Malakai’s gaze lowered.
“My mother was a mage,” he said low. “She ran away from Aetherion to be with my father, ademon.”
I held my breath, to make sure I heard him correctly.
“But he was a monster after all,” he scoffed dryly. “He used her and left her, and she suddenly found herself in a very precarious situation. Not being able to return for fear of her demonic child being discovered, not being able to use her magic for fear of being revealed as a mage, and a child who demanded to be fed magic to survive.”
My eyes widened, his words like a slam against me. “What?”
“You asked what I was, kitten,” he said, his eyes burrowing into mine again. “I’m anabomination.”
“What… happened then?”
He pulled against the chains, baring his teeth as he was clearly in pain. My hands grabbed around the bars, not sure what I wanted to do.
“She did what any mother would’ve,” he continued through ragged breaths. “She offered me mages, fed them to me, they were all on the run so none of them were in a position to scream or ask for help.”
He fed on them, not because he wanted to or enjoyed the kill or the surge of power as I had thought… because hehadto? He was part demon, part mage?
The overload of information was threatening to overwhelm my brain.
“I’ve done plenty of demonic things, kitten.” His gleaming eyes met mine again. “They’ve weakened me with quartz, I can’t use my blood magic right now. You’re safe. Don’t feel bad about it, just… be a doll and make it quick.”
I looked down at the lock, my flames had already begun melting it with their intensity. As I clenched my teeth, flames slithered around the lock, snapping it off. I opened the cell and stepped inside, he remained on his knees, locked in place, as he followed me with his scarlet eyes.
Shit.
My flames calmed, retracting to my hands.
“Why haven’t you broken free yet?” I asked again, this time quieter, smoother.
He chuckled dryly. “Why did you resist your flames for all those years? Why did you reject your true nature, kitten?”
“I was ashamed,” I whispered and I knew then and there that we understood each other better than anyone else.
“Then you’ll forgive me if I’m not exactly proud of being part demon and being forced to devour the magic of others to selfishly keep on living?”
I fell to my knees in front of him and he frowned at me. “What are you doing?”
I shook my head, as tears built up inside of me. “Ican’tkill you.”
He pressed against the chains, teeth clenched as if readying to attack, but his expression didn’t match his movement. The demon inside of him wanted to devour me, he hadn’t fed for a couple of days at least, but the human part of him simply refused. “Don’t cry, not because of me.”
A tear slid down my cheek and it made him go still, watching it intently.
He had saved me plenty of times before; from demons, falling down the waterfall, the cold, the loneliness… it was my turn to save him, I owed him that much.
My right hand stretched, pulling my hair away from the left side of my neck. His eyes followed the movement as silence stretched between us, locking in on my neck. “Whatare you doing?”
Slowly, I moved closer to him, his warm, shaky breath hitting my face.
“It’s okay,” I whispered, tilting my head to the side, baring my throat for him. My pulse thrummed beneath my skin.
“Stop it.” His voice was low, almost a growl, and I knew he didn’t mean it.
I looked back at him. His eyes were shut, his breath coming hard and uneven as if he was holding himself back by sheer will. My hand slid up the back of his neck, fingers tangling in the soft white strands of his hair.
“Malakai,” I said, my voice breaking with more than fear. “Ineedyou.”
