Pursing his lips, he straightened to his full six and a half foot height, thrust out his spectacularly muscular chest, and brushed the wrinkles I’d caused out of his vest.His ears twitched; his leathery black wings partially expanded and then, like an accordion, pulled tight against his body.
Krishna hovered at my elbow as if he were as invested in Asmoday’s answer as I was.
Let’s not even get into why I was so invested.
Asmoday spread his arms wide.“Yes, Daruka, at some point, my family expects me to take a mate and get her with child.And no, I don’t want to do it.I don’t want to take over, and I don’t want to have kids.I’m a demon, for the love of fire and brimstone.”
He narrowed his eyes, glaring at me.I darted my gaze back and forth, like that would somehow help me understand why he was looking at me like that.
“Part of the issue is, the person I think is my mate is?—”
I lifted my hand, cutting him off.“Don’t go down that path.Not right now.”
“You’re forcing me to talk about my deepest, darkest secret, and now we can’t talk about yours?”
Whatever I may or may not feel for Asmoday, while confusing and frustrating, was definitely not my deepest, darkest secret.
Luckily, the building gave another shake, this one hard enough to knock dust from the ceiling and send a landscape painting that was probably a couple hundred years old crashing to the floor.I heard shouts and screams from outside; Selina’s fury was shaking up the entire town.
“What are you expecting?”Asmoday asked as the three of us simultaneously darted glances at the closed door.He seemed to be pretty much recovered from the jolt I’d accidentally given him, but I wasn’t exactly in a hurry to go to battle with the local witch.Especially over a guy I hadn’t even admitted to myself was mine to fight over.
“What do you mean?”I asked, hopefully sounding casual.
“You’re expecting trouble.I can tell.What do you think is going to happen?”
I sighed.“I’m guessing Selina wants to duel or whatever supernatural people do when they fight over a lover.”
“Really?”Krishna said, sounding shocked.
Asmoday barked out a laugh.“I don’t think that has been a thing for hundreds of years, Daruka.Although I do appreciate your willingness to dual on my behalf.It’s very romantic.”
“It really is,” Krishna agreed.
“Damn it, it isn’t on your behalf,” I argued, even as my stupid cheeks heated.“I don’t think she’s going to give me a choice.”
He sobered and gave the walls a critical glance.“I’m not so sure.Whatever is messing with this place is seriously powerful, and Selina is definitely not.I told you, she barely has any magic.I’m sure that’s why she’s such a bully.She secretly feels inferior.”
“I have some pretty steep expectations”—and my own feelings of inferiority—“and you don’t see me treating other people like shit,” I pointed out.
“What expectations are those?”
Oops, I shouldn’t have said that.“Later.Seriously.Whatever is going on in this town is clearly more urgent than my family issues.”
He didn’t press, simply waited.
He waited some more.
“What would you do if you didn’t go back to manage the elfin woods?”I asked after the pause became awkward.
“Run a bed and breakfast in Arrythmia, Texas.”
I stared at him.“Are you serious?”
He spread his arms, his wings stretching along with them.“I came here to hide from my life, and what I found was the life I actually wanted.”
“That’s pretty deep,” I admitted.Was that even possible?To stumble into a tiny town full of eccentric creatures and realize this was what you wanted all along?
Maybe.For him.For all the others in this town.But me?
