Page 28 of Demon's Beauty

It’s a jarring change from the last time I saw him, when every single emotion he had seemed to be written all over his face.

His clothes are different, too.

He was wearing a loosely fitted tunic the last time I saw him, open and breezy and relaxed.

Now he’s got on some kind of armor. Leather, like the other guards milling around, but in a slightly different design.

It looks… good on him.

Unfortunately good, actually.

I’m glad I’m wearing sunglasses, because there’s no way he’d be able to miss the way my eyes trace over every inch of that armor, following the tightly fitted lines of it all the way to the crest on his chestplate designed with a moon and stars.

Vayla steps up and says something to another of the guards, and he nods before calling an order for everyone to gather.

It makes me want to run in the other direction.

I shouldn’t go on this field expedition.

I should beg off and get my ass back to Vayla’s workshop, tuck myself away, and spend the next few days poring over Ariana’s grimoire like I planned to.

But what the hell would that fix?

What would it do but give me more time to stew over all the thoughts I can’t escape, everything that’s haunting me even in a whole other realm?

I also can’t run away from another thought that’s been hounding me since the moment I woke up from my nap yesterday.

I may have… overreacted. To the wholematething.

Granted, I wasn’t in the most stable emotional state at the time, but running away without even saying a word to Finn was a little unhinged, even for me.

That, combined with the fact that I can’t read him right now, that it’s impossible to tell if he hates me or not, makes me want to shrink into a little ball and disappear.

I never had to deal with stuff like this back at the coven hall.

I never had to deal with all thesefeelings, with anything other than the next assignment, the next test, the next rung on the ladder toward Ascension.

Maybe all those years of emotional avoidance have broken me.

“Alright,” the demon guard who seems to be in charge says, pulling me out of that spiral. “Looks like everyone’s here. And Vayla? You brought a guest?”

“Soleil,” she says, giving me a small bump with her shoulder. “An envoy from the Crescent Coven and one of the finest healers I’ve ever met. She’ll be helping with the flowers. Soleil, this is Glenson, the First Lieutenant of the court guard.”

My face flushes a bit with her praise, and I give Glenson a nod.

He looks at me for a moment, considering. “We’ll need someone who can portal Soleil.”

“Will have to be one of you lot,” Vayla says to the armored demons beside him. “I’ve got supplies to transport.”

At least three of those demon guards look my way eagerly.

But none of them even make it a single step toward me before a tall, blond demon elbows his way through the fray.

“I can portal you.”

Finn looks down at me, and even through my sunglasses, the spark of magic when our eyes meet is undeniable.

“You alright with that?” Vayla asks quietly.