Page 52 of Infernal Secrets

Popping the little fried ball into my mouth, I hummed. Not bad.

Zeke leaned forward and snagged the only other unfamiliar food item. “Are these hush puppies?”

“What the hell is that?” Cyn took the plates I passed to him and placed them on the counter.

“A hush puppy. You haven’t had one? You’ve gotta try it! It’s like this sweet bread that humans deep-fry,” Zeke said, holding one out for Cyn to take.

“Bread? It’s not dog?”

We fell silent when Raelynn burst into laughter.

It brought relief to witness such a beautiful sound after hearing her grief yesterday. When she snorted, Zeke’s face lit up and something in my chest loosened.

“Oh my gosh, really? Humans don’t eat dogs.”

“I hear some do,” Ezra said.

“Well, the humans in this house don’t. This is a dog-friendly zone.” She paused and looked at him. “You don’t eat dogs, do you?”

Ezra’s head angled to the side as he considered her. The longer he stared, the more her shoulders tensed until she looked down at the food, unable to meet his eyes.

“No one eats dogs in this house. Rule number one,” she mumbled.

She didn’t hear him, but I stood close enough to catch Ezra’s low chuckle in response to her behavior. It seemed Raelynn amused him—a step up from the indifference he expressed only a day ago. I wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad thing yet.

Once everyone plated their food, I followed Ezra and Zeke into the living room to sit at the coffee table on the floor.

Raelynn called from the kitchen, “Drinks? We’ve got… water, soda, juice… alcohol? Do demons drink alcohol?”

Cyn turned from the counter and rolled his eyes. “Are you even old enough to drink?”

When she crossed her arms, he laughed.

“You’re not, are you? If I remember right, you have to be twenty-one in this country. At least that was the case last time I came to Earth.”

“I’m twenty-three. I’m not a child.”

“Didn’t say you were,” he said, his gaze dropping to where her crossed arms pushed up her breasts. She didn’t notice, thankfully. Her focus had shifted to Zeke.

“Did you want a drink?”

“I’ll take another soda, please.”

I stood and went to the kitchen to help her, nudging Cyn as he passed me into the living room. “You gotta cool it. She’s being amicable.”

The last thing we needed was Cyn pushing her to the edge again before we even set ground rules.

He sucked his teeth and walked off, taking a spot beside Zeke.

I took the soda from Raelynn’s hand, grabbing one for myself and a bottle of water for Ezra. “Ignore him. He’s younger than you anyway, so he doesn’t have any room to talk.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, he’s twenty-two. Zeke’s twenty-one. I thought you were younger too, to be honest.” I followed her into the living room, sitting on the edge of the sofa. “I’m not good at guessing, though, so that isn’t saying much. Besides, it doesn’t matter in Elyrdin.”

She looked up at me after taking her place on Zeke’s other side. “Why doesn’t it matter? How old are you?”

“Twenty-six. But it doesn’t matter when you live for centuries like we do. A few years mean nothing in the long run. We’re allowed to drink from age sixteen.”