Page 139 of Demon's Beauty

Perhaps this is better.

Having it over and done with rather than dragging it out.

The agony of setting a broken limb back into place rather than wallowing in pain.

No point in delaying the inevitable.

“I should go pack my things,” she whispers, turning to head back into the bedroom before I can say a word.

Leave your things here if you mean to come back. Leave as much here as you’d like, I don’t mind.

Again, I swallow the words I’d like to say, and I’ve got nothing to do with myself but follow her, hovering in the doorway as she shoves item after item into her enchanted satchel. It all disappears neatly, gone in an instant with no trace, as if she were never here at all.

When she’s finished, she gives the room a final once-over, searching for anything she might have left behind.

Then she turns to face me, and I have to look away.

“Can I bring you to the Veil?” I ask, contemplating my own feet because looking into her beautiful eyes might break me.

“Seren is going to portal me down there,” Soleil says quietly. “She said she had something to give me before I go, and she’s developed her portalling abilities since she…”

Since she sealed her mate bond. Since she chose to be with Callum for the rest of her days.

“I’ll be back,” she continues. “Soon, I hope. Once I speak to Esme and get everything figured out, I’ll be back.”

“Alright, sunshine,” I tell her, because what else can I say?

I offer her the best smile I can manage, open my arms to see if she wants a parting embrace.

Soleil rushes toward me, landing with a hard thump against my chest.

When she speaks, her words are laced with unshed tears. “I’ll be back, Finn. I promise.”

When?I want to ask.For how long? And when you return, how much of you will I be able to have? What crumbs will be left for me?

Too many things I can’t say. Too many selfish wants I can’t put on her.

So all I do is hold her, savor the moments until she has to say goodbye.

44

Soleil

Seren and I step out of her portal near the demon realm side of the Veil.

Strange, how much easier it’s becoming after just a week of hopping around in the realm-between-realms.

Even stranger that I might have this magick of my own one day.

I might, if…

I can’t finish that train of thought.

I can’t do anything but walk silently side-by-side with my sister toward the glowing portal back to the human realm.

Selfishly, I’m glad Finn’s not here.

I don’t know if I’d be able to leave if he was.