Not to mention Severath’s stare that still haunted him. TheI-see-those-flowers-for-what-they-really-arestare.
It wasn’t fair that Aofe didn’t recognize the gifts as part of the demon courting culture. She never asked, and he never clarified. He never felt the need to bring more attention to his obsession with her for the very reason he’d learned to tone down his personality. For fuck’s sake, she hadn’t even known the flowers he’d been blooming in the greenhouse—intentionally and unintentionally—matchedher hair and eyes until the red demon had mentioned the ones on her crutches.
But now Kizros was considering stupid ideas like telling Aofe he loved her, even though he felt unworthy of her sunshine. Any demon worth his tail should have been able to tell that she was unhappy last night at the festival, even before the altercation. How was he meant to care for her as he’d promised if he couldn’t notice little details like that?
So he’d hatched this little plan, politely stalked Rosalind at city hall because he didn’t trust anyone else to make it possible, and was now standing outside Perennial Bloom without any recollection of the walk back.
The door was propped open to let in the fresh air, and Kizros climbed the steps to his shop, feeling an odd sense of inadequacy as he noticed all the imperfections he’d ignored before. The cracked step he should repair, the slight fog creeping along the edges of the glass windows, the bell that he hadn’t noticed might get caught on a taller demon’s horn if they weren’t paying attention.
Inside, his magic hummed, Tim giving a half-hearted wiggle in greeting, which felt appropriate for Kizros’s mental state. But he stopped short at the sound of voices, lingering at the edge of the aisle as he spied the counter.
Aofe wore a patient smile, an elderly demon Kizros recognized as Elder Zaretha by the bangles decorating her tail standing at the counter. The orange demon read over the instructions. “And I just rub this onto my hands?”
“No more than three times a day,” Aofe answered,scratching between Attie’s ears where the creature sat patiently next to her seat. “I even put it in a better container, so you shouldn’t have any trouble getting that lid off if you’re having a particularly bad flare-up.”
“It smells good,” Zaretha observed, holding the back of her hand up to her nose. “The one from Tholvich didn’t smell like this.”
Kizros felt the pit of unease in his stomach twist at the reminder of his ledger and the maybe foolish decision he’d made this morning.
But then Aofe was huffing out an unamused laugh. “Because I guarantee Tholvich doesn’t care as much as Kizros does. Do you have any idea how thoroughly he documented the trials for this to maintain strengthandhave a nice scent? It’s very impressive.”
“You are not wrong about that spiky bastard, or Kizros.” The elder hummed, studying the jar of lotion. “And did you make this rune?”
Aofe shook her head quickly, and Kizros could see her shrinking in on herself in preparation just as he was gripping the shelves to keep himself from jumping the old demon in her defense. “No, I only repackaged it. I promise, I wasn’t involved in any other steps.”
“Why?”
“Well, because some demons are unhappy about a human making?—”
“No, why didn’t you do the rune?”
Aofe blinked, mouth parting like shewas caught off guard. But then Kizros’s tail flicked behind him, and her gaze whipped to where he stood. Her cheeks turned a bright pink as she avoided his stare, donning another polite smile toward Elder Zaretha. “I’m not very good with them.”
The old demon huffed. “Then I suppose it’s a good thing you have the most patient and brilliant mentor in Kizros. Where is he, by the way?”
“Behind you,” Kizros said, pushing off the shelf. He shook his head teasingly as he approached the counter. “But you already knew that, didn’t you?”
Aofe folded her arms and pouted in mock offense. “You just wanted to see if I’d insult Kizros, didn’t you?”
The old demon just shrugged.
He gestured toward the door. “The bell didn’t announce me, but demons have excellent hearing. Even if Elder Zaretha pretends she doesn’t understand us if she doesn’t agree with what we have to say.”
Zaretha smiled at him, then winked at Aofe. “You’ve got a good one here, Kizros.”
“Believe me, I know,” he answered, unflinching as Aofe’s stare narrowed on him.
The old demon patted his forearm as she turned to leave. “Just be sure you’re teaching her runes in between lovemaking sessions.”
Kizros’s arm slipped against the counter, and his elbow slammed into the surface just as Aofe burst into laughter. Elder Zaretha didn’t stutter a single step as she walkedtoward the door and called over her shoulder, “Invitation for tea is always open, dearie!”
Kizros stared after the old demon, rubbing out his arm as his cheeks burned furiously, then glanced back at Aofe who was wiping tears from her eyes. “Wait, was the tea invitation for you or me?”
“Definitely you and one of your lovemaking sessions,” Aofe teased, remnants of laughter at the corners of her eyes. “You should take her up on it. I think her hips might be better than mine.”
He spluttered some nonsense words before Aofe finally cut him off. “I’m kidding, Kiz. How were errands?”
And just as quickly, that twist of nervousness was back. “What? Fine? Normal. Everything’s fine. How are you?”
