Page 86 of Demon's Beauty

I lean forward and rest my elbows on my knees, head drooping slightly between my shoulders. “Most of them are, yes.”

“But not your witch? Whose name is…”

“Soleil.” I can’t help the way the corners of my lips tilt up at the barest mention of her. “And again, it’s… complicated.”

“So help me understand.”

In the barest terms I can—not wanting to divulge anything my witch would likely rather have me keep private—I tell my mother about how Soleil and I met, the week we spent in the mountains, her talent and power and the responsibilities she has waiting for her.

“I worry I won’t be enough for her,” I conclude with a long sigh. “You know as well as anyone that I haven’t exactly made anything spectacular of my life.”

“Nonsense,” my mother says, definitively.

“Thank you, ma. But everyone knows I’m—”

“You’re like me.” She smooths my hair back from my face. “And there’s nothing wrong with either of us.”

“In what way?”

“In the way that you are joyful,” she says, as if it’s obvious. “And carefree. You’re in love with life and all its pleasures, experiencing the fullness of everything you can.”

“Some might say that’s a bad thing. That I need to grow up, be more serious.”

“They might,” she allows. “But I suspect that would rob you of everything that makes youyou.”

I hum thoughtfully, not exactly sure how to respond to that.

I used to wish I could be more like my father.

Serious, disciplined, on track for the type of life he would be proud of. It didn’t take long to divest myself of any notions I could be the kind of demon he was, but the sting of that failure still sometimes twinges.

“Does your mate not admire you for who you are?”

“It’s not that,” I hastily assure her.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“She’s just so…” The word I’m searching for doesn’t immediately come to mind.

Talented. Brilliant. Important.

None of them seem like enough.

“Her life is so full,” I settle for instead. It’s true enough, and gets straight to the heart of my worries about us and what our future might hold. “She has so much waiting for her back in her realm, with her coven, and I don’t know… I don’t know how I could ever compete.”

“Who says you have to compete?” she asks gently. “Lives can change, new paths can be made.”

“It’s just hard to imagine how I could ever fit into someone’s life when they have so many more important concerns.”

She snorts a laugh. “Why do you think your father and I separated?”

My mother must see the look on my face, because she immediately sobers.

“Not that I mean to put that on Soleil. I’m sure things between the two of you are very different.” She reaches overand lays a hand against my cheek. “And I’m sorry for letting my bitterness make me speak so harshly.”

I find half a smile. “Apology accepted.”

Soleil is not like my father and, despite all our similarities, I am not my mother.