“I thought you would’ve healed by now.”
“I reopened the wound earlier.”
“I’m sorry. I guess climbing over that wall twice didn’t do it any good. Sometimes I do things without thinking.”
That went without saying.
“We have another problem,” she said. “It gets worse.”
He didn’t see how. The demon was living in a replica of Connor Castle that was invisible to Faelan but visible to Bree? And now there was a time vault hidden under her chapel, and he had no idea if Druan had been reassigned.
“Russell is the demon.”
“I beg your pardon?” He must have misheard.
“Russell’s the demon. I saw him in the castle.” Her voice was strained, her fingers tight on the steering wheel.
“You’ve been under stress. The mind can play tricks when one is frightened—”
“No. It was him.”
Faelan’s insides knotted. It couldn’t be Russell. “What does he look like?” Demons rarely switched human forms. It took too long to get comfortable.
“Tall, muscular, dark blond hair, blue eyes. Handsome. Dresses well.”
Like Jeremiah. Damnation. Bree and Druan? His stomach knotted. There had to be another explanation. “Does Russell have any distinguishing marks?”
“Not that can be seen with clothes…” Bree trailed off, looking embarrassed.
A growl rolled from Faelan’s throat. He’d seen Druan without human skin, but never without clothes, and it irritated him knowing Bree had. How many other men had she seen naked? “Do you have a photograph of him?”
“I think I burned them all. I can’t believe that I… that he… but he was standing right there. It was him. Remember, I thought I saw him in town. I think he’s been watching me.”
“Maybe he followed you to the castle.”
“No. He didn’t even see me there. He was talking to an old man.”
Faelan’s knots twisted and formed new knots. Russell, the bastard who’d made Bree cry, was Druan. “How close were you?”
“We were engaged. Betrothed.”
“You were going to marry him?” Faelan’s knots grew claws.
“The whole thing must have been a setup. He used me to get to the time vault.”
That would explain why Grog told the halfling not to hurt her. Druan still needed access to the place, since he didn’t know Faelan was awake. Faelan rubbed his hand over his face. A demon of old had tried to marry Bree to get to him. Faelan knew he would have to ask her some brutal questions, but not now. “How did you meet him?”
“In college. We were both majoring in history. We dated a few times, then I moved to Florida. About a year and a half ago, I was visiting Grandma, and I stopped by this antique store. I reached for a book at the same time he did. We laughed about what a coincidence—”
“Coincidences rarely are.”
She gave him a startled glance, likely thinking how they were drowning in the damned things.
“He invited me to dinner in his tiny apartment in Albany. The jackass probably had a castle the whole time.”
“They’re all infatuated with castles, every last one of them.”
“One thing led to another, and we got engaged. He moved to Florida to be with me, but after a few months I saw another side of him, not so handsome. Demonic bastard.”
The tremble was in her voice again, and it made Faelan want to kill Russell, whether he was Druan or not. “What did he do?”
“He started hanging out with weird people. They’d call the house late at night, and he’d go off for days without any word. He was like a stranger when he got back, hateful and jealous, like a shell of himself. I know he stole money my dad left me. And there were other things.” Her lips thinned.
“Why didn’t you leave?”
“I kept making excuses for him. Then one day… one day when he was out doing whatever it was that he did, I packed and went to Grandma’s, and I got a restraining order, a legal document that says he has to stay away. Fat lot of good it did against a demon. As soon as I left, he started begging for another chance. I guess he was desperate to find you.”
“Did he hurt you?” He’d asked the question before, but he suspected he hadn’t gotten the correct answer.
She met his gaze then looked away. “Once.” Her chin tilted. “Only once.”
“What did he do?” he asked, dreading her answer.
“He hit me.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
