Chapter 38 #4
Malakai stands over me, extending a hand I greedily accept. I pull him down to me, and my mouth crashes onto his as I kiss him desperately.
“I thought I was going to die,” I sob against his lips, emotions overtaking me.
My whole body shudders violently, and I don’t think I ever want to let go of him again.
My hands wrap tightly around his neck, holding him close as wave after wave of relief washes over me.
Malakai encircles my waist with one arm, threading the other through my hair to keep me close.
I bury my face in his neck, letting his hellfire and cinnamon calm me.
I lean into him and his magic, greedily accepting all that he gives me. All tension leaves my body as I’m being patched up. When I start to tear up, I drag him closer. I don’t want him to notice how terrified I was. My head feels light, my throat thick as warmth spreads through me.
“You’ll get used to the feeling.” Malakai chuckles in my hair, his magic continuing to flow over my skin to heal me, patching me up.
I slap his shoulder in response, my nonexistent strength making him chuckle. “Asshole,” I whisper, breaking away from him.
The corners of my lips can’t help but lift slightly as Malakai helps me to my feet. I breathe deeply and look him over. He has a nasty cut on his hairline, and the wrist of the arm that was around my waist looks broken. He almost matches me with his own impressive collection of bite marks.
“Are you okay?” I whisper, worried since he’s prioritizing my well-being over his own, not using any magic for himself.
Malakai gives me a soft nod. “I will be.”
I look at him a moment longer, then turn to survey the chaos around us, holding onto him for support. The ground is littered with dead bodies, many still possessing their heads.
“How…”
That’s when I see William, his face, hands, and clothes smeared in blood. In one hand, he holds Inakr’s head, and in the other, the Nephilim’s spine.
“Well, that’s”—I swallow—“one way to deal with it.”
My knees begin to wobble, and Malakai quickly wraps an arm around my waist, steadying me as we step toward William.
The way he looks at the First Son tells me he feels both proud and saddened that he got to the Nephilim first. Malakai would have relished the opportunity to tear Inakr to pieces himself.
William looks awfully pleased, judging by the way he grips both the head and spine. His smile says it all: bloodthirsty yet satisfied.
“I take it he can survive this?” I ask, jerking my chin toward Inakr’s head.
“He should be able to if we put the pieces back together,” Malakai replies dryly.
“The only way to keep him from healing would be to keep them separate?” I inquire further, and he nods.
I scrunch my nose at how disgusting that sounds. I hope we don’t have to preserve him anywhere—let alone in that state. The very idea of having him in our house is enough to upset my stomach once more.
The sound of flapping wings reaches us, and Yblis descends a few paces away, scowling, clearly displeased with the mess we’ve created. His impeccable timing suggests he was using the raven to keep an eye on us.
How considerate of him not to lend a helping hand when we could have used it.
“This”—he gestures at the many corpses littering his courtyard and the desert visible beyond the destroyed gate—“is exactly what I didn’t want to return to.”
Thankfully, he seems mostly annoyed. I can tell I’m not the only one running on magical fumes.
With a single touch, I know Malakai doesn’t have much left either.
He’s gracious enough to send some my way to help me heal, but taking on his enraged brother would have been too much of a good thing right now.
Yblis locks eyes with Malakai, his gaze widening. We both realize simultaneously what has him flustered: Malakai’s red skin is still fully on display. With William not reacting earlier, it completely slipped our minds.
“What? How?” Yblis stammers as he approaches us, at a loss for words.
I see the moment he realizes his brother acquired this new skin during his imprisonment. Guilt floods his features—genuine guilt—and I can sense it, as can Malakai.
“Don’t worry about it,” Malakai says, pulling me closer against him. “I’m used to it, and my wife loves it.”
I giggle at his words, relieved that he’s not ashamed of his red skin in front of his brother.
Yblis simply nods, his eyes going from his brother’s red skin to the still-exposed marks on my arms, unsure of what else to say. He then turns to William, and his guilt morphs back into annoyance.
“That’s not good,” he mutters, observing Inakr’s lifeless body, torn apart as it is.
“He had plans to overthrow you once he was done with me,” Malakai informs his brother. “And there was something about demon kind taking something from him, though he wasn’t very forthcoming with the details. You might want to figure that out.”
Yblis frowns at him. For a moment, I suspect he knows something he isn’t sharing with us.
“What about your child?” Yblis asks instead.
The abrupt change in topic doesn’t go unnoticed. Malakai’s magic crackles softly around us.
“Consider it handled,” I reply in my husband’s stead.
Yblis raises a brow at me, questioning, but I don’t feel inclined to spill details.
We let Nagamaru escape again, and I truly hope it won’t come back to haunt me—again.
It seemed they understood the situation and that their actions only worked against them.
I’m optimistic enough, or maybe exhausted enough, to find that sufficient to put my mind at ease. For now.
