“I’m alright.”Neyu smiled, and it was as hypnotic as the first day he’d witnessed.
“You told our maker?”He didn’t want to ask the question, but it came out unbidden.
His insides coiled when she offered a slow nod.
“And did—”
“We’re allowed to work together,” Neyu interrupted.“I convinced him.”
“What did you say?”
Neyu’s brow furrowed with her frown.“I…” She trailed off, looking off to the side before licking her lips and shaking her head.“He said we could work together.”The words left with her breath, somehow puzzled and chilling all at once.
A shard of dread sliced between Saer’s ribs.“What happened, Neyu?”
She licked her lips again, then darted her gaze back to Saer’s, holding her tongue.
“Neyu—”
“Ahraan wasDraconic,”Neyu interrupted him again, as though just remembering.
Saer’s mouth thinned, taking her cue and forcing himself into silence.
“They’re an answering force to us from the Grandfather, put in place to protect humanity’s souls from our harvests.”
The tactic to distract proved good enough for now.Saer tilted his head to show he listened.
“They’ve been granted the power to heal flesh and command some elements, as we control fire.When he called us ‘cousin,’ he meant it in truth.”
If possible, Saer’s frown deepened.“He was made by our creator’s kin?”Other angels.“You learned this when you went back?”
Neyu nodded.“The Twins and Errshek have seen otherDraconic.Ahraan preferred fire, but some can control air, earth, or water.They’re not easy to kill.”
“But not impossible.”
A shrewd light glinted in Lust’s eyes.“A girl just needs the right motivation to make it happen, apparently.”
“Remind me never to flay your neck wide open, lest I lose my own windpipe.”Saer allowed the comment to carry a thin hint of dry humor.
Neyu offered a close-mouthed laugh as she lifted herself on her toes to nudge her nose along his cheek.Her hands slid up his chest, increasing his pulse.“That did upset me.”The demoness placed a feather-light kiss on his lower lip.
Saer absorbed it with a slow blink, and his heart sped further when she whispered against his mouth, “But I was referring to watching my love almost getting eaten alive.”
His wry smile couldn’t be helped as Saer nudged his nose to hers.“I was in control the whole time.”
“I wouldn’t dare suggest otherwise.”
Saer bared his teeth in a playful snarl and redoubled his squeeze around her waist, drawing a laughing yelp in return.
If only he could lose himself in her.Every moment of every day.
Saer brushed his beloved’s hair from her eyes.
“Neyu?”
Neyu pursed her lips and relocked her gaze with his.The sadness in them stopped the breath in his lungs.
“What did our maker say?”he whispered
