The relief in his eyes was obvious, and I didn’t miss the tiny sigh that followed. “Name it.”
“Take off your mask and show me your face.”
Chapter36
BELIAL
This was it.
My plan to claim all of Rayven was working, the pieces falling into place.
This was the moment I would be able to claim her soul. All I had to do was remove my mask and show her my scars. The ones I’d been so ashamed of ever since Catherine had looked upon them and slit her throat—the first of many times—just to escape me.
I rarely ventured around my castle in my lesser form now because it brought back haunting memories. The scars were a constant reminder of my solitude, of the way Catherine had sworn no one could ever love a beast like me. Those words had cut deep, and because of them, no one had seen my face without a mask since her.
At the same time, it was such a simple thing for my little treasure to ask for.
Of all the things she could have demanded in exchange for her soul, her most precious possession even if she didn’t realize the magnitude of its importance, all she wanted was for me to remove my mask.
To see my face.
I never deserved her. I probably never would.
Forcing her to be my queen would have been easy. I could have shoved a crown on her head, kept my collar welded around her neck forever. I could have locked up my realm so she could never go back to the mortal one.
But she wouldn’t be mine by the laws of the Old Ways. Not until she died and her bones, and the soul within, passed to me. The only way of owning her soul while her heart still beat was if she gave it willingly.
Manipulating her with my lesser form had all been so I could make her truly mine. Her bones. Her flesh. Her blood. Her tears. Her very soul.
All mine.
My careful planning, mind tricks, twisted words, sex games…all of it had been orchestrated to lead to this very moment.
Yet, I found myself… hesitating.
Over these past few days, my obsession had morphed beyond recognition, turned into something more. And even though I didn’t have much to compare it to, I knew what it was:love.
I loved her.
I loved her more than I’d ever loved anything before. To the point where, after all the careful plotting, lies, tricks, and pining, I would let her go on a whim.
“You’re making this too easy for me,” I sighed, my hands falling away from her face. I put distance between us with several backwards strides.
Her brows contorted with confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“You shouldn’t be making this deal like you’re trading away something frivolous. I’m a fucking demon, Rayven. You’re going to trade your soul just for a look at my face?”
Confusion quickly became rage as her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed. “Let me get this straight. You’re upset because I’m willing to give you what you’re asking for?”
“Yes,” I said before I could make sense of it. Her soul was exactly what I wanted—it’s all I’d wanted since I first laid eyes on her—but I’d expected to have to fight for it. To wear her down thin, to break her for it. And here she was, giving it to me freely. “I care about you.”
“And I care about y–”
I held a hand up to silence her, shaking my head as my emotions warred within me. “You don’t understand. I want you to stay purely out of my own interests. I’m a selfish bastard, Rayven.” I paused, caught off guard by the way my chest tightened at the admission, before pressing on. “But now, I also want what’s best for you, because I give a damn about you. And what’s best for you isn’t me.”
She lifted her chin, a challenging look in her dark eyes. “So what am I supposed to do?”
Without thinking—if I stopped to think I wouldn’t go through with it—I surged forward, snatching her by the arm.