“I do have to add,” Malakai says, nodding toward the Nephilim’s remains, “that Inakr claims there are others out there who think he should rule. You’d better look into that as well.”
“On what grounds do they deem him more worthy?” Yblis glances at Inakr’s head, incredulous at the audacity of the Nephilim to think himself superior.
“He’s both angel and demon.”
“Hmm,” Yblis muses, still fixated on the head. “I know.”
Malakai recoils as if punched in the gut, his grip on me tightening. “You knew? And you didn’t care to share that piece of information?”
“He was born during your imprisonment,” Yblis retorts, as if that’s a sufficient explanation.
Anger rises in Malakai, his magic hot against my skin as his body tenses.
“The others know. We kept an eye on him, assuming he would behave since he was working for you,” Yblis adds.
“How do you mean, would?” Malakai asks, his anger beginning to seep through.
“He was always a little erratic. But none of us knew the full extent of his upbringing or his abilities. His father refused to tell us.”
“His father,” Malakai starts, hesitating briefly. “Is it him?”
“It is.” Yblis sighs. “He swears he didn’t know the mother was angelic.”
Malakai scoffs, and I stand beside him in confusion, unable to follow the conversation.
“Whatever.” Malakai waves it all away. “He’s your problem now, William.”
William turns to Yblis, handing him the head and spine with a wide smile. Yblis awkwardly accepts, pressing both against his chest to avoid dropping them.
“Wait, what do you expect me to do with him?” Yblis asks, bewildered.
“Don’t know, don’t care.” Malakai leads us away from his brother, carefully limping over the corpses while the First Son follows closely behind. “Just make sure he’s kept away from us. Oh, and lift your magic so we can get the hell out of here.”
We walk through the gate, out of sight of Yblis, and find a spot not littered with corpses.
“This is it, then?” I ask Malakai, snuggling against his side as we walk, his arm draped over my shoulders.
“For now.” I frown at him, but Malakai turns to William, gesturing for him to come closer. “I’m sending you straight back to the coven. Alix is probably going crazy looking for you.”
“What do I tell them?” William asks hesitantly.
“The truth.”
Malakai transports William away, visibly relieved that his brother is at least giving us this small reprieve, then turns to me. “Remember what I told you about not wanting to make too much of an effort?”
I think back to when he had me learn Eloghyll. “Yes?”
“Until now, I’ve been able to maintain control of our company mostly for the same reason.” Malakai clicks his tongue as he surveys our surroundings.
“The only ones stupid enough to pull a stunt like this are half-breeds—maybe a handful of very bored purebloods. But I don’t think Inakr’s ego would allow him to stand equal to or below someone else.
That made working with him a pain in the ass, even for the company.
But it also means those on his side are most likely beneath him. ”
“Most likely?” I frown at his unconvincing choice of words.
Malakai huffs at me. “Elly, please, trust me on this. Right now, I want us to go home and forget about this day—even if it’s just for a night.”
Home.
The word makes me falter, warmth spreading through me. I know Malakai sees the house as home, but I… haven’t—couldn’t, in a way. Part of me has been unable to see it as anything but a house. Hearing him call it our home… it makes my heart flutter.
With everything that happened after our escape, I had forgotten my original aim—what my end goal was.
Hearing that one word brings it all back.
A genuine smile forms on my lips, knowing I have a home to return to.
The house isn’t merely a house; it hasn’t been for a long time. I just wasn’t able to see it.
It’s definitely a home—our home. The place where I can be myself, unapologetically.
I steal a glance at the man beside me, holding me close—this demon with his beautiful dark red skin and mesmerizing molten gold eyes. I’m happy, truly happy, for the first time in a very long time.
From the moment I woke up in that room in our prison, all I wanted was to return home. And that’s what this—everything—was about. At long last, it seems I’m finally doing just that, just not in the way I originally had in mind.
My chest constricts, and a faint flicker of magic sparks inside me. A soft caress of Malakai’s magic darts over my skin in response, as if he can sense the emotions swirling within me. He doesn’t speak, but I know him well enough to tell that he’s aware of everything happening inside me.
It’s only now that I truly start to appreciate it, beginning to see it for what it might really be.
My heart swells as something settles deep within it—something I thought I lost long ago and deemed impossible to reclaim.
Something he gave back to me, even when it seemed more than impossible when we first met.
There’s not a sliver of doubt in my mind that it’s not just me.
From how in tune he is with my emotions to every one of his actions, I know it’s the same for him—even though we don’t speak of it.
I lost everything, and all it took was a demon, a rebirth, and a resurrection to find it again. To have my heart returned to me, offered by the most beautiful pair of blood-stained hands, just so I could let him keep it—as much as I’m keeping his in return.
Yes, I’m ready to go home. Finally.