“Don’t leave me again,” she whispers.
“Not even death will keep me from you, Wife,” I vow.
And we stay like that, her body wrapped around mine, our foreheads together, as we bask in each other’s presence. I’m not sure how much time goes by before someone clears their throat. “It’s good to see you’re not dead, Oziel,” Allarick’s gruff voice cuts through the silence.
Unfortunately, this pulls Isabelle away from me. Her arms unwrap from around my neck, followed by her legs from my waist, and I ease her down. She doesn’t stray far from me though, tucking herself into my side, where she belongs.
“Thank you. Both of you. I couldn’t have done it without your help,” Isabelle says.
I take in the kraken king and his wife. I’m not one to show my gratitude, especially to those I consider outsiders. But I can’t deny that Allarick and Erin helped Isabelle when I couldn’t. That alone means I’m in their debt. “You have my gratitude. Both of you.”
“Don’t be going soft on us now, Demon King.” Allarick grins, and I instantly want to take back my words. I don’t, because I’m a good fucking demon. At least today.
Erin handles him for me by playfully hitting his chest, letting her hand linger a moment longer than appropriate. She then fixes her attention on my wife. “I’m glad we could be here. If there’s anything you need, please reach out. Us Grym Hollow girls have to stick together, right?” She winks.
“Right,” Isabelle agrees as something passes between them. Something I will never understand because I’m not human.
“Allarick and I should head out?—”
“Wait!” Isabelle says frantically, moving away from me. I don’t let her get far though, keeping my hand interlocked with hers. She doesn’t try to pull out of my grip, hopefully finding the same security in it as I feel. Erin raises a brow, confusion etched along her features.
“I mean…it’s just…I need to talk to you,” Isabelle finally manages to say. She then looks at Allarick before looking back at me. “I need to talk to her alone.”
I don’t like it. Not because I don’t trust Erin, but rather because I don’t particularly want my wife out of my sight right now. Judging from the looks of it, Allarick doesn’t seem keen on leaving either.
“You can wait just outside the room. I need ten minutes alone with Erin. Please.” Isabelle looks between the two of us.
Erin squeezes Allarick’s arm, reaching up to give him a quick kiss on the lips. “I’ll be fine, my love. Just ten minutes and you’ll be right outside the door. Put Delmare outside to guard the window, if that’ll make you feel better.”
“It would actually,” he murmurs. I don’t tell him that I agree.
Isabelle pulls me closer, and I stop once her chest touches mine. She looks up at me with big brown eyes, and I know at this moment I will do anything for her. “Just ten minutes.”
“Just ten minutes,” I agree. “But I’ll be waiting right outside the door.”
“And I’ll run into your arms once I’m done. I just need this,” she says gently. I know why she does. She’sbeen keeping this secret for a long time, and I won’t be the one to stand in her way.
I press a gentle kiss to her forehead and nod once. “Come to me when you’re done. We have a lot to talk about.” With one final glance, I follow Allarick out to the hall as the door closes behind us with a resounding thud.
Chapter 41
Isabelle
I’ve always prided myself on being able to have hard conversations. I may not always deliver the message in the correct tone, but I always get my point across. Never once have I been at a loss for what to say, fearful of what the other person might think of me. But that’s exactly how I feel when the door shuts on our husbands and I’m alone with Erin.
The woman smiles kindly at me, completely unaware of the terrible—yet necessary—thing I have done. Will she hate me when she finds out? Distance herself from a killer?
“Something is bothering you,” Erin says after I’ve been quiet for too long. Normally, the warm room wouldn’t bother me, but sweat coats my brow as I stare down the woman I’ve known longer than she’s known me. “Whatever it is, you can tell me,” she adds gently.
I take a deep breath, centering myself and calling upon my courage. This needs to be done, and she needsto know. So, without a preamble, I begin, “I knew you back in Grym Hollow.”
Erin’s brows knit together, and she tilts her head to the side, assessing me. “You did? I’m sorry, but I don’t remember you,” she says apologetically.
“You didn’t know me. But we had something in common.” I pause, knowing the next thing I say will hurt her. “I knew James,” I whisper.
For a moment, Erin reverts to the timid, scared woman James forced her to be. Her body shakes, and it appears she’s doing everything she can to keep her breathing even and her nerves in check. Her eyes dart around the room as if James is going to walk out from the shadows. “Oh?” she finally says.
And then I tell her everything. Everything I’ve been dying to tell her since I’ve arrived. I tell her about Anna, my sweet sister, and the torment she experienced with James. The hell he put my family through. How my sister became a shell of the woman she once was. How I couldn’t save her, and how the day I found her dead in her bedroom was the day a part of me died too.
