Demon Bound

your solution. The way you plan to make immortality last as long as eternity.”
    She could not look beyond him, could not avoid his gaze. “You don’t approve?”
    “Well, let’s see.”
    He brought his hand to her cheek and they were plunged into a spinning darkness. His eyes glowed, red as a demon’s, lighting smooth metal walls.
    “Oh, nice. Comfy. Yeah, I could see you living here.” He let her go to walk the breadth of the cube—four steps. “What is it, twelve by twelve? You have room to set up an armchair here, your tub over there. A spider or two in the corner, and books in your hammerspace. Everything you’ll ever need, and a great view, too.”
    Alice closed her eyes. “That is enough, I think.”
    He took her hand and dropped it as soon as they were in Irena’s forge again, the heated air filling her lungs. He crossed his forearms over his chest, his stance rigid.
    “So, this is your ‘I give up’ box.”
    She pushed her response past her dizziness. “No.”
    “No? How is it any different than what you did with Teqon when you made your bargain? When you called yourself a coward? This box isn’t fighting. This is deciding that ‘what the hell, I can’t beat him, I’m going to stick my head in the sand.’ Why try if you’re fucked anyway?”
    She had nothing to say as he paced back and forth with his hands linked behind his head. She couldn’t argue with him. It wasn’t different than with Teqon; it was cowardly.
    He spun back to face her. “Is that what I am?”
    She stared at him, not following, but certain that she didn’t want to jump where he had. Not if it had created that stab of pain in his psychic scent. “I don’t under—”
    “Your ‘I give up’ bang. A week ago, you said you couldn’t touch me. I told you if you’re screwed anyway, you might as well grab on and ride. Well, you did, didn’t you? Right after you got that prophecy. So what am I—a couple of fucks before you lock yourself up? You lose all hope, and think, ‘All right, I’ll bang Jake’? Or would anyone have done?” He gave a hard laugh, spread his hands wide. “Oh, right. There’s a bonus with me—when you’re ready to go, you can just ask me to teleport you into the box. I’ll do anything to help, right?”
    The swirling emotions raged like a maelstrom inside her. She would scream if she opened her mouth, and so her denial was a faint shake of her head.
    These were the same questions she’d been trying to avoid in her courtyard. And if she hadn’t demanded silence, she would have had answers for him.
    Jake let his arms slowly fall back to his sides. The acrid anger in his psychic scent drew in on itself, and she tasted the sour fear beneath it before he shielded. He turned away from her, slid his hand over his head.
    “Jesus,” he said softly. “The thought of you in there messes me up, but I shouldn’t have—”
    “Don’t.” She didn’t want an apology.
    She wanted—needed—everything to settle.
    He nodded without looking back at her, his psychic scent heavy with regret. “Look, I just . . . I’m gonna take off. Tell Irena I’m sorry.”
    Alice smiled thinly. “Why should you be? I believe she is the one—Oh.”
    Sorry, not because he’d disappeared before Irena had come—but because he’d taken her box with him.

    “That was unkind,” Alice said when Irena came through the door in a gust of wind and ice.
    “But necessary, yes? And you are both young, so you will quickly recover.” Irena threw back her white hood, stomped snow from her boots. “He has the cube, or you do?”
    “He does.”
    “Good. I knew he would take it. You are a fool, Alice.”
    “Yes. But only because I am here and not flying to Caelum to find him.”
    “So we agree.” Irena grinned as she moved to the hearth fire and stirred it, sending sparks dancing into the air. “And there will be no more talk of imprisoning yourself?”
    “I was unaware that I spoke of it so often,” Alice said dryly.
    “You did not have to. It has always been here. In twenty years, I have not looked at you without seeing you inside it, and you have not looked at me without thinking of it.” A jab with her poker sent up another shower of sparks. “Did you think I would like creating such a thing for you, knowing its purpose?”
    “You create weapons knowing their purpose.”
    “Now you are impertinent. Someone has said they care for you, and so you revert to your novice days.” Irena’s eyes were