“It’s breathtaking,” she whispered.
Saer pried his eyes off her and tilted his head in an attempt to see what she did.
Midnight sky.Thousands of glittering stars.A full moon cutting through the dark.The brush of their vaporous breath when it touched the atmosphere.
Saer dragged his eyes back to his demoness, his heart full to observe her wonder.His eyes lingered on her face as he murmured, “Yes.It is.”
Expression still alight, she closed lips over her full grin and lowered her attention to glance about the rest of their surroundings.
They’d arrived in an endless expanse of golden plains.Rare, thick-trunked trees dotted the landscape, their silhouettes haunting against the background of night.
Some distance away, fires burned.Saer spotted grass huts, recognizing them as a variation of those he’d known before.He switched to his heat sense, only to have Neyu’s warmth blind him to all else.It seemed fitting, somehow.
Don’t forget why you’re here.
Saer blinked to return to normal sight and instead lifted his chin towards the fires.“A human settlement.We should find clothes, then we can begin there.”
Neyu squeezed Saer’s hands, drawing his attention back to her.“Are you so eager to take more souls and return home that you wouldn’t watch my first sunrise with me?”
Saer’s lips parted, but she released one of his hands to touch her fingertips against his mouth, and his heart sped.“Let go of your duties for one night,” she murmured.
He’d made an oath.They both had.He’d already tempted fate by sneaking away with Neyu.
But he couldn’t deny her.
Saer nodded, whispering, “One night.”
Loath to break contact with her, Pride lowered Neyu to sit upon the grass, the fingers of one hand still laced through hers.“I didn’t desire to hurt you,” he said.The words left him before he considered their impact.
Neyu knew what he meant without any additional explanation, and she shook her head, turning her face to the stars once more.“We start again.Here.I don’t want to be afraid of you.”
The words punched him in the chest, and he forced down a hard swallow.He despised that she’d felt fear at all, but also sensed she didn’t wish to be pressed.
The sky lightened, and Saer didn’t take his focus away from Neyu’s stunned and stunning face as she witnessed her first dawn.The wonders of the world threaded through her in ways he’d never considered, yet he experienced them for the first time with her.
Birds woke and chirped.Wind rustled her sable hair, and the Second tilted her head back with a slow blink to drink it in.The warmth of the sun kissed her naked skin, glistening off her silver crescents, and she released a long and languid exhale.“Show me the humans.”
Pride stood and helped his match to her feet.
Together, they walked towards the huts.
11
Attheperimeterofthe settlement, a handful of abandoned huts lay in various stages of decay.Saer fingered the leaves spilling off one of the roofs, denser but skinnier than the ones from Ruki’s village.The thought snagged his lungs, realizing he might never see it, or Ruki’s people, again.
He ducked inside and rummaged to find a pair of thin, dusty blankets woven from animal fur.
His throat tightened.Ruki had offered him a blanket on his first arrival to the surface.Humans preferred to cover pieces of themselves, particularly those specific to reproduction.While Saer possessed the anatomical parts, he’d never given them much thought during his time with Ruki’s tribe.He’d never even told Lucifer about them—it must have been Arek.
Here with Neyu, a different yearning came from his human body.
Could their maker have possibly known their flesh would crave intimate touch like humanity seemed to?Hellsfire, he could only imagine the Twins realizing and indulging—
“What’ve you found?”Neyu’s voice broke him from his thoughts.
Saer lifted the blankets and pivoted towards her.“Some form of clothing will keep them calmer.”
Neyu put a hand on her hip, pulling attention to its delicious curve.“You think I’ll send them into unrest like this?”
