His brows crashed down, and then he slid past her, taking the first step before turning to look at her. He still towered over her, but it was probably more for the effect. “Aofe, it’s not humiliating. The apartment is up a narrow set of stairs.”
She almost snorted at his definition of narrow, considering everything in his shop and apartment were wide enough to accommodate her comfortably. The bed, the bathtub, the aisles and workroom, though the counters were a little bit too tall. Not challenging like the stairs, though.
“If anyone is humiliated, it’s me for not noticing soon enough.” Kizros grunted. “Blazes, I shouldn’t evenhaveto notice. Basic accessibility should just be a given, so until I can get the proper ramp commissioned for the front step, or something to make our apartment accessible, please let me assuage my guilt and do the least inconvenient thing in the world like carry you.”
Our apartment.
Stunned by his declaration, she mumbled anokaybefore fully comprehending what that would entail.
Suddenly, there was a strong arm curling around her back, the other scooping under her knee as she was lifted. Her crutches nearly clobbered him in thehead, but then a whip of green twisted around them, and his tail was removing them from her grip. With nothing else to hold on to, Aofe’s arms clung to the first thing they could find.
Kizros.
You’re so warm.
The words fluttered through her mind, and she had the odd feeling on her tongue that she’d said them before. Or perhaps just constantly thought them whenever he was near, his large body never looming over her shoulder, but providing comfort with his proximity.
Kizros kept his eyes on the stairs as he turned in place, and Aofe tightened her arms around him at the movement. His lips twitched, but he focused on his task, either unaware or unaffected by her chance to stare.
She hadn’t had a chance to study his face this close—the strong jaw and soft green skin. There was a light shadow on his cheeks, not quite stubble, as if he’d shaved shortly before she’d woken. It was the same dark green as his hair, which was just long enough that she could bury her whole hand in it if she wanted.
Which, maybe she did. Just a little. Just to see what it felt like, of course.
Then she studied his horns, which he’d told her was both a source of pride for demons, but also not so serious. Apparently they grew back if one ever broke, to which Kizros had informed her he’d broken his only once and it was so embarrassing a story, he would never repeat it.
The dark green bone was shaded with black and brown; awarble pattern that added to the sweeping nature of them beyond his pointed ears. There were a few divots, but mostly near his temples where he often scratched at his head when he was nervous or deep in thought.
Curious, but also… handsome, which didn’t feel as odd of a thought as it probably should have. He was green, after all. Strong and muscular, proving capable of carrying her with no challenge. Kind and gentle, caring, but also protective.
Kizros didn’t stop at the bottom of the stairs, and Aofe shook out of her thoughts at the panic of beingcarried outside.
She loosened her grip and tapped his chest. “You can put me down now.”
“Hmm?” he muttered, almost like he, too, had gotten lost in his thoughts. “Oh, yes.”
Gently, he set her on the ground, arm still curled around her waist to keep her upright. She watched, fascinated, as his tail curled around his body and handed over her crutches. When she was stable, he slowly withdrew his arm, and it had to be her imagination that he slid it a little longer over her lower back as he pulled away.
“Right, out—” Kizros cleared his throat of its rasp. “Outside. Surprise. The back.”
Aofe was a little confused but followed as he unlocked the door in the back of the shop. What she’d always suspected was a large storage room where he kept all his supplies was in fact… a door outside?
She followed him into a garden, dozens of bushes and flowers catching the first light of the moon as it rose. Darker colors reached for her—deep purples and blues, a few reds so deep they looked black, and little patches of color where flowers bloomed between the leaves. A soft mist hung along a stone path, and while the air at her feet was warmer, there was still a chill that she couldn’t quite shake from Heck’s climate.
But apparently this wasn’t the surprise because Kizros was still walking. She focused beyond the odd moon-blooming life to the darkened building at the end of the path. It stretched just taller than the second story of the apartment, no windows or decoration anywhere to make sense of what might be inside. And that was indeed where he was going, tugging a key ring off his belt to unlock the door.
“What is this?” Aofe asked, stopping beside him. She glanced back at the shop, noting that her room was on the other side of the building, facing the street. Otherwise she might have noticed there was an entire garden and building in the back.
Kizros straightened, and even in the scant moonlight of day, she could tell his cheeks were a dark green, eyes shifting nervously away from her. “Uh, the surprise. I… it’s just…” He blew out a harsh breath. “Better to see it first.”
All confusion she might have felt melted away as he pushed the door open and light illuminated the pathway.
No, not just light.
Sunshine.
Aofe nearly stumbled inside, warmth flooding her veins and blanketing her skin as she blinked at the brightness. Life bloomed around her, a mixture of greenery she recognized and some she didn’t. Flowers and fruit lined the aisles of garden beds, another with only green sprouting that she guessed might be vegetables in the soil. All around her, sunshine warmed and lit the inside of the blackout greenhouse.
A stuttered laugh left her throat, and despite the stupidity of it, she turned her face up to the sun and stared until her eyes watered. From light, of course, definitely not happiness or warmth or?—
