I consider throwing something at him: a book, perhaps, or maybe the whole damn couch. But they’re all out of the apartment before they can see just how badly they’ve wounded me. As embarrassing as that is to admit.
I could sign a contract with anyone. Richard or Minnie–anything with a soul is mine for the taking. I simply refuse them. That’s not weakness, that’s power. I’m denying them access to my power. Yet the longer I sit here, in this tiny apartment surrounded by romance books, sitting on a plush couch outside the room where Minnie and I have laid together, the less powerful I feel.
You will never be a proper Prince,a voice, not my own, tells me.You will always be a half-breed, neither succubus nor devil, too far flung from mortality to be accepted by your Mother’s kin.
“That’s not true…” I hardly realize I’m speaking.
Minnie accepts me. Not that it matters. She’s nothing but a witch with the power and drive to summon the first devil in centuries. Hardly even that. She’s only a moral with bright eyes and lips I will dream about. She burns like a flame. She’s…
Soft hearted little shit.
I bury my face in my hands, hiding from the voice in my head. Leaf hops up and starts nudging my wrists before diving under my arms and settling on my lap. I pull my hands from my face. He looks so content with his eyes shut as he rolls onto his belly to stretch his legs. I rub his chest, making the mistake of petting his stomach and he pounces on my hand. I chuckle as his fangs dig into my knuckle.
Perhaps I am too soft… and compassionate. Maybe I am neither a devil nor a succubus. My Father wasn’t the only one who procreated with the souls of the damned; there are others. Spares. Bodies to fill the space of our forefathers when they fall. We’re devils so far as anyone can tell. No, we must be devils. How else would Kas and his cohort submit to me with such ease?
I am the best of sin. Could I not also be a spark of humanity?
CHAPTERNINETEEN
ROSIER
Hours pass,and Minnie opens the front door with a huff. She pulls out the loop that keeps her hair atop her head. “Oh, you’re here.”
“Is that surprising?”
“You tend to run off with Kas,” she points out as she makes her way over to the couch.
She sits down beside me and rests her head on my shoulder. It’s like she’s cast a spell, shocking me with some sort of magic that makes my muscles go tense. Her big green eyes glance up at me, her cheek still pressed against my shoulder.
“What’s up?” she asks.
Lying comes easy. “I’m bored,” I grumble. “I've been cooped up in this place all day.”
She sighs. “Well, I’m too tired to take you out anywhere.” She sits up, and I want her to rest against me again. “Kind of ironic, a devil suffering on the mortal plane.”
She scoops Leaf out of my lap and holds him to her chest. He lifts his head and licks her chin. I wonder if I shoved him aside so I could be the one lapping and nipping at her skin if she would throw a fit.
I consider another way to irritate her. “Kas has been trying to find me other mortals to sign a deal.”
Minnie focuses on Leaf. “Except you’re not interested in contracts, so he’s wasting your time.”
I lean forward, wrapping my arm around her without even realizing it. “If you could inform him of that fact.”
“You want me to tell him it’s because of your mommy issues?” She says it like it’s obvious, as if I’ve asked her the color of the sky. “Or are we keeping that between us?”
Her statement isn’t obvious at all. It’s incorrect. My Mother isn’t the reason–why would that ever be it? How could a woman I only knew from a distance be the catalyst for my angst?
“Takes mommy issues to know mommy issues,” Minnie explains, like she’s read my mind.
My shoulders slump, and my voice goes low. “You admit you have mommy issues?”
“You didn’t hear that from me…” Her eyes float about the room, looking anywhere but right at me. “But… yeah, I kind of do.”
“Mommy and daddy issues must be a winning combination.”
Her expression darkens like I’ve insulted her–but in truth, it’s a complement. Her angst, her rage, is beautiful. No one else sees how strong it makes her like I do.
“Wipe that face off,” I command. “It’s as you said, takes issues to know issues.”
