Chapter 13 Des #2
He sighed, resigned. The truth was, he didn’t trust himself either. Not when it came to Aurelie Blake.
They waited outside the gates for fifteen minutes while the guard went to fetch her, returning with a clearly exasperated
Aurelie. She’d changed since this afternoon. Her coat was too large, dangling well past her fingertips, and the hem of what
appeared to be a nightgown pooled around her feet. It was only nine o’clock. Had he woken her?
She stepped outside the gates and approached them. “Daisy. Lieutenant. To what do I owe the pleasure?”
“I’m following up on your little excursion this afternoon,” Des said.
She folded her arm over her chest, which only accentuated the floppiness of her sleeves. “Why? I’m not a child.”
“Really? You certainly look like one. What did you do, raid your father’s closet?”
Aurelie blinked, glancing down at herself. “Actually, yes. This was my father’s coat.” Something akin to sorrow passed over
her features, only for a moment, and he felt a stab of guilt after remembering she was an orphan. “Not that it’s any of your
damn business.”
Guilt officially revoked. “You made it my business when you decided to go consorting with . . . demon consorters!”
Aurelie scoffed. “Demon consorters? What in the name of Aciano are you talking about?”
A shout rang out in the distance, causing them all to turn their heads. “I’m going to check on things,” Daisy said. “Behave
yourself.” She shot Des a warning look, and he sucked a breath in through his teeth. He had to maintain control of himself,
even if Aurelie was disproportionately infuriating for someone of her size.
“You have no right to be following me.”
He blinked as if he couldn’t possibly have heard her right. “No right? I’m a member of the Iron Guard. It’s my sworn duty to protect the citizens of Wisteria from demons.”
“I don’t see any demons,” she said, tapping her foot in annoyance. “Just you.”
He couldn’t help himself. A groan of sheer, unadulterated exasperation slipped out of him.
“Did my uncle put you up to this?”
His eyes bulged in disbelief. “Your—” He shook his head. “Of course not. I followed a demon to the university last Friday night, only to discover it was trailing a man you were . . .” He waved his hand in the air vaguely. “With.”
Aurelie’s mouth dropped open in outrage. “We weren’t . . .” She made the same gesture. “He came for dinner. And what do you mean, a demon was trailing him?”
“Don’t tell me I have to explain the term trailing to you.”
Her nostrils flared. “No, you absolute clod. If there was a demon trailing him, why didn’t you kill it?”
It was bad enough that this irritating gnat of a woman was taking him away from his actual work, but turning this around on
him? “You’re unbelievable. Someone died today because of you, and you have the nerve to ask why I’m not doing more to stop demons?”
Aurelie blinked and took a step back. “What?”
Much to his relief, Daisy hadn’t returned yet, because she’d no doubt be throttling Des by now. He looked back at Aurelie’s
pale face. He’d clearly stunned her with his outburst. He gestured to a nearby bench. “Sit.”
“I beg your pa—”
“Would you please sit?” he ground out.
Aurelie rolled her eyes and sat, her arms still folded over her chest. Her coat gaped open, revealing the lacy collar of what
was definitely a nightgown, and his thoughts stuttered to a halt. Clearing his throat, he shifted his gaze to the crown of
her head.
“Why did you run today?” he asked.
Aurelie sighed. “Is that what this is about?”
“No. But indulge me anyway.”
She brought her eyes up to his. “I had something personal to attend to. I don’t have to explain what it was. In fact, it’s rather rude to expect me to.”
Personal? Was she visiting the apothecary? Meeting a lover? He could feel the tips of his ears going pink and straightened
a little. “In that case, I apologize.”
“There’s no need. Now tell me why you’re so sure this attack—which I’m the first to admit is a tragedy—has anything to do
with me.”
“There has been an unusual amount of demonic activity this past week, and geographically, it all leads back to you.”
“A coincidence,” Aurelie said with a dismissive wave of her hand, though he thought he saw her shift uncomfortably.
“Multiple demons have appeared within feet of you in one week. I don’t believe it’s a coincidence.”
She rose then, as if that would somehow put them on equal footing. Even if she stood on the bench, she’d still be shorter
than him. “What do you think coincidence means, exactly?”
“Excuse me?”
“A coincidence is a remarkable concurrence without causal link. The very fact that it’s unlikely, even unbelievable, is what
makes it a coincidence.” She started to pace up and down the sidewalk, her chin in her fist. “If it was hunting me, then why
did it kill someone else?” she continued. “You assume that because I lost you in a crowd, I was also capable of losing a demon, which is a lot of credit to give a person you didn’t think could walk home
from a café alone.”
