Epilogue
HOW NOT TO CRY THAT IT'S OVER
Rosalind
“Ican’t look at him.”
“Because he’s terrifying?”
“What? No. All I see is him hiding under a table, stuffing his face with bronzeberry scones.”
Ozirax’s head whipped around to where Rose and Lazerath were spying, eyes narrowed. They quickly ducked behind the canvas, but not before Rose saw Kalypso snort a laugh at the purple demon’s expense.
“Okay, and he’s terrifying,” Laz muttered.
“You realize everyone can see your legs,” Davarox’s voice said from behind them. “And Laz’s horns are sticking up over the canvas.”
“Shit,” Laz muttered, standing tall again as he turned. He reached out for one of the glasses Davarox was carrying.
“Other one,” Dav said, passing off the wine before handing the first to Rose. “This one is yours. I tweaked the recipe with less sugar so Aofe could have some without affecting her medications.”
She gave him a warm smile, hand curling around the stem, but Dav held on, using that grip to pull her closer as he leaned down. “And demons have excellent hearing. Don’t think I didn’t overhear you talking work with Kizros and Brioni. I’ll have to punish you for that.”
Rosalind felt her cheeks burn, anything but embarrassment coursing through her. She’d thought she’d gotten away with it. “Making a schedule for regular sunshine for the humans is not a crime.”
Lazerath threw an arm over her shoulder, pulling her in close. “We all know just the mention of a schedule gets Dav hard.”
“Someone’s in a good mood today,” Dav grumbled, though he was obviously fighting a smile. He was doing that a lot, lately. In the bakery, around customers, but especially when Rose and Laz were looking, as if to show them he really was accepting the love he deserved.
“Of course I am,” Lazerath said, wrapping his other arm around Davarox and spinning the three of them in a circle. “Look at this!”
“It is nice to be at a function I didn’t have to organize,” Rose muttered. “Though I guess you catering wasn’t exactly a break when everyone is fighting to hire Lovable Loaf.”
“Oh, and securing funding, selling the greenhouse, and revamping the entire art district isn’t doing anything important.” Laz pinched her shoulder. “We don’t have to do anything else today, though, which means we get you all to ourselves. And just look at this.”
“Emphasizing that word doesn’t clarify anything,” Dav said under his breath.
“The humans, you ass.” Judging by the yelp, Lazerath pinched his shoulder too, just much harder.
“The humans and their demon soulbonded, together in a greenhouse, celebrating… I don’t know, art expressionism?
Pretty colors? But that’s not the point.
Can’t you just feel the joy in here talking to everyone? Even Severath was in a good mood.”
Laz’s twin had been much more talkative when they’d officially met, which wasn’t saying much since the last time Rose had seen him, he’d had no idea who she was and was busy berating a triumvirate for accusing Ember of Elliran’s disappearance.
Luckily, it was the combination of Rosalind’s evidence against Tarzul and Brioni’s and Ragnar’s terrifying ordeal that had resulted in her being found.
Plus some complicated magic that Kat had explained to Rosalind, which made everything make sense.
Not to Rose, of course, because her knowledge of magic was limited to the basics, like Laz creating fire at his fingertips or the runes on her cuff.
As soon as celestial events and star alignments and theoretical physics were mentioned, she lost interest.
She was smart, but more… technical smart.
“Speaking of good moods,” Rosalind said, wrapping her arm around Laz’s waist as she sipped her drink. “You saved one of those trays of bronzeberry scones for Mozke, right?”
Davarox leaned forward, brow pinched. “Do they think we don’t feed you, baby?”
“I think they’re trying to out-chef you,” Lazerath muttered. “You should have seen how jealous they got when I brought Rose those spicy dumpling leftovers for lunch. The moan she let out? I almost came in my pants.”
Rosalind ducked out from under his arm, shuffling backward. “I cannot be held responsible for that. One, you’re always hard around me.”
“That is true,” Dav teased, pressing a sloppy kiss to the red demon’s cheek.
“And two,” she said, holding up a second finger. “I’m very food motivated.”
“You know what else motivates you?” Laz asked.
Rose frowned. “What?” she asked at the same time Davarox’s eyes widened in panic and he blurted, “No, don’t ask!”
With a wide grin, Laz said proudly, “Our massive—”
Thank you so much for reading.