The Devil's Favourite Obsession

”I wish I knew the answer you are looking for.” Cixi looked at Rafael. ”I am as confused as you are. I heard someone calling your name while I saw no one. Just. Like. You.” She paused, looking in the direction where she had seen something before focusing on Rafael. ”And also, why are you being rude about leaving this place? I need to relax.”

Cixi placed one hand on the armrest of the couch and shifted her weight forward, her back curving with her belly feeling heavy and round beneath the fabric of her dress. She pressed one palm flat against the cushion and the other against the armrest and pushed herself up slowly. And as she did, her body tilted forward first before her legs took the weight. Standing took a lot of effort today. Everything took effort today... even patience.

”I am leaving. I need rest.” She turned toward the bedroom door without waiting for a response. Her steps were short, and her hips shifted with the adjusted centre of gravity that pregnancy forced upon a woman’s body.

”Is that an invitation to come to the bedroom?” She heard Rafael spit one of his nonsenses again, and it almost caused her a heart attack...

Her one foot halted in midair, and she turned abruptly, her mouth already open to fire something back at him.

Rafael was not there.

The room was empty. The sofa where he had been sitting was vacant. The cushion still held the impression of his weight. The glass he had been holding sat on the side table, untouched.

But Rafael was gone.

Cixi blinked. Her eyes swept the room. Living room. Empty. She looked at the corridor. Empty. She looked at the entrance. The door was closed.

Then she felt it.

A gust of wind brushed across her cheek. Cold and sudden, as though someone had opened a window in a sealed room. Her hair shifted against her neck. She turned toward the terrace.

The terrace door was swinging. Slowly, back and forth. The hinges did not creak. The curtain beside it billowed inward and then settled.

Cixi walked toward it. As fast as she could. Her belly made speed impossible, but she moved with the urgent, uneven stride of a woman whose instincts were screaming louder than her body could follow. She reached the terrace and stepped outside.

Nothing.

The terrace was empty. The railing. The chairs. The view of the Palace grounds stretching into the distance. No Rafael. No footsteps. No sign that anyone had stood here or jumped or climbed or vanished into the air.

She gripped the railing and looked down. And there was no one.

She looked left.

Nothing.

She looked right.

Nothing.

Cixi turned and walked back inside. Her breathing had quickened. Her pulse thumped against her temples. She crossed the living room and went to the study.

The study door was open.

Cassian’s chair was empty.

His cigarette sat in the ashtray, still trailing a thin line of smoke upward. His jacket hung over the back of the chair. His phone was gone. But Cassian was not there.

Cixi’s stomach dropped.

”Cassian?” she called.

No answer.

”Cassian!”

The study was silent. The living room was silent. The bedroom, when she checked, was silent.

Both of them were gone.

Cixi’s hands began to tremble. She pressed them against her belly and tried to breathe. Rafael had vanished from the sofa in the time it took her to turn around. Cassian had vanished from the study without making a sound. And neither of them had passed through the front door because Cixi had been standing between the study and the entrance the entire time.

She needed her phone.

She turned toward the bedroom. Her phone was on the nightstand. She had left it there before sitting down with Rafael. She took three steps toward the corridor.

A knock came at the front door.

Cixi froze. She stared at the door. Her heart hammered against her ribs.

She waited.

If it were Cassian, he would not knock. If it were Rafael, she did not want to open it. She stood very still and watched the handle.

The door opened.

It was the Palace butler. An older man with a straight spine and a face that had been trained to show nothing. He stepped one foot inside, bowed his head, and spoke.

”Master Cassian has said not to worry about him or Master Rafael. He is taking care of it.”

Cixi stared at him. ”Where is he?”

The butler’s expression did not change. ”I was not informed of the location, ma’am.”

”What is he planning to do with Rafael?”

”I do not know. I was informed only to tell you not to worry.”

”That is not good enough.” Cixi’s voice rose. ”Where did they go? How did they leave? Nobody walked through that door.”

The butler bowed again. ”I have delivered the message, ma’am. If you need anything, I am available.”

He stepped back. He pulled the door closed and left.

Cixi stood alone in the living room. The terrace door had stopped swinging. The curtain hung still. The smoke from Cassian’s cigarette in the study had thinned to almost nothing.

She paced.

Back and forth across the living room floor. Her hands clasped together beneath her belly. Her mind raced through every possibility and rejected each one because none of them made sense. People do not disappear from rooms. People do not vanish between one breath and the next. People do not leave through terrace doors sixteen floors above the ground.

Unless they are not people.

Cixi walked to the bedroom. She picked up her phone from the nightstand. She dialled Cassian’s number.

It rang. Once. Twice. Three times. Four.

She dialled once more and pressed the phone against her ear so hard the screen left a mark on her cheek.

He did not pick up.

Cixi sat on the edge of the bed. She placed the phone on her lap. She stared at the wall.

And she waited. Because there was nothing else a pregnant woman carrying the Devil’s child could do when the Devil decided to disappear.