Later on, we lay together, shoulder to shoulder, our offerings both given and received. My mind had a chance to rest and wander, my nightmare forgotten. Having a chance to relax, I remembered a question I’d been meaning to ask Mona. “So, why did you tell me not to go to the library yesterday?”

Mona laughed. “Oh, damn. I forgot about that.”

“We’ve been somewhat preoccupied,” I offered.

“That’s an understatement. Asmodeus, an eye demon, is the head librarian and archivist of the Dark Temple. And he’s over three hundred years old, so he knows ‘you’ from your previous incarnation. You’ll see him today. It is typical for the head archivist to participate in diplomatic meetings and interrogations, as they are both record keeper and chronicler of history and lore. He’s a capable sorcerer, too.”

“Better than you?”

“He’s had eight times as long to practice.”

Wait, eight times? Over three hundred divided by eight… She’s over forty? I stared at her in shock. I’d just kind of assumed that demons aged the same as humans.

“Well, you don’t look a day over twenty-five.”

She smirked, then rolled her eyes. “Is that supposed to be a compliment? I sure hope not because then I’d still be fresh out of the Academy, and you would certainly have a different High Priestess.”

“How long do demons usually live for, anyway?”

“A hundred and fifty is a good age to die. Any demon over the age of one hundred and twenty is considered an elder and need not work unless they wish. Even imps can retire from the farm, if they live that long, which most do not. But from your confusion, I take it that humans have shorter, sadder lifecycles.”

Her words reminded me of Fitzpick, the “best imp.” It made me wonder how he was doing out there. I imagined an alternate reality where I got reincarnated as an imp, at the bottom of demon society rather than the top. No doubt it would have been a pretty different experience.

“Eye demons live longer? Why aren’t there more demons around who knew Old Greg besides just Asmodeus, anyway?”

She winced. “You should probably not call him ‘Old Greg,’ in case he ever returns and reads your mind.”

“Mona, if the Dark Lord ever returns, I will have bigger problems than the names I called him.” I remembered a flash of last night’s dream, and I shivered. Perhaps he was already here, somewhere. What had he called me, again? Usurper.

She smirked. “Point taken, Master. Asmodeus is a rare case. He has lived much longer than most. There was another who knew the previous incarnation until about ten years ago. One of the oldest priestesses, Kira Viletongue.”

“I need to have a talk with this so-called Generator.”

“It is supposed to be Greg-Theryx’s messenger who guides us when our Lord is away. So you would be, according to scripture, having that talk with a fragment of yourself.”

“Wait, what?”

“How else would we discover our true names but through a conduit from our Lord?”

“I…” I blinked, trying to fathom how incredibly strange what I had just heard was. “You just accept that? Everyone takes the name the Generator gives them?”

“Of course, because they come from you, albeit indirectly. It comes from the artifacts you gave to us. To reject it is a sin.” She sighed. “But who fucking knows anymore, New Greg. Or should I say, Master? In addition to a name, the Generator also gives you a piece of advice, printed on a single card, sealed within an envelope. The name you are to read immediately, but you must wait until your fifteenth birthday to open the envelope. It is said that following its guidance will lead you on the right path, but sharing what the Generator told you is taboo, so no one knows whether anyone else has obeyed.”

“I see.” Part of me wanted to ask her what the Generator had said to her and if she’d followed it. But it seemed bad form to pry. I was stuck between wanting to know everything about her, but not wanting to interrogate her, even now. So I played it safe and said, “I’m not sure if you want to talk more about that or not.”

Her eyes widened at my directness, but then she smiled. “Maybe another time, Master. I feel like we’ve gone off on a tangent.”

“Well, these meetings today sound like they’re going to be a little more complicated than asking occasional questions of a bunch of military officers and agreeing with whatever they say.” I sighed. “You couldn’t have mentioned some of this a little earlier?”

Her eyes narrowed, and she opened her mouth as if she wanted to shout at me or call me a fool, but then much to my surprise, she only stared silently at me for a moment, eyes smoldering. Then she let out a sigh and flopped back in bed. “Forgive me, Master. I had intended to coach you last night, but then we almost died. It is hard to keep up with it all.”

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I couldn’t argue with her when she put it that way. We were both doing our best under impossible circumstances. “I see your point. I haven’t seen Asmodeus yet, so I suppose we got lucky. Actually, maybe I did see him? There was a floating blue demon at the service last night.”

“Sounds like him. He was at the feast and the ceremony. Asmodeus is a strange one, to be honest. If it’s any consolation, he wasn’t close with Greg-Theryx’s previous incarnation. Asmodeus was only a junior archivist then, so they likely had only brief and infrequent interactions.”

“I should go down and talk to him,” I said.

“What? Are you sure? If you need any documents, I can surely fetch them for you, Master.”

“I’ll have to interact with him later today anyway, right? I want to meet him in private before I rely on him during a diplomatic meeting with a literal snake, or when trying to interrogate that dog paladin.” I could barely believe my words, but I guessed this madness was my life now.

She nodded. “I take your point. Shall I accompany you?”

“Yes. I think we should handle that first. Then we’ll go to the dungeon to question the attacker together. Ilen and the Princess can wait.”

