics, movie reels or the pages of a book. But as she shook Eyoen’s brother’s hand, she realized if this was a book, she had fallen into the perfect love story.

“What a pleasure to meet you,”
said Materen, kissing the back of her wrist as was custom. “She is lovely, brother. Shall we go? The rest of the family is waiting to meet you,” he told Cass.

“Ready?” Eyoen asked her.

Hell no,
she thought, but she nodded and smiled.

The palace was sick. Ab
solutely ridiculously beautiful, and huge. They poofed in at a distance – Eyoen knew she’d want to see it from the outside – and Cass had to force her mouth closed. It was a pure creamy white and littered with thick columns like an antebellum plantation. It had to be at least a mile long. The front doors were at least 50 ft high, the knockers looked like gold and were bigger than her head. Two huge red creatures stood guard on either side. At first she thought they were statues, but then one rumbled and stepped forward as Eyoen approached.

Cass stopped and gaped.
“Is everything here outsized?”

Materen laughed. “These
hutrei
resemble your dogs, but they are closer in DNA to a dragon. They’re domesticated and loyal, but not really tame, thus they must be kept outdoors.”

“
Security?”

“Yes, my dear,” Eyoen said, nodding at a light blue sk
inned servant who bowed and opened the door. “My family is waiting to meet you inside.”

“Where’s my luggage?”

“Inside. Don’t worry. All is as it should be.”

When the doors opened, Cass thought for a moment that she would faint.
There were a dozen blue demons lined up to meet her. One seemed familiar. He was so tall and stately she knew he must be the King, and he stood at the head of the procession. Everyone was dark haired and beautiful, and thankfully smiling in welcome as they looked at her.

“Give me my bag,” she hissed to Eyoen.

“Right here, my dear.” And when she turned she saw that he’d manifested a table and her suitcase lay open on top.

“Greetings, King of Cyanus
,” she said in formal Cyani, as Eyoen had instructed her. “It is my great pleasure to visit your land. I humbly bare this small token, which I hope you will accept. That’s all I know,” she added in English, and everyone laughed.

The King smiled and stepped forward to shake her hand like an American, then he kissed both her cheeks and forehead as was
Cyani custom.

“Greetings, friend of my son,” the King answered
in English, accepting the box she handed him. “It is my great pleasure to welcome you to my land and to my home. What is this?”

Eyoen had told her that his father was a strategist and liked games of chance, so she took a chance that he would be good at chess and
had spent a grip on a set with beautifully carved black and coral marble pieces and a velvet lined box to house them.

“It’s a chess set
made of marble and a book explaining the game and detailing the playing strategies of great players like Bobby Fischer.”

“Thank you, my dear.”

“Please call me Cass.”

The King nodded and stepped back
, and the Queen stepped forward. She was the exact opposite of Carlow. Still tall, but as slender and delicate as he was broad and strong. Her skin was a slightly paler shade of blue and her hair wasn’t black but a rich dark red unlike anything Cass had ever seen.

“Queen
Siri, this is a swathe of raw silk in lavender to match your eyes.” Eyoen had approved the color and fabric. It was enough to make a dress, and the material was unlike anything the natives normally wore, which made it utterly suitable for a Queen.

Siri grinned and rubbed the silk against her face. “Marvelous, my dear. Thank you very much.”

Cass passed out Christian Louboutin stilettos to one fashion forward sister who squealed and immediately ordered a servant to help her put them on. She gave Materen a vintage Camaro model car that had to be assembled. Another sport mad brother got a baseball, bat, glove and a book on the game. There were hats, more books, perfume, Alexis Bittar jewelry, an elaborate make up kit, a box filled with different kinds of playing cards and instructions on gaming, a handheld electronic game and a bottle of extremely expensive Glen Livet whiskey for Eyoen’s oldest brother Cinque who he’d told her was a bit of a tippler.

When Cass finished handing out the gifts, only the two of them and Rierdane remained in the hall. Everyone else had vanished to play with their toys.

