Page 27 of Demon's Beauty

Of course Glenson only wanted to save face, perhaps earn himself a few points with a powerful courtier by allowing his useless son to tag along and play guard.

A sour taste coating the back of my tongue, I make myself smirk at him.

“For what it’s worth, I meant what I said about not being entirely hopeless with a sword.”

He claps me once on the shoulder—indulgent, like someone appeasing a wayward, fanciful child.

It makes my skin crawl.

“I’m sure you’re a credit to the Nighfall family.”

He sounds so damned earnest in that upright, future-Captain-of-the-Guard way he has about him, but the words still rankle.

They rankle enough that I’m about to say something else, cut him a bit more down to size, when he speaks again.

“Ah,” Glenson says, eyes on something behind me. “There are the final members of our party.”

I turn to see who he means, and my heart drops to somewhere near my feet.

There are several figures approaching, but I only see one.

Only my mate.

It’s the first time I’ve laid eyes on her since she ran away from me back in Seren and Callum’s rooms, and I’ll be goddessdamned if she doesn’t take my breath away even harder now than she did then.

The morning sun hits her like a benediction from the Goddess. Gilding her black hair and highlighting the pink apples of her cheeks, which only get pinker when she sees me standing with the rest of the guard.

She’s got something on her face—some strange frames of dark-colored glass—so I can’t read the expression in her eyes, but by the way she falls back a step and lets the others walkahead of her, it’s not hard to guess she’s none too excited to see me.

With effort, I tear my eyes from her to glance at the demons striding up beside her. Vayla, the court healer, along with several of her apprentices—unsurprising, given the nature of this trip.

My eyes skate over their faces, pathetically unable to keep themselves from straying away from Soleil for long.

Fuck, but she’s beautiful.

I’ve always appreciated the female form in all its many variations. Collecting lovers has turned out to be a great complementary hobby for general indolence and underachieving, and I’ve always been quite enthusiastic to pursue a pretty demoness. Or nymph. Or orcess, on occasion. I’m really not picky.

But now, faced with the obliterating sight of my mate lit by the dawn, I can’t remember a single one of those many conquests.

I can’t imagine ever looking at anyone else.

Soleil is almost cruelly gorgeous.

With her long midnight curls, and curves that make my claws ache and the tips of my fangs tingle. With the stubborn jut of her chin and the adorable tilt of her nose. With the aura of power around her—radiant as the sunshine just breaking over the distant mountains.

Stunned by her appearance, I don’t really connect what Glenson just said to the sight in front of me.

At least not until Vayla reaches us, hands on her hips, all business as she surveys the ongoing preparations and turns to the Lieutenant with a crisp nod of greeting.

“We’re all here and ready to join you on the expedition.”

11

Soleil

I can’t tell if Finn is happy or horrified that we apparently both signed ourselves up for this little outing into the demon realm.

His face is blank, anything he might be feeling hidden behind an expression I can’t read at all.