He snorted at her question. “You want to mope, too?”
“If it’ll make you feel better.” She flopped down in the chair in front of his desk. Then, she pouted like a toddler who had broken a favorite toy. “So, what are we moping about?”
He started not to tell her, but he was interested in her opinion. “Do you miss Hell?”
“Not at all. Why?”
That was what he figured. Still… “Did you have friends or family there?”
Her eyebrow shot north. “What?” The way she asked that was comical.
“I’m serious. Did you leave friends or family behind?”
She seemed baffled by his question. “After all these centuries, you’re asking me about this now?”
“It dawned on me that I never asked you about it before. Bad oversight.”
She cocked her head to stare at him. “Who are you and where’s my dominus?”
“It’s me, Imp. I was just curious.”
She got up and propped her head against his desk so that she could stare up at him like a small child, seeking something. “You’re my only family, dominus. Didn’t you know that? It’s why I left with you.”
He would have considered himself more a burden for her than family…
Then again, family could be a burden, couldn’t it?
“Surely you have other friends and real family.”
She shook her head. “You are my real family. Ever since you were born and your mother grabbed me by the neck and told me to guard you or die. I’ve had no one but you.”
“That hardly forms a bond.”
“It does if you don’t want to die.”
He pursed his lips. “You know what I mean.”
“I do and I admit that you were a little hard to love when all you did was cry, pee, shit and vomit. But after a while, you learned to wipe your chin, use the bathroom and talk. Eventually, you became fun.”
“Eventually?” he asked incredulously.
She nodded. “And if it matters to you, I did learn to love you before you became fun.”
He gave her a piercing stare at something she’d never said to him before. Something that was incomprehensible. “You love me?”
“I do.” She offered him a bright smile. “I have for a long time now. You’re my baby, dominus. Why wouldn’t I love you?”
He scoffed. “I’m your assignment.”
“You’re my best friend. My only friend, actually. And I’ve cherished the centuries we’ve spent together.”
That made him feel terrible. “I haven’t been kind to you.”
“Better than anyone else.”
That made it all the worse. And in that moment, he hated himself for every cross word he’d ever given her. Every order he’d barked or growled. She deserved much better than that and he would try to remember in the future that she was his family, too. “I’m such an asshole.”
“You’re my asshole, and I find no fault with you.”
