Sometimes We Tell the Truth by Kim Zarins: Excerpt + Blog Tour Contest

It was young Constance’s first assignment in the mortal world.

When she found her mortal, a boy named Fabius, the devil was already corrupting him. It was a small sin, to harbor resentment against his parents over some rules, but still, it could lead to greater transgressions. Constance worked through Fabi’s tangle of emotions, and she found him. The devil.

“There you are,” he said, almost as if she were late for a date. He looked her up and down. “You’re new.”

She flexed her wings. “Clearly you are his demon. I think I can handle you. Don’t assume I don’t know what I’m doing.”

He tilted his head. “I called you new, not inept. You’re too beautiful to be an old hand at this tiring game.”

She reasoned aloud. “Then you are also new.”

He raised his eyebrows, and she blushed at the implication that she’d called him beautiful. “I’m hardly new. Only experienced demons can be beautiful. Temptation is a beautiful thing, or didn’t you know that?”

You can imagine what happens next. Their rivalry in steering their mortal became charged with their feelings, until Constance cared less about Fabius, and more about Sowdain, the demon. At some point they followed their mortal around like balloons on a string but forgot to get into his head. They talked to each other instead, walked side by side.

And then something happened.

The mortal, now grown, was walking to the local ovens for his bread. There was a spring in his step. He was getting married soon, to a pretty young woman. It made Constance oddly wistful to see all the preparations nearly at an end.

Sowdain dropped some news on her all at once. “I’m going to be reassigned.”

She tensed like he’d slapped her. “How can that be? Our assignments are for life.”

“For the mortal’s life. Yes. Or ours.”

“Well then. The man is young, and we are immortal.” Constance was still new. She didn’t understand.

Sowdain pocketed a roll from the baker, which no one saw, of course. He broke off a few pieces and let them fall for the birds. “I don’t eat bread, my dear. I eat souls. I nibble away at their lies, resentments, and lust. When the mortal is won, I feed. I live. And then I do it again. Lately, I lost my knack for angling for this mortal’s soul. I’ve missed meals and feel myself fading. I’ve been…distracted. It’s negligence my commanders haven’t noticed yet, or maybe they are just waiting for the right time to end this. I’ll be replaced soon, and when I do, there won’t be time for farewells. If I’m a convincing liar, I’ll be assigned to grunt work. If not, they’ll feed on me. Either way, my time here will end suddenly. That’s why I’m telling you now. I want you to know. I want you to remember me when I’m gone.”

He dropped the last of the bread and wiped his hands free of crumbs.

She caught his hands. “You can’t go. We have to save you!”

He chuckled, but he squeezed her hands just the same. “Spoken like an angel. Saving. It’s your business, but I’m not your client. What would you advise?”

“Perhaps…perhaps Fabius could—” Could what? “Lie? Would that be enough?” Constance was too innocent to imagine what sins the mortal could do.

His eyes glowed like the coal fires. “Hmm. That’s a dangerous suggestion for an angel to make. I will do nothing that implicates you. Instead, may I suggest a different indiscretion altogether?”

She pulled back at the sound of his voice, but he had her hands. He only gave them up to slide his hands up her arms to her neck, her face.

He kissed her. He couldn’t help it anymore.

Constance had never been kissed before. She was young for pairing. Yet she kissed him back. They stayed that way, kissing on the market street, for some time, invisible to everyone else and lost to each other.