“My work here is done,” she grinned, dusting off her hands and sneezing three times in succession.

Eyoen frowned. “It
’s bad enough I’m feeling poor. Now you’re sick?”

Cass shook her head. “Nah. I’m never sick. Must be t
he change in environment. Ya’ll got any Kleenex?”

Eyoen manifested a box and handed it to her, watching with concern as she blew her nose. He snapped his fingers and disposed of the used tissue.

“Sire, your father asked that you visit the healers.”

Eyoen wanted to refuse, but Cass began to shoo him away.

“I’ll just get settled in my room. Unless you want me to go with you?”

He did want her to come, but he didn’t want her to be alarmed at anything the healer might do t
o rid his body of the last of the steel poisoning.

“No, my dear. You rest. I’ll have a servant show you to my suite and bring refreshments.” He nodded at a girl nearby, and she bowed and swept her arm toward the back of the room.

“Sire, perhaps you would give Miss the ability to speak and translate the language,” Rierdane said smoothly. “In case she should desire anything specific that is not provided.”

Eyoen shook his head. “Of course. I am so tired, I can barely think.” He waved his hand at Cass, who blinked.

“Did my head just tingle?”

Eyoen smiled. “
Perhaps,” he said in his language.

“Are you very weak, baby?” she asked, then started when she realized the words she’d uttered were in Cyani, not English. “
Well, shit! That’s awfully clever.”

She
hugged him gratefully and kissed his cheek.

“You’re very sw
eet,” he whispered, enjoying her shining brown eyes.

“I
’m on my best behavior so I don’t shock anybody,” she whispered back. “I hope nobody heard me cuss just now. When you come back we’ll take a nap and eat, and you’ll feel better.”

“Yes, my dear,” he said wearily. He didn’t bother to explain that he likely would be completely restored when he returned. Why d
eprive himself of the joy of her fussing over him? “I will see you soon.”

Cass thought she would fall down dead when she saw E
yoen’s suite of rooms. Her entire house could fit in his parlor, and her house wasn’t small.

“I damn sure ain’t gon’ need to work out. Just getting from room to room is a mile either way,” she muttered.

“Did you say something, miss?” the servant asked.

“No, no,” she answered in Cyani, smiling. “Everything is wonderful.”

“I will leave you to settle in. Refreshments will be here shortly. The bathing chamber is through that door should you like to refresh yourself.”

After the girl left, Cass walked to the door she mentioned, thinking it would be a good idea to see what she looked like after her first time space traveling. She raised her hand to push open the door and was shocked when it opened on its own.

“Damn.”

The b
athing chamber was ridiculous. Decorated in pale gold and grey marble, or what looked like marble, sections were blocked off with clever dividers, and in the center was a pool. To the side was a smaller pool, both deep enough to accommodate steps.

When she stood over the smaller pool and looked down she saw the bottom
gradually grew deeper. It had to be at least six feet deep. Probably more, she realized, since Eyoen was so tall. She could swim laps in the big pool.

She stuck her hand in
and laughed when the water tickled her fingers. She looked at her hand and frowned. She held her other hand beside it and realized the one she’d trailed in the water was not only completely clean, her skin looked softer, as though it had been conditioned. A hang nail she’d had on her thumb was gone.

“Geez.”

She wondered what else the water did. She sneezed twice.

“Too bad it can’t keep my
cruddy nose from running.” She sniffed loudly. She went over to one of the marble dividers and found a water closet and a bidet with no buttons and towels of all sizes but no toilet paper.

Routed, Cass shrugged and sniffed. If worse came to worse she’d have to make use of one of those plush gold towels.
Hopefully Eyoen was back before it came to that.

She wandered back into the main room and followed her curiosity through another self-opening door and found Eyoen’s bedroom. The bed was like nothing she’d ever seen.
The size of two or three beds put together, it was piled with soft, fluffy, oddly shaped pillows and was so high off the ground she had to climb six steps to get to it. Until she walked around the side and saw the steps the thing looked like it was floating. She kicked off her shoes, climbed up and lay down, yawning.