Chapter Forty-Nine
CHAPTER
FORTY-NINE
Cold air lashed at Aurelie’s cheeks as she and Severin walked, her breath fogging the night.
She hardly noticed the temperature, though her fingertