Page 58 of Hot Girls Date Demons

“My apologies.”

Shadows already gather around my body.

I do not care that I stand before the rulers of Nightfall.

I do not care that I have just been pardoned after three hundred years.

I do not care that I am home for the first time in centuries.

None of it matters.

Nothing matters except Josie.

“I must go.”

Lord Alaric rises as well.

His expression is sympathetic.

“Desmond—yes. But the portals are closed. You must wait for them to reopen.”

The words do not register.

“What?”

“Once the second moon passes the celestial star field,” Lord Kael explains carefully, “a couple of hours at most.”

A couple of hours.

A couple of hours?

No.

No.

Absolutely not.

My mate is crying.

I can feel it.

Her grief.

Her despair.

The terrible emptiness where my presence should be.

And she does not understand.

She is human.

She thinks this departure means forever.

Gods.

She thinks I am gone.

And the realization almost destroys me.