Perennial Bloom Apothecary was spotless. Not that Kizros left the place messy, it’s just that he’d been sweeping, dusting, and rearranging the same shelf for a full day to avoid Aofe.
Not that he wanted to avoid her, of course, especially after she’d been sick and hurting for two days. There was something special about getting up every morning and knowing that he wasn’t going to putter about the shop on his own. He adored her company, and that right there was the problem.
He was taking advantage of her. Of her attention, of her time and skills, of her inability to leave.
Where else was she meant to go when he hoarded her like he’d been hoarding that sunshine? Blazes, the only reasonshe was giving him attention was because he gave her something she needed to fuckinglive.
Seeing her fragile in bed, suffering and terrified that he would be mad at her for missing work, had broken something in Kizros. He’d realized how precariously he’d been perched on that line between seeing her as a colleague and seeing her asmore. She was so pretty, and she always laughed at his dumb jokes. But how dare he have those feelings for his—thecolorful human when she had nothing else here? When she believed he had a say on whether she slept on the streets or not?
But here he was, fighting that free fall intomoreas he stalked Aofe from a distance; he might as well admit it. He’d picked this spot in the shop because it had a view of the back door—so he could watch her come and go to the sunshine—and a view of the counter—where she currently sat, tinkering with the medicines she’d made for the other humans.
Kizros watched every tic of her hands, the way she rubbed at a sore joint after standing for too long, and how her skin had gone from dull to pink and vibrant after just two days of sunshine. And there wereso many more frecklesdotting her nose and cheeks. Maybe even her chest if she didn’t immediately bundle up in one of the new long sleeves he’d acquired for her.
Then, guiltily, he watched her pinch that sunburst charm between her fingers—sometimes mindlessly, sometimes purposely so she could stare at it with a soft smile. Kizrosadored that smile, savored it, and then berated himself for how selfish he was in keeping it to himself. It was so conflicting to treasure it and feel shame over why she wore it, when all he wanted to do was conjure a little ball of fire and light to follow her around so other demons would know he had claimed her.
But hecouldn’tclaim her, it wasn’t fair to Aofe, so he’d hidden magic in the necklace with a rune like a coward. It was so engrained in the metal he’d melted and formed into the sunburst that he doubted even his parents would notice his signature magic within. For now, it was his secret. His avoidance. His guilt.
Because hereallywanted to kiss her. He almost had. Would have done a lot more if his tail hadn’t reminded him she’d been exhausted and cold for days because he was so stupid to forget that she needed sunshine to exist.
“You’re avoiding me.”
Kizros jerked to attention, his tail whipping to keep him balanced as he hurriedly pretended to sweep. All to distract him from the blue-haired human now glaring up at him.
“Avoiding you?” he scoffed, absolutely avoiding her. “How preposterous.”
“Kiz, you haven’t said a word to me in almost two days. You’ve hidden back here.”
Ah, fuck. Maybe he’d been a littletooobvious.
He continued sweeping nothing. “Well, I’m sure you don’t enjoy being talked at all day.”
“Iassure you I do.”
Kizros stumbled, and even his tail behaved for the moment.
She… enjoyed that?
Now would be the time that Tholvich’s insults would echo through his mind, but as Kizros finally met Aofe’s eyes, that insecurity was lost. There was truth in her gaze, but so much more. Hope, kindness, vulnerability. How was it that eyes of so many colors could be so expressive?
And so tantalizing?
He immediately turned away from the temptation.
Then regretted it when he heard a small, disappointed sigh leave her lips. “Have I upset you?”
“Of course not,” he blurted, then realized, if anything, he was now the cause of such uncertainty and sadness painting her voice. More shame settled in his gut.
“Then I did something wrong,” Aofe muttered.
“I doubt you are capable of either,” Kizros grunted, his mind whirring to try to stop this from going any further. Her proximity, her subtle coolness, and the way he knew she was fiddling with her crutch handles—because he’d obsessed over every detail of her—was making him lose focus. How could he get her away from him while proving that she was not the problem?
She huffed. “Is it because I kissed you?”
“I’d hardly call that a kiss.”
Well, fuck, his mind clearly didn’t want distance, and judging by the silence that followed, he’d said that aloud. Couldn’t take it back now.
Slowly, Kizros turned to face her again. He wasn’t sure what he might see, but he braced himself for the worst of it. That the look she’d given him in the greenhouse was only contingent on her survival. That she’d learned he was terrible at knowing when someone was lying and used it against him. That she’d laugh and say he was foolish to care for a human so much that he’d fall for her.
