Page 70 of Devils Don’t Deal

The car pulled up in front of the bakery, and I climbed out, looking up at the charming rabbit poking out of the donut hole, his expression mischievous, a lot like the devil had looked when he hadn’t been in a coma. Somehow, I’d save him. No matter what.

I went straight to bed and snuggled Divinity until I stopped shivering.

Chapter

Twenty

The next morning, I woke up bright and early and went straight to the kitchen. I hummed the song from the waltz I’d danced with the devil and baked a wide variety of delicacies as well as a fabulous happiness-invoking chocolate cake and a strawberry shortcake.

“Feeling better today?” my father asked as he came in. One of his arms was bandaged and he had a black eye.

I stared at him, tsked, then whisked together a goblin pudding that would help him heal even faster than he already naturally did. I plopped it in front of him, a few fish eyeballs floating in the dark chocolate sauce, then went back to work.

“Do I want to know?” I asked as I put the finishing touches on a set of vanilla macarons with a silver glazing like spun ice that reminded me of the fairy king and the crystal fairy enchantress.

“Just having a friendly conversation with a few goblins.”

“Of course you were. Did you learn anything interesting?”

“Not particularly, unless you’re interested in who owned the department store before your devil bought it.”

I stared at him. “Should I be interested in that?”

“Your great-uncle apparently owned it as an agent for the enchantress. You know her type: doesn’t like to come out and present a proper target for anyone.”

“She owned House Beur? So he told her about the devil buying it?”

“No. That would be your former boss Roald Fern. Draskri was apparently always secretly on your mother’s side.”

“And that’s why he helped me go to jail.”

“You were safe in jail.”

I made a face at him. “So Fern went over my great-uncle’s head after he was humiliated by my devil. That’s why he had a contract, because Draskri used it to ensure his silence about me.”

“Or Fern used his knowledge about you to blackmail Draskri into giving him the contract.”

I sighed heavily. “Well, that explains that. Sort of.” I touched my collar. This was okay to talk about? I guess since my dad was telling me and not vice versa.

“You getting a sore throat? Take some of this,” he said, handing me a small bottle of something golden and vile smelling.

“How many drops?”

“As many as you need,” he said, winking.

I tucked it into my pocket then went out to open the shop. The vial wasn’t for my sore throat, but for something else. I’d hopefully know when I saw it. Sigh. If only I could talk to him without it killing me.

I smiled as the first customer came into the shop, the woman who had tried to come the last time the devil was there.

“Welcome to The Rabbit Hole,” I said as warmly as I could while my heart were shards of pain. The devil was floating lifelessly in a pond, and I was at the mercy of the merciless fairy king and the fairy enchantress who made him look good-natured.

Her expression was ice. “I’ll take everything.”

I stared at her. “Everything…”

She gestured around at the entire store. “That’s right.” She pulled out her wallet and started tapping her toe on the floor.

“Um. Sorry, but you can’t buy everything. I have other customers who’ve been waiting for the shop to open.”