“No, I haven’t spoken with her, but I don’t doubt what you say is true.” Faye paused. “Can’t youfeelit?”
It was true. Raxx was more aware of Faye’s presence than he had ever been before. What had been a niggling sensation, like an itch he couldn’t scratch, had bloomed into a physical, whole body experience.
There was a curious magnetism between them. Whenever they were apart, even if it was only a room away, Raxx felt a pulling in his chest as his majick clamoured to be beside her once more. They had separated to socialise a few times through the evening, and yet they continued to unconsciously drift back to be beside one another.
Raxx should have been annoyed and embarrassed by this sudden development, but whenever he wrapped his arms around Faye, he somehow couldn’t even bring himself to care about anything else. For a demon who had spent his life being so distant and aloof, it was jarring to now be so dependent on another.
“I can definitely feel it.” Raxx nodded. “Does it not bother you?”
Faye paused. “It should, but it doesn’t.”
Raxx resisted breathing a sigh of relief; he was not the only one who couldn’t quite grasp this mysterious attachment.
“All my miserable little life, I’ve wanted someone who understands and accepts me for who I am. I love my sisters, and they love me, but even they weren’t able to give me that. How could they, really? I wanted someone who isn’t unnerved by skin glowing, or frightened if I get upset and something explodes.”
Raxx smirked.
“Is this crazy? Absolutely. Do I care? Not in the slightest.” Faye smiled. “You’re frustratingly vague and kind of rude—”
“Charming,” Raxx interrupted with a laugh.
“But I couldn’t be happier. I was so upset about coming here to Banesteppe. Lori had Lephas and was excited to start a new life with him – I had no one.”
Raxx remained silent, but stroked his palm against Faye’s thigh.
“Who would have thoughtI’dhave been the one finding something even more special? Something that is just for me.” Faye smiled, leaning in.
Their kiss started soft and chaste, but as majick fizzed to life in each of them, it steadily grew more and more fevered.
Raxx gently took Faye’s hand in his and placed it against his ribs, preparing to teleport them to his chambers.
“With me?” he asked breathlessly.
“Forever.”
Epilogue
“Are you sure you’re up for this?” Raxx’s eyes darkened, glinting with interest.
Faye smirked. “I will always be up for proving you wrong and making you look like an idiot, Raxx.”
“That’s not very friendly.”
“When we duel, I’m not your friend,” Faye replied tartly, turning on her heel and striding to the far side of the courtyard.
Raxx hissed a breath between his teeth and held a hand dramatically to his chest. “You wound me, princess.”
Before Faye could help herself, she laughed aloud. “How about we make this more interesting?”
“I’m listening,” the demon replied.
“The loser has to cook supper for a week,” Faye shouted, readying her stance.
“Deal.”
Lephas was nearby practicing his swordsmanship against a target dummy, made from hessian bags stuffed with hay and mounted on a thick wooden pillar.
Faye and Raxx looked to Lori, who stood off to the side, shivering and dancing foot to foot. The faerie was acting as their referee whilst they duelled, attempting to strike one another with their majick attacks.
