Chapter Nineteen
Zaldi
I looked from one woman to the other slowly, carefully, waiting to make sure that having both of them in the same room didn’t break this hallucination that I was currently living in.
“And you just ran into each other,” I said quietly, “in the field?” I directed the look at my mate as I waited to see what the Devil-damned Princess of Hell said back.
Lulu shrugged. “Yeah, I guess you could say that we’re pretty close already, considering that she has seen more parts of me than anybody else ever should. Except for you, maybe,” she said after a second.
I did not have the mental energy to unpack that, but my brain stuttered for a moment all the same. When I could speak again, I got out a simple, “And, you know who she is?” I repeated under my breath.
“Lucia,” Lulu said casually.
“Lucia,”—who could strip me from my bones if she tried hard enough—grinned broadly at me. “It’s good to see you again, Zaldi.”
“And you, as well,” I said, biting down on my tongue, refraining from calling her Lady Lucia, as I had once before, long before I knew that she hated the terminology and the extras that came with being Lord Arafel’s mate.
I opened my mouth, thinking about how I might start to explain this to Lulu before it went too much further, when the door opened, and in stepped the Prince of the Dream Realm, Arafel.
It didn’t surprise me that Lulu’s mouth actually dropped open.
Compared to my red skin and strong build, Arafel was still monstrous-looking—well over six and a half feet tall, with his huge black wings spread over his shoulders.
He looked like some kind of avenging angel from one of those TV shows everyone in Salus Glen was obsessed with.
But, as I knew him, he was a kind, good male.
He would hear us out. Or, at least, I hoped he would.
I now had to explain the years of dodging and ducking all of their questions and inquiries as to why I was so obsessed with staying in the living world.
I glanced at Lulu, noticing that she had shaken herself free of stupor and was now watching with wide eyes as Lucia walked up to Arafel with a smile on her pretty face.
In the next instant, Lulu’s eyes slid to mine, catching my gaze and giving me a hard what the fuck is happening look.
I straightened and stepped forward. “Lord Arafel, I’m so glad you could join us. My mate and I have a question for you. We promise not to take up too much of your time.”
“The human is yours,” the large demon prince asked, looking between me and Lulu and back again. “Interesting development,” he added calmly, turning toward Lucia. “I see that you’ve already met my mate?” His hand laid possessively at Lucia’s waist.
Lulu, who had remained mostly spellbound until now, suddenly shook herself.
“It’s very nice to meet you,” she said, first pulling her hands free, then offering a half-bow–a half-curtsy before glaring at me with what I could only interpret as barely restrained exasperation at my lack of help in the circumstance.
I swallowed before bowing quietly from the waist and straightening again. From the corner of my eye, I saw Lulu do the same, shuffling closer to me as the demon lord nodded towards us.
After a long moment, he spread his arms wide. “So,” he said, “what do you want to talk to me about?”
I could hear the humor in his voice, the barely restrained curiosity he was well known for. “I wish to remain in the living world with my mate for as long as we both can,” I said.
“Ah, in Salus Glen,” Arafel clarified, “You’ve been happy there?”
“Yes,” I answered quietly. “It is where her heart is. And I belong with her.”
“Interesting,” he said—not quietly. “And, your brother and his mate also remain there as well, correct?”
I nodded, unsure if this would be a pro or a con to my staying there. “Yes. That’s where he and his human mate reside. Under your recommendation, of course.”
“And, while you’ve been there,” he continued, “have you been contributing anything to my efforts to determine how many demon hybrids slipped into the living world during my family’s battle with our enemy?”
I shifted on my feet, knowing he would know if I lied. “No, I’m afraid I haven’t. But, once we are there, I know that I can devote more time to that effort for you, as well as continue to maintain the power levels here in the Underworld.”
“Hmm,” he said mildly, “you got a little distracted?”
“My lord, I—”
Lucia cut me off with a glare. “Don’t answer that, Zaldi. You don’t have to answer that,” she said sharply, then looked pointedly at her mate. “Will you stop harassing him? We both know you got nothing done during the weeks after I left for the living world.”
Dark gray splotches formed on Arafel’s cheeks before he brushed them away with a twitch of his wing.
“If you were to stay in the living world,” Arafel said, “you would be using power from the Underworld to remain there. Which means you will need to feed into it more than you ever have before. Our agreement was that you didn’t have to walk through dreams or fantasies or pull energy from any other living human while you remained there.
But that has changed now. Do you understand what I’m saying? ”
My blood heated, my body suddenly inundated with images of my mate—warm, open, welcoming me as we tumbled to the Underworld ground. I cleared my throat, “I understand.”
Lucia laughed, then covered her mouth to smother it.
“Okay, so you understand,” she said, glancing toward Lulu.
“Because I’m pretty sure you should tell her exactly what that means.
Just coming from an old married couple.” Her head fell to Arafel’s shoulder.
Or at least as high up as she could reach standing by his side.
Lulu’s eyes flicked between me and the towering Prince in the corner. “Zaldi, you know I love you. What does it mean?” she asked.
“It means,” I said carefully, “I know human men like to claim that sex is the only thing that keeps them alive. But in my case, the magic that will keep me in the living world will literally be fed by the energy between us as mates. Good energy. Bad energy. Sexual energy. All of it. Your power becomes my existence in that world. Otherwise, I’ll need to come home rather than use up the resources Traum is hunting in the living world.
” I paused. “Does that make more sense?”
Lulu’s eyes held mine.
“So basically,” she said slowly, “that means if we break up, you have to go back to the underworld. Right?”
Arafel and Lucia both snorted.
Arafel’s deep, rumbling voice answered a second later. “Demons don’t break up. Fated mates are more than a passing fancy here. What you’re about to go through—what you have been through —means that you’ll be bound together, forever. Where he goes, you go. Where you go, he goes.”
For a second, I almost panicked, watching as Lulu visibly digested the information. Then, her lips twitched, just slightly, before curving upward. All of my worry drained away at once.
I reached for her, threading my fingers through hers, feeling the soft skin I had become so completely infatuated with all those years ago.
“Do you understand?” I asked quietly.
Her trembling lip turned into a full smile, a single tear slipping down her cheek. “I decided that a long time ago,” she said softly. “Whatever it takes to keep you in the underworld or the living world—whatever it takes to keep you safe.” She brushed the tear away. “That’s what I want.”
Lucia clapped her hands together. “Sounds like it’s settled then. You two are going to work with Bailey and Traum to figure out how we can best manage the power in the hybrids in the living world. When we need you, we’ll call.” She grinned broadly. “Better, mate?”
Slowly, Arafel nodded in agreement.
The tension rushed out of me in one massive breath, and then, I was tackled to the ground as Lulu climbed over me, wrapping her arms and legs around me. We laughed together, breathless and tangled.
There were no more obstacles. What was between us now was forever.
I buried my nose in my mate’s hair and laughed.