I shake the bag, and try not to wince at the pitiful little jangle it gives.
“Close enough to nothing,” Callum mutters.
He looks inside the sack he’s holding, studying its contents for a few moments before cinching it shut again. He closeshis eyes, takes a deep breath, gathering himself for something, though I have no idea what.
“It will… help,” he says finally.
It’s half-hearted optimism at best, but I’m determined to find the silver lining.
“Sure it will. So, what do we do now? What’s the move?”
“I’m needed back in the demon realm.”
“Needed for what?”
Callum looks just about as weary as I’ve seen a person look. Shoulders slumped, defeat and exhaustion written all over his face, all I want to do is wrap him up in a hug.
Or throttle him.
Maybe both.
“My mother’s been in some trouble with paying her bills,” he says. “And Myron isn’t likely to extend me much grace if I don’t show up soon for a new assignment.”
I nod. “Alright. I can come with you and—”
“This is something I should do on my own.”
For a moment, I’m not certain I heard him right.
I mean, sure, he’s been all in his head about what would happen if the bounty wasn’t enough to make all his problems disappear, but he can’t mean…
“So you’re what? Just leaving me here?”
“I can see you back to the human realm and make sure—”
“You know that’s not what I mean.”
Again, he falls silent, and anger sparks hot in my chest, right alongside a stab of desperation and something that feels dangerously like heartbreak.
Damn this demon for making me feel this way. Damn him for not even being willing to hash it out, to find some kind of middle ground.
“What happened to everything you said last night?” I ask. “What happened to you telling me you never want me to feel alone?”
My voice cracks, and Callum’s face falls further, if such a thing is even possible.
He looks almost as devastated as I feel, but my sympathy for it is in critically short supply right now.
Why can’t he see he can have this?
Why can’t he believe he deserves it?
“I want all of that, star. And we’ll have it, I promise. I’ll… I’ll figure something out. I just need time.”
“Time,” I say flatly. “How much time?”
He hesitates, agony written all over his face. “I don’t know.”
“And in the meantime, what do I do? Just go back to my realm and back to my normal life? Sit on my ass and wait for you to decide you’ve got the time for me again?”
