His grin widened. “You can call me Envy, love.”
“Stop calling her love!” Tomb snapped, looking like he was ready to snap the demon like a twig.
I crossed my arms and glared at the demon. “Stop provoking him.”
Envy shrugged. “Jealousy is easy to bring out with this one. He’s quite greedy where you’re concerned. It makes an excellent meal.”
I sighed. “Why are you here?”
The man clicked his tongue. “Care to invite me in? It’s rude to keep guests in the hall.”
Tomb growled, and I was sure he was about to punch the demon in the face, but Crow intervened. “Sure, come in,” he said, giving Tomb a clap on the back. He wanted to know what this demon wanted, and so did I.
Tomb reluctantly moved away, and the red-haired demon strode inside and circled the room. “Nice. But the council gave me a much nicer room. I have a king-sized bed. And a jacuzzi tub. Also a balcony.”
Jealousy flared in me. “A jacuzzi tub? How did—” With a scowl, I clamped my mouth shut. “Stop doing that.”
He simply laughed and sat down on the chair that Crow had been sitting in earlier, before kicking his feet up onto the black table.
“The council invited you here?” Crow asked him curiously.
Envy nodded. “I’m their demon consultant.”
I frowned. “I didn’t know there was such a thing.”
“There wasn’t. Until now,” he said, flashing another grin.
I walked over until Tomb’s fingers pinched the back of my shirt, keeping me from getting any closer. I guess the jealousy that Envy spurred in him was still a little heightened. “What are they consulting with you about?” I asked nervously. I thought about Risk, currently upstairs in the medical ward, being watched over by healers and enforcers.
“Mmm, a little bit of this, a little bit of that,” Envy answered vaguely. “But I’m more interested in Risky Business upstairs.”
My nerves twisted. “What about him?”
The demon watched me carefully for a few moments before blowing out a breath and setting his feet back on the floor. He leaned forward, elbows braced against his thighs. “He’s not gonna heal, love.”
His words caught the breath in my chest and shoved it back in. “What do you mean he won’t heal? Of course he will. He just needs time or—”
“No, love,” he said, surprisingly gently. “Risky won’t be healing. At least not here.”
Tears burned in my eyes. “What are you saying? That he’s dying?” I couldn’t take it. My spider let out a sad keening noise in my ears, and I rubbed my thumb against my hourglass mark as an ache sprouted in my chest.
Envy stood up. He moved to come closer to me, stopping a foot away when Tomb growled. “He needs to go back to hell.”
I stared at him, the words refusing to settle in my brain.
“Hell? But I thought your kind of high demons ascended here because of your high level of power?” Crow asked.
“Very true. But when we’re mortally injured, like Risk is, there’s only one place we can heal, and it isn’t topside.”
“But he can come back right?” I asked. “If we send him to hell, he can come back once he’s healed?”
Envy gave me a pitying look. “Our source of power stems from hell. If you want him to heal, he’s got to go back. But I’ll tell it to you straight, love. When a demon is that damaged, it can take years for us to heal and regain the power necessary to ascend back to topside.”
I shook my head in denial. “No. No, he’ll wake up,” I insisted.
But Envy just looked at me with more pity, and I wanted to smack it off his face. “No!” I was suddenly turned around, my face buried against Tomb’s chest as hot tears spilled from my eyes. I’d just gotten my spider and my mates back, and now Risk was going to go back to hell? It wasn’t fair. Tomb ran a hand up and down my spine, trying to soothe me, but I was gripped in a fist of distress.
“How do we send him back to heal?” Crow asked somberly.
“Just say the word, and I can do it for you. I figured I’d leave it up to his mate,” Envy said.
I felt everyone’s eyes on me, and I knew that they really would leave it up to me. Even if I decided to be selfish and keep him here, not healing, stuck in a never ending unconscious limbo.
“But he’s my mate,” I began, searching for another solution. “Why isn’t he regenerating?”
Envy brushed his thumb along his jaw, contemplating my question. “I don’t know how to explain it. I’m not even convinced it was the ritual that caused this. That baby mama drama was like some sort of void, sucking his power away—including the ability to heal. Think of your mate bond as like a regenerative power that manifests after mating. Whatever happened sucked it all up or nulled it. Hell is the only way.”
I didn’t want to send Risk away, but I couldn’t do that to him. I wiped my wet face against Tomb’s shirt before turning back around and raising miserable eyes to Envy. “I want you to send him back so he can be healed,” I said quietly, my voice cracking.
The demon nodded, his eyes scanning my mates where they flanked me, both of them running soft touches and reassuring caresses over me. “I’ll go straight up to do it as soon as I leave here.”
“I want to come.”
Envy shook his head. “The council has you all watched like hawks and him as well. You won’t be allowed in the room.”
My fangs dropped in anger. “I’ll convince them,” I growled.
“I wouldn’t,” he warned. “Listen, the council is embarrassed. People are calling for their heads after what happened. They’ve got to appease the public. That probably means nothing good for you lot. You need to be prepared for them to make an example out of you, even though it wasn’t your fault. Risk is in danger up
