Page 12 of Demon's Beauty

Turning down the familiar series of corridors to the Nighfall rooms, I try to ignore it as I pass door after door. I try to convince myself it’s all in my head. There’s no possible way it’s still getting stronger, changing, less an irritant and more a warm pull. Something that almost feels like magick wrapping itself firmly around my sternum, drawing me forward.

In addition to my body breaking down, apparently my mind is also going.

My senses, too, are muddled. Because I swear I can smell something new in the corridor, something I’ve never scented here before.

It’s slight, but growing stronger. A delicate, metallic scent edged with the rich, deep tang of fresh herbs. Rosemary, or perhaps lavender. Maybe both, or maybe something rare and precious I’ve never smelled before.

Delicious.

It smells delicious.

It’s likely just the scent of someone enjoying a new treat whipped up by the kitchens, but just like the thread of magick that’s hooked itself into the center of my chest, it wends its way down into my lungs and stays there.

Another mental note, this time to ask the healer if they can evaluate me for brain damage, too.

It’s unnerving, distracting, and occupies my mind so entirely I don’t realize I’ve reached Callum and Seren’s room until I’m standing right in front of their door.

Their open door.

Strange, but as I peer inside, nothing seems to be amiss. The two of them are standing in the center of the room, and they’re not alone.

In that split-second of realization, the world tilts beneath my feet.

In a corridor I’ve walked a hundred times, on a day that had all the makings of the thousand that came before it, everything changes.

There, in the center of the room, is my life’s new north star.

No, not just a star.

She’s the sun.

Beautiful, almost too beautiful to look at, with long black curls that hang down nearly to the center of her back and curves that look so soft, so touchable, the sight of them makes my palms ache to reach for her.

Her gaze is on Seren, and she hasn’t heard me approach.

It gives me a view of her lovely profile. Soft features, round cheeks, a nose that turns up a little at the tip. Lips full and pink. Eyes that gleam a brilliant green even from as far away as I’m standing.

In the few seconds before she sees me, a lifetime passes.

The fabric of all the realms shifts. The sun sets on who I was and rises on who I will be, who I was always meant to be.

Who I was always meant to find.

Because there’s no doubt, there’s not a single question in my mind who this witch is.

My mate.

5

Soleil

It sounds like someone’s choking.

Whirling around to find the source of the sound, mind already racing with the steps for the Heimlich maneuver, I find a demon in the doorway.

He’s not actually choking, but he does look like he’s seen a ghost.

Blond-haired, crimson-eyed, and about as tall as Callum, though not as broad, he’s got all the quintessential demon features. Horns, tail, a wide pair of leathery black wings, fangs that show from where his mouth is hanging open in shock.