Grelle raised an eyebrow at the squat terraced house whose number matched the one on the paper they'd given her at Dispatch. It slumped against its neighbors though it shared walls with them. This was where they would be living? The garden out front had been replaced with rocks and the only green it offered was weeds. A window on the top floor had been boarded up. It was one of hundreds in identical row after row almost too far out of London to even say it was in London. To make matters worse, they wouldn't even have the whole house—just a room inside it.

"Well, they certainly spared no expense," she said.

At her side, Sebastian simply smiled, turning his gaze from the house to her. It was strange to see an expression so genuine on a demon. He'd smiled before, naturally, but until recently, Grelle had never seen him smile like that.

"You expected more from Shinigami?" he said.

Grelle conceded with a bitter laugh. "Fair point."

"Come," Sebastian said, and gestured for the two of them to go inside.

They found the landlady on the ground floor and she clucked around them, inspecting, for a minute or two before leading them upstairs. Theirs was the room on the top floor—an attic essentially, just an empty space from wall to wall. Dark, dusty. A few beams of grey sunshine leaked between the boards over the single window at the far end. The landlady gave them the key to the door and squeaked back down the stairs. Grelle set her travel case down and stifled the frustrated tears that had risen in her throat. To think they'd left their cottage in Yorkshire for this.

Quietly, Sebastian shut and locked the door. He stepped over to her, wrapping his arms around her from behind and pressing his body close.

"It will be all right," he said.

Grelle scoffed, so he released her, but took hold of her hand to draw her across the room with him to the window. There he let go for but a moment to rip the boards down and let in the light. The view from the window was actually quite lovely. Their street lay at the crest of a hill and the window faced south, a sea of rooves and chimney pots that went on for miles and miles to meet the distant city.

"London is that way," Sebastian said, sliding his hands down Grelle's sides. "I'm going to take you there. I'm going to buy you a house in Mayfair. I'm going to give you the best of everything."

Grelle laughed, but it was small, as she leaned against him and lifted a hand to stroke his cheek. Maybe the situation wasn't so bad. They were together, after all. "If you say so, love."

Sebastian took her hand from his face and pressed a deep kiss to her knuckles. He looked at her, long and intent and—still to her disbelief—in love. Then he smiled.

"I do not tell lies."