He tossed another pebble, this time catching a not-demon-shaped figure moving behind the window. “Rose! Baby, I’m so sorry.”
Dav panted, realizing in all his running, he’d never really figured outwhathe was going to say, only that he needed to say the words. They didn’t owe him even to listen, but as Rosalind’s shadow lingered, he had to at least try.
“I know I was an ass. I was scared, and that’s not an excuse, but it’s me realizing that… It’s you and Laz. You’re the only ones that matter, okay? I was just too dense to see it.”
He spread his arms wide, trying not to crumble when a second shadow didn’t appear at the window. “I spent my life thinking I was broken, that I would never be loved, that I could never be enough. I couldn’t trust the good things in my life because I believed those demons. I believed their cruel words when the ones that mattered were right there in front of me.”
Dav shook his head, water spraying from his face and hair. “I’ve always felt incomplete. Desperate for the male that I never thought could be my soulbonded. But the truth is… that wasn’t why I was incomplete. From the moment we met, he was always part of my soul, but I was missing something else.Wewere missing something more.”
He lowered his arms as he stared at Rosalind’s blurred shadow. “My soul was never split in half, Rose. It was in thirds. That empty part of me was just waiting for you, baby.”
Dav choked out a sob, fists balling at his sides. “I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness, but I need youboth to know how sorry I am. I love you. I love you so much. And I’m going to be better. Maybe it’s too late for us, but I want you both to be happy, and if that means you never want to see my face again, I’ll respect that.”
Davarox wasn’t quite sure where to go from there, especially when Rosalind was still lingering where she could see him.
Maybe he should get on his knees. He was desperate enough, but it wasn’t to guilt her into taking him back.
Especially because Lazerath still hadn’t appeared in the window.
That was fair. Dav deserved it. But he didn’t want to be the reason the two of them couldn’t be together.
Rosalind’s shadow shifted, and Dav’s heart filled with hope.
Only to be shattered as her figure disappeared.
Dav stared at the empty window, world crashing down around him like the rain, eroding all hope he’d clung to.
That was fair. Her presence for that long was more than he deserved.
Yet he couldn’t get his feet to move. To walk away in shame. He could blame the cold, how soaked he was, how waterlogged his boots were.
But really, it was his own fault. Brooding grumps liked to elongate their suffering, right?
Somehow, his brain connected to his muscles, forced his feet to flex and turn away.
Light spilled onto the street as the front door opened, andDav’s head snapped around to find a tall red figure filling the doorway.
Lazerath looked beautiful with his body glowing in the demonlight, especially as he leaned against the jamb and gave Davarox an exasperated eye roll.
“Of course we forgive you, you fucking jerk,” Laz said, lips pulling into a smile. “If you’d read my letters, you’d know the door was unlocked for you.”
Rosalind’s tear-stained face slipped in beside Laz, and she gave Dav a wobbly smile. “Hurry up and get in here. Laz made way too many custards for us to eat ourselves.”
27
OURS
Lazerath
Davarox was soaked, clothes plastered to his body, but the moment he was through the door, Rosalind threw herself at him.
“Baby,” he murmured, arms shaking like he wasn’t sure whether he should hug her back. But then his hands were on her shoulders, trying to pry her off. “Baby, you’ll get cold.”
But she wasn’t letting go. Lazerath could hear her soft sobs and curses and whispered relief as she burrowed herself against Dav’s chest and held on tighter.
Laz couldn’t blame her. While he wore his worry like a second skin, Rosalind had tried to bury it with work. At least until after that first day, when she’d come back to his apartment instead of Mozke’s well past city hall’s closing and collapsed into his arms.
Dav, however, was predictable, and that brought Laz atleast a small amount of comfort. The male would stew in his sads, try to punish himself, and then remember that he didn’t have to be afraid anymore. He’d found a family who loved him more than what he grew up believing he could have.
