“You’ve always been the demon queen.” His words are unwavering, like they are some known fact etched into stone. He takes what I say as the truth—which it is—and instead of passing judgment, he simply listens. “Continue.”
So I do. “I pulled the trigger. It was loud. My ears rang, and the world shifted to slow motion. The bullet hit James square in the chest, where his heart would be if he had one. Blood bloomed like a crimson floweraround the entry point. Then our eyes connected. Just for a brief moment, but that was all it took for recognition to dawn on his face. He remembered me. Remembered my sister.”
And the story is out. Every detail of the day will forever be painted on my memory. An echo of the past and the reminder that I’m capable of taking life. Despite not regretting what I’ve done, I need for him to understand why I did it. To understand I had no other option.
“I had to kill him,” I whisper. The words feel heavy between us.
Silence.
My demon husband tilts his head slightly, his long fingers drumming lazily against my palm. “Say that again.” His voice is velvet, dark and laced with intrigue.
I force myself to look at him, which isn’t hard. I’m drawn to him, hypnotized by the demon in front of me. The attraction has been there since I arrived but has only heightened after our marriage. No matter how much I fight it, my body calls to him in a way it hasn’t called to anyone before.
“The man who hurt my sister.” My throat tightens, but I push through. “He’s dead. I made sure of it. I killed him and watched his blood stain the concrete. Watched as the life went out of his eyes. I did it for my sister. Maybe even Erin too. That’s why she needs to know what I did.”
Still no anger. No horror. No disappointment. Only a slow, creeping smile curling his lips.
Seconds pass us by before Oziel rises from the bed with a languid grace, stepping toward me. Every movement, every breath of his presence is predatory, but nottoward me. When he reaches me, he crouches down. The mighty demon king on his knees before me is a magnificent sight that spreads heat throughout my body.
Oziel reaches out, his claw-tipped fingers brushing against the inside of my wrist, where my pulse still pounds rapidly. Not only for what I just revealed, but for the very king before me.
“I wondered how long it would take you,” he murmurs, reverence in his voice.
My breath stills. “You already knew?” Did Ender tell him? Did his abilities as king and a demon give him insight into my crimes?
His chuckle is low, rich with dark amusement. “Not the specifics, no, but I did know you harbored darkness inside you. I sensed it the moment I saw you. I’ve been waiting for you to embrace it, Kitten. Stop running from it. Command it.”
My lips part, but no words come.
I smell sin on you.
He’s known me, the real me, this whole time, and not once has he shied away. That has to mean something.
“You have done what weak men could not,” he continues, hand sliding up to cup my jaw, tilting my face to his. I don’t try to pull away or break contact. His eyes burn, filled with something almost tender. “You have protected your own. Taken what justice refused to give, and for that, you should be proud. This is what makes you a queen, Isabelle.”
A shudder passes through me, not from fear but from the overwhelming relief that rushes through my veins. But also something else. Something that ignites mybody, making me feelthingstoward my demon husband. Things I haven’t felt in such a long time. It is terrifying.
He rises and presses a kiss to my forehead, his lips lingering against my skin, like it’s the most natural thing in the fucking world. His words take my breath away. “You are more mine now than ever.”
His.
I don’t like being a possession. But the way Oziel said that makes me feel like an equal. I do the only thing I can…the only thing that will keep my sanity.
I push him away. I fucking hate that I do, but my ability to keep a wall between us is rapidly deteriorating, and I fear what will happen if I let it crumble completely.
Oziel doesn’t fight me, simply steps back and puts some distance between us. There’s a knock on the door, drawing his attention. “Food is here. I shall leave you to it, Kitten.”
I don’t get time to react because, in the next moment, Oziel is gone, swallowed up by shadows as his bedroom door opens and a demon rolls in a cart of food. She sets it in front of me and leaves just as silently as she came in.
I’m alone. After spilling my heart out to my husband. I can’t bring myself to regret my decision to tell him. I needed someone to know. The only thing I regret is pushing him away. As I eat the food placed in front of me, his words replay over and over again in my mind.
You are more mine now than ever.
Chapter 21
Isabelle
Idon’t see Oziel again that day, and when I wake up the following morning, he’s not in his room either. Maybe I shouldn’t have assumed he’d sleep in his own bed that night, but if he didn’t sleep with me, what other bed did he occupy? Another’s? White-hot anger simmers just below the surface at the thought of my husband warming another demon’s bed.
