“Refreshing isagood thing, Kizros,” Aofe clarified as she wiped the liquid off her cheeks. She gestured to her eyes. “Sorry about this. I think I just haven’t had a proper freak-out about the whole situation—the kidnapping, waking up here, coming to terms with the fact that demons aren’t these terrifying monsters we’ve grown up fearing.”
She obviously hadn’t seen the state of Ozirax when they’d returned from rescuing the women. Their entire squadron had proudly worn the blood of those slavers after?—
He couldn’t think on that. Not when she’d said he wasrefreshing.
Sure, he had charm.Too muchcharm, oftentimes. He knew his understanding of demon social cues was shaky at best, and he had a tendency to speak before thinking. But no one told Kizros his presence wasrefreshing.
Aofe pulled a strand of blue hair away from where it had tangled in her earrings, then tucked it behind the blunt tip before wiping her eyes again. Curiously, the freckles didn’t disappear or smudge, but her breathing sounded labored. “I’m so overwhelmed. I’m just now realizing I have no money, no clothes, no place to sleep, and Iaccepteda ride and a job from a demon I’ve known for less than an hour. You’re not going to kill me, right?”
He placed a hand over his chest. “Of course not. I abhor violence.”
Despite her prior realization that they didn’t know one another, his statement seemed to soften her breathing. “Yeah, uh, same.”
“As for the rest,” Kiz said, gesturing to the stack of papers he’d set between them. “All of the documentation is here, and I was required to read and sign everything before taking you from the infirmary.”
Aofe sniffed, the ring through her nostrilshifting as she wiggled her nose and stared at the pile. “Will you read it to me? Or just give a summary? I like listening to your voice.”
He blinked.
At his silence, she went stiff and jerked her head up. “I mean, it’ll be faster, right? If you’ve already read it, you know? I’ll review it, of course, not that I think you’d lie to me. I guess I don’t actually know that, but I don’t get the impression you’re going to make me sleep on the streets?—”
“Aofe.”
She snapped her mouth shut, cheeks still a rosy pink as she fell silent. He hadn’t intended to move, but his hands now rested on her shoulders, squeezing gently.
“You’re not sleeping on the streets,” Kizros reassured her, feeling her soften further under his touch. “No harm will come to you, understand? And I can’t lie to you.”
Her blue eyes widened. “Demons can’t lie?”
He huffed. “We can. I’m just absolutely terrible at it. Makes me queasy, and my eye twitches and gives me away.”
Apparently he was getting the hang of this human interaction thing because her lips wobbled slightly before stretching into a grin. Slowly he removed his hands from her shoulders and adjusted his glasses. “I’ll happily explain everything in that document, starting with your new job…”
Kizros hopped out of the cart so he could gesture to the building they’d stopped in front of with his whole spirit.
“Welcome, new assistant, to Perennial Bloom Apothecary. My shop.”
3
PERENNIAL BLOOM
Aofe
Aofe’s gaze whipped to the demon in shock. Surely he hadn’t saidapothecary.
The tight aisles between tall shelves filled with very breakable glass items kind of shop?
And he wantedheras an assistant?
Rosalind had mentioned this was a better fit than working the post, but really? How was she suited to work in an entire shop of expensive breakables with crutches?
“What do you think?”
She jolted out of her panic to find Kizros’s beaming face looking at her. That smile, such a contrast to his enormous frame and strong jaw, unfortunately did nothing to calm the panic once again rooting itself into her chest.
But Aofe was a master of deflection, so she pasted on her own smile and said, “I love it.”
Which was the truth, once she shoved her panic down and told it not to come back until she was alone. The exterior was breathtaking. A gray-brick façade highlighted the front of the shop, pillars woven with deep purple and blue vines framing dark windows. She could just make out the outline of shelves inside, but then Kizros was grabbing his bag and the papers from the cart and encouraging her out of it.
