Uncovering one of the dishes on the tray, Damaris leaned his face over it as steam rolled out. He basked in the heat, and then stuck his finger into the soup and licked it off his finger. He hissed, eyes narrowed in victory.
Archie's mind warred with his baser instincts. His cock twitched lightly at the sight of Damaris half disrobed, the way his tongue slid over his finger, but the rest of him was quicklyrealizing what this meant. He tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice. "You can taste it?"
"Hot. Savory, with a kick of spice. Excellent," confirmed Damaris, replacing the cover.
"That's great," said Archie shakily. So Damaris didn't need to taste things through him anymore. Or, indeed, he didn't need him for anything anymore now he'd regained his corporeal form.
"Liar," said Damaris, looking at him knowingly, and Archie flinched. Since when had Damaris been able to read him that well?
I am still here, said Damaris dryly from somewhere between Archie's ears and Archie jumped. He didn't know what to say. At some point he'd stopped treating Damaris like a demon, a magical predator he'd made a cautious truce with and now he didn't know how to define the situation he'd created for himself. Was Damaris a lover? Perhaps a half hour ago, he might have dared to think it in the privacy of his own mind, but Damaris had gotten everything he'd needed out of Archie. He could do anything. Pass for human with anyone. Go anywhere, without Archie.
The attack of nerves struck him as suddenly as a fit of hiccups, like a fist in the center of his chest that punched all the air from his lungs, leaving him doubled over on the bed. He’d had them a lot more before Damaris had occupied his mind and the thought made him laugh, or wheeze really because he couldn't breathe, at the idea of possession being a cure for fits. But this was like an old friend, familiar to him as the lines onhis palm. He clutched at the bedsheets, grinding his knuckles against the firm mattress, pressing his heels in to ground himself. He used to deal with these all the time. How? Even as he got it under control, his entire body ached from the effort it took to stop himself from shaking.
Archie blinked, and finally focused to see Damaris leaning down to peer at him, with the tousled hair and high cheekbones of Damian, those arched eyebrows drawn together in a frown.
"Did you think I was done with you? Don't be presumptuous," said Damaris in that clipped, blunt way of his. He sneered, plush lips curling upwards. It would have been a cruel look on anyone else, but the glass of water he pushed into Archie's hand said otherwise.
"What do you mean?" Archie sipped slowly, the cold water tracing down his threat helping to ease the shake.
"Your thoughts are leaking all over the place. Messy," chided Damaris. Archie hadn't thought about his mental tower in... days. It hadn't occurred to him to keep Damaris out in any way and he flushed to realize that Damaris had truly taken Archie in every way possible in the last couple of days. "You think our deal complete?"
"It is," said Archie, not because he wanted it to be. His heart hurt as he forced the rest of it out. "You know I didn't understand what I was agreeing to when I made that deal, and now you have what you wanted."
"I do," mused Damaris. He narrowed his eyes at Archie. "Everyone always thinks humans will be corrupted by spendingtime with demons. No one ever thinks a demon could be corrupted after spending time with humans.”
This was a shock to Archie too. It shouldn’t have been, he’d seen first hand when Damaris had encountered something new, had learned more about the way humans lived, had heard his language change and his sentences grow longer the more exposed to Archie he was. “Would demons consider this corruption?”
Damaris tilted his head as he considered. This, too, felt more human. “Any weakness is considered corruption for a demon. The demon realm is harsh and unforgiving, the weaker demons are devoured by the strong. But humans relish in their comforts. You want to become as comfortable as possible, whether that is with your soft clothing or warm rooms. Or physical pleasures, in your case.”
“Well. Yes,” admitted Archie. The demon realm sounded horrific.
“Then yes, consider me corrupted. Why would I give this up? A ready, delicious, willing meal for me whenever I wish,” said Damaris, turning to Archie with his eyes gleaming. “No, I think it is too soon to consider us done. I propose a new deal.”
“Your proposed terms?” asked Archie too quickly, though they both knew the idea that he might turn a new deal down was a pretense.
“You remain bound to me, with your pleasure at my convenience.”
“That’s it?” It had crossed Archie’s mind so many times that he really ought to have worded his first pact more carefully, should have thought about implications and loopholes and hidden meanings, and yet now he had the chance to do it again, he couldn’t think of anything better.
“And new quarters. You are too restrained when you think someone might overhear.” Damaris indicated the state of the other bed as if to demonstrate how much more he could get out of Archie when he wasn’t worried about his family or the servants hearing.
“I – yes, I suppose that can be arranged,” said Archie, feeling his cheeks heat. The stipend from the prince would hopefully be enough for a little apartment in a decent townhouse. He’d have to find some way of explaining it to his parents though.
“Yours?”
“My what?” asked Archie.
“Terms.”
Oh! Archie had fully assumed that would be it. He didn’t have much else he wanted, he didn’t think. He could pick at the wording, given demons were notorious for abiding to the letter of the agreement if not the spirit. “You said at your convenience. What if you get bored of me? Will you cast me aside to find someone new?”
Damaris narrowed his eyes. “Do you intend on becoming boring?”
“I suppose not.”
“Then it is not a concern,” said Damaris dismissively.
Archie could insist. But… “All right then. I trust you.”