Mona nodded. “I agree.” She sounded almost surprised. “That seems shrewd. Well…” She glanced at the light beginning to crest over the horizon. “I had best return to my chambers to prepare myself for the day.” She looked down at her shoulder. The flesh was puckered, if you looked closely, but the fact it had sealed so quickly couldn’t help but impress me. Medicine. She stretched her arms above her head, then sighed. “Shit, I have to wear my slashed dress.”

“You should bring more of your clothes up here,” I said. “I’ll ask Ilmatar to fetch some. Before we leave, we should eat breakfast.”

“You should know it is customary for our Lord to dine alone in the morning. The High Priestess doesn’t—”

“She does now. I mean, she can if she wants to? I told Ilmatar my plan yesterday. If he doesn’t follow through, especially after you valiantly saved me and almost died in the process, I’m going to be very upset.”

“I’d like that.” She smiled. “You keep finding ways to surprise me.”

In truth, how could I not want to spend more time around her? I looked into her eyes, knowing I was already lost, that perhaps I had been from the first time I’d heard her voice. Maybe I had fallen for her too quickly, but when it counted, she had saved me too. And if I’d been a moment slower, she would have died for it. Died for me. I thought last night had forged a bond between us. We had both shown each other who we were.

“I like surprising you,” I said. “It makes me happy.”

Mona laughed. “Why?” she asked. “I don’t understand. You’re not who I expected.”

“From a god?”

She shook her head. “From anybody.”

I chose to take it as a compliment. “You asked why it makes me happy. I don’t know why. All I know is that being around you is better than not being around you.”

“Oh,” she said, and the tips of her ears grew even redder, and her eyes fell, refusing to match my gaze for a moment.

The sound of the elevator door rattled out in the hall. I looked to the light spilling over the mountains, the edge of the fiery sun now in view. Perhaps we had been having fun for too long.

Mona leaned forward, resting her hands against my chest as she kissed me furiously. My lips parted, and she bit my bottom lip. I heard footsteps in the hallway—Ilmatar and the other servants.

“Don’t die today, Master,” she said, her breath hot on my face.

“I’ll try my best.” The door was opening, so I gave her one last, soft kiss, a quick peck before she turned away. “No promises.”

Her lips moved to my ear, whispering, “If you fail so soon, I’ll be furious with you.”

“That makes two of us.” And then Ilmatar’s head was poking around the door, so I quickly threw the sheets over Mona’s naked body. “Ilmatar, the High Priestess needs—”

“I’ve already brought new clothes for Lady Desdemona, my Lord,” he said, “as I assumed last night’s garments were no longer serviceable.”

A few servants were already carrying buckets over to the tub. I waved to them and said, “The High Priestess and I will be bathing ourselves today, so we won’t need any assistance. You can leave the sand and the water by the tub.”

Ah, I thought. That will be much better.

Ilmatar nodded hesitantly. “Ah, yes, my Lord, that is all well… and what of breakfast? Will you and Lady Desdemona be dining?”

“Yes,” I said. “You can bring it in twenty minutes or so. I want to interrogate last night’s attacker. Then we’ll have meetings with Minister Ilen and the Princess. And I also need to ask you, Ilmatar, what was it that Gil Ravencrest said—”

“Ravennest, I believe it is, Master,” Ilmatar awkwardly interjected.

“Right. Ilmatar, why did he tell me he’d have the weapons ready? Why are they not already done?”

Ilmatar’s face looked shocked. I suppose I had just dropped a lot of things on him at once. For all I knew, I had said something blasphemous—I was trying not to look at Mona because the sight of her, naked under the covers, would probably get me going again, and I was trying, rather desperately, to focus.

“Ravennest said that?” Ilmatar asked after a long moment of silence.

“Well, yes. You didn’t hear him?”

Ilmatar looked almost offended. “My Lord, I do not eavesdrop on your conversations.”

Now I looked at Mona, who also looked confused. “I heard that as well, last night,” she said, “but I’d assumed this wasn’t unexpected.”

“Ilmatar, can Ravennest and the guild finish everything in time?”

“I-I’ll look into it, my Lord.”

“Better yet, I’d also like to meet with him later. See if you can get in touch with him.”

“We should summon him to the tower at once,” Mona added.

My eyes scanned the line of servants, standing by the door, now entirely without anything to do. The sand had been carried behind the screen that separated the bathing and torture areas, and our fresh clothing was laid out on a couch between the bed and the fireplace.

“Leave us for now,” I said to Ilmatar. “We must prepare ourselves.”

He nodded hesitantly, but shuffled the other servants out of the room and shut the door on his way out.

Once they were gone, I pulled the sheets back down again, exposing Mona’s body to the light. She leaned forward and kissed me slowly, gently, before withdrawing.

“Did I just do something blasphemous?” I asked her. “Ilmatar looked a little spooked.”

“Not exactly. The Book doesn’t exactly state any opinions on who Greg-Theryx should bathe or dine with.”

“So just unusual, then.”

“If you’re not careful, Master, they might start to think their god is falling for his High Priestess.”

“Would that be so bad?”

“Only for your reputation,” she said with a bemused smirk. “So perhaps, in public, we should behave ourselves.”

“I think I can handle that.”

“I admire your restraint. Let’s try to avoid disaster today.” She crawled across my body and jumped out of bed, her hips swaying and ass bouncing as she traipsed behind the folding screen. Our tub creaked as she stepped inside. “Well?” she called out. “Don’t keep me wait—”

But I was already there, stepping in softly behind her, a soft brush ready in my hand.