“I—”
“Besides, even if I’m somehow inadvertently attracting unusual demonic activity, which is a very big if by the way, it in no way makes me accountable for that man’s death. I can’t control what demons do. You of all people should
know that.”
Aurelie was so focused on her ranting, her eyes trained on her pacing feet, that she failed to notice she was headed straight
for Des. As much as he would have liked to watch her run headlong into his iron-studded breastplate, he put his hand out.
A moment later, Aurelie’s forehead butted up against his palm. She blinked and jumped back, blushing profusely. “Do you mind?”
Des snorted and stepped aside. “Begging your pardon, my lady.”
“My—what? What exactly was that supposed to be?” she asked, flapping her hand at his attempt at a bow.
He hooded his gaze, refusing to let her get the better of him. “I assume that’s how you like to be treated by men.”
“You have no idea what I like, least of all in men.” Their eyes met, hers blazing in challenge. He couldn’t have said what
his conveyed, because his thoughts were jumbled at the sight of Aurelie, fists on her hips, the implication of her words hanging
between them.
Why was he letting this slip of a girl rattle him? He’d stared down verita with nothing more than an iron switchblade in his fist. He’d killed two natia in one night. He’d put up with Daisy for years. And yet five minutes with this creature, and all his composure and reason fell to pieces.
He leaned in close, his voice lowered to a rasp, his finger thrust in her face like she was a child in need of scolding.
“I know you’re a consorter. I’ve known it since the first night I laid eyes on you.
That demon was a thrall, wasn’t it? That’s why you had to ditch me.
So you could send the demon to do your dirty work for you, while you flit around like a pixie, all wide-eyed and innocent, and—and leave the rest of us to clean up your mess! ”
“Des!”
They both turned to see Daisy stomping toward them, and Des realized he hadn’t been quiet at all. He’d been shouting at full
volume. Daisy reached up to punch Des in the arm, thought better of it, and slapped his cheek instead. It was about as punishing
as a smack from a wet towelette.
She tutted in disgust and turned away from him toward Aurelie. “Are you all right?”
Instead of answering her, Aurelie rounded back to Des. “How dare you?” she snarled. “I’ve done nothing to you since the day you met me, and you’ve turned your bizarre hunch into this . . .
this . . . obsession!”
Des was caught between astonishment and indignation. “I am not obsessed with—”
“I’m not finished! Why can’t you just admit that someone got hurt and you didn’t stop it? That you’re being crushed by your
own guilt. That it’s easier for you to take it out on a woman than to accept the truth!”
From the corner of his eye, Des saw Daisy dig her hands into her hair and turn away, but his blood was pumping so loudly in
his head he couldn’t hear what she was muttering under her breath. Aurelie had no idea how many lives he’d saved, how many
children he’d kept from being orphaned. She didn’t know that every time he failed a mission, he punished himself for days
with grueling workouts on little sleep and less food. She could never understand what it was like to devote his life to a
cause that didn’t allow for a single misstep, where every day was life or death.
He’d never allow a subordinate to speak to him this way if they were back at the Iron Fortress.
But they weren’t at the fort, and she wasn’t a guard, and she wasn’t worth his wasted breath.
Des’s gaze shuttered, and whatever Aurelie saw on his face, she must have realized she’d touched a nerve, because she closed
her mouth and stepped back.
“You really don’t need to worry about me,” she said softly, deflating. “I promise I won’t go out alone this weekend. I’ll
be back at the university, safe and sound.”
His eyes narrowed, his fists clenching at his sides. He stepped closer, Daisy momentarily forgotten, his entire world tunneled
to Aurelie’s pale face, her wide eyes and flushed cheeks, and that vicious, beautiful mouth. “I’m not worried about you. I’m warning you. My job is to eliminate threats in this city. And as far as I’m concerned, that includes frivolous, self-absorbed, dangerously
irresponsible menaces like you.”
Almost as soon as the words were out, a part of him wanted to take them back, because he knew she was right. He was taking
out his own guilt on her. He was the one who was supposed to be watching Aurelie. And he was the one who had failed to save
that man. But a strong leader didn’t back down; he doubled down. And so he closed his lips and said nothing.
Tears welled in Aurelie’s eyes, sending a stab of regret straight to his chest. Wrapping her coat tighter around herself,
she murmured goodnight to Daisy and turned on her heel, Des’s gaze boring into the space between her shoulder blades until
she was finally, blessedly, out of sight.