Chapter Forty-Four
Triggers: discussion of suicide as well as blood play during sex.
Includes graphic descriptions of blood and self-harm.
I n this chapter, Stassi is training Asher.
The two argue, but Stassi internally acknowledges their sort of alliance that stems from their mutual adoration of Sterling.
Stassi tells Asher more about the high demons, specifically discussing the generation before hers.
We learn that Stassi’s parents loved each other deeply, her father breaking the mold of high demons and choosing to marry his lover rather than mate with many low demons to ensure a strong heir.
Stassi’s mother would go on to take her own life after repeated miscarriages.
When Stassi and her father walked in and found her mother dead, her father apologized to Stassi and ripped out his seed, ending his life and forcing Stassi to become the high demon of Sin and Virtue at a very young age.
Torrel and Milo come, and we discover that Milo has taken a liking to Asher.
Sterling also arrives with Henry and Genevieve.
When alone in her bedroom, Stassi notes how unwell Sterling seems.
She mentions his blood.
He decides to cut himself and offer her that blood, mentioning that everyone seems to want it these days.
The pair have sex, during which Stassi can tell that something is not right with Sterling, realizing that it is his trauma catching up with him.
Stassi consoles him, crying for the first time in longer than she can remember.
She realizes how much she is beginning to feel.