Page 106 of Demon's Beauty

The question gives me pause.

The coven, probably.

Esme Hawthorn, certainly.

And… me.

Isn’t that the worst part of it?

It would be unthinkable to me.

I still can’t wrap my mind around it, can’t make sense of it, can’t bring myself to say the words.

And I’m not sure if it’s what I want, anyway.

The memory of working earlier today in the apothecary surfaces again in my mind. The work I did with Vayla, the way I trained those healers.

It felt like exactly what I was always called to do.

To share my knowledge of healing, to ensure the craft is passed on, shared, spread so that others might benefit and more people can be helped.

“Just think about it,” Finn says when enough time has passed and I still haven’t answered. “And come on, let’s head back to the inn.”

“Flying?” I ask hopefully, pushing the rest of it aside.

His face splits into a grin, brighter than the streetlamps or the moon shining high above.

“Of course, sunshine.”

31

Finn

Our flight back to the inn is mostly silent.

Not that there’s a lot of talking we can do over the rush of the wind, anyway, but what is there to say?

How do we move forward from this?

It would be entirely selfish of me to expect Soleil to give up what she’s been working toward her entire life.

Even if she did run away from it when she came here.

Even if I can see the storm of indecision behind her eyes when she talks about Ascending.

Even if the most terrible, selfish part of me still wants to convince her, beg her, do anything in my power to make her stay. Because even though I’ve only known her this short time, my soul has known her since the moment the Goddess forged us, and I can’t imagine my life without her.

“I think I could.”

I speak the words quietly just as we land on the balcony outside our room. Soleil tips her head up to meet my gaze with furrows on her brow and moonlight kissing her cheeks.

“Could what?”

I thread my fingers into her hair on either side of her face. “I think I could do it. Be there for you even after you Ascend. If that’s what you needed.”

Her throat bobs in a hard swallow. “I’d never ask that of you.”

“You wouldn’t have to.”