“You can’t be serious.” I stared at him with my mouth hanging open. “I thought those were just stories.”
“Very serious. Would you like me to show you?”
I pondered his question for a moment.
Witchcraft,magic, was forbidden in Grafberg, and to be honest, I was skeptical of its very existence.
But he was The Dalwick Demon.
Surely if such a thing existed, he would be capable of wielding it.
“Do you promise it won’t hurt me?” My voice was a shy, yet curious whisper.
“I promise,” he said, and I could have sworn something akin to sadness simmered within those golden eyes. “Watch my hand.”
The demon brought one crimson palm out in front of him, curling his fingers just slightly, almost as if he was holding something. A strange crackle permeated the air and thick swaths of black smoke swirled around his hand before gathering in his palm. With a pop, the smoke ignited, and in the center of his hand, he held a brightly burning flame.
“H-how?” I mumbled, my eyes fixed on the tiny pyre.
“Magic.” He closed his hand, extinguishing the flame and allowing thin tendrils of smoke to creep out from between his fingers. “The type I was born with is slightly different from the kind practiced in Belden, but they were able to teach me to wield it just the same.”
I looked down at the tiny crescent-shaped marks on my arm from earlier—the ones that confirmed this wasn’t some vivid dream.
Magic.
He would take me to a place where there was magic.
“Can I learn to use it?” I asked.
He gave a slow nod of his head, his massive horns swaying up and down with the motion. “In time, perhaps. There is an inherited affinity for it, but there are also those that can learn to pull it from the world around them. It’s rare, but not unheard of.”
The ability to pull magic from the land and wield it.
Just the thought of it made me feel giddy.
“When can we leave?” I tried to rise from the bed, but my head began to spin and I felt unsteady on my tender feet.
The demon bolted upright and gently gripped my arm. “Easy now. You need to get some rest first.” He guided me back down onto the furs and his gaze lingered on my bandaged feet. “I’m sorry for frightening you.” He gave me an earnest smile, his expression softening.
“It’s fine. Really. Your kindness and generosity have already made up for it.”
It was the truth too. As things stood, I felt silly for ever running away from him.
“We’ll begin our journey to Belden tomorrow, but for now, sleep.” He pulled an extra fur from a trunk at the foot of the bed and laid it down next to the fire before stretching out on top of it.
I couldn't help but sneak another glance at him and the way the glow from the fire highlighted his muscles and the tapered shape of his hips.
As I snuggled in the furs, he started to hum that familiar song again, and it wasn’t long before I lost myself to sleep.
Chapter4
Iwoke early the following morning, and after packing the necessities for our journey, I took a few moments to admire her while she slept. Her ample chest rose and fell with each delicate breath that fluttered past her parted lips.
Ah, those lips.
I wondered what they’d feel like pressed tight to mine.
It was a shame that this little fallen angel had been dealt such a rough hand in life and found her way down into my pit.
