“I think I like you like this, love. You give me way less sass. It would be nice if you were smaller, though. I’d prefer if my entire family could be on my boat at the same time. Can you shrink down for me?”
Mal growled, less happy now. He sounded like a dog who was about to have a treat taken from him.
“I promise I’ll make it worth your while later,” Clayton said softly before kissing Mal’s chin.
Mal’s body turned to black smoke, and Clayton found himself being lowered to the floor. He waited patiently whileMal worked to contain his essence enough to create a smaller form.
It took much longer than it had the last time Clayton saw him do it, and the results were different.
Once Mal had condensed into his humanoid form, he was taller and bulkier than before, now dwarfing Clayton’s not inconsiderable height. His skin was black and scaled around his temples, and his clawed hands were now scaly and black as well.
“There he is, smaller but just as handsome,” Clayton praised.
Mal bent down and licked Clayton’s cheek with a long black tongue. “I killed a lot of monsters for you,” he said with a voice deeper and raspier than before.
“You did an amazing job protecting our family, my love.”
Naerith was several yards away and giving them both a look of impressed surprise. “Nice job, son. I think I’m going to give your mother a few more minutes, though.” He pointed behind him where the wet sound of rending flesh was still going strong.
Clayton made the mistake of glancing at Elena and quickly averted his gaze with a shudder. “Yes, of course. Good idea. Did you get the hand?”
Naerith held it up triumphantly by the arrows embedded in it, and it was still squirming away. He held out his sword, ignited it, and made to set the offending appendage on fire, but at the last second, Mal’s tongue darted out and snatched the hand off the arrows.
Clayton shuddered as the hand vanished into Mal’s mouth. “You arenotkissing me until you brush your teeth and gargle a bottle of mouthwash. No.Twobottles.”
Mal grinned at him unrepentantly and rubbed his face against Clayton’s hair. “Whatever you say, Red.”
With a violentpop,the portal to the demon realm vanished.
Chapter
Thirty-Five
MAL
“Well, that’s done,” Clayton said, brushing his hands together as he surveyed the battlefield. “What do we do with these guys?” He pointed at the fae warriors scattered around the cavern, all fight gone from them.
“I can eat them,” Mal offered. He wasn’t hungry, but he could still eat if he needed to.
“You’ve eaten enough. You’ll destroy my boat.” Clayton chided, patting Mal’s stomach.
“You care more about your boat than you do me,” Mal grumbled.
“You should care about it, too, since you have to live there,” Clayton reminded Mal as he began to walk back toward the aforementioned boat.
Mal followed, saying, “You could get a new place. I can make as much money as you need. You don’t need to live on a leaky old boat.”
“Bite your tongue,” Clayton hissed. “It’s a beautiful boat, and I plan on being buried with it, so you’ll start bonding with it now if you know what’s good for you.”
“No dying,” Mal stated flatly. “Not ever.” It wasn’t funny even as a joke.
“Sorry, love, but I don’t have much of a choice.” Clayton halted his progress toward the boat and turned to Mal with a soft and regretful smile. “It’s not fair, is it? I get to be with you for the rest of my life, but you don’t get to be with me for the rest of yours.”
“Why not?”
“Isn’t it obvious? Nightmares don’t age and die. They only grow stronger. I can’t imagine something being strong enough to kill you—unless you starved yourself. Not that I’m suggesting you do that.”
“Wouldn’t work. I’d discorporate, but eventually I’d come back together after taking in enough ambient fear essence,” Mal explained. It was a boring and uncomfortable process, and he didn’t recommend it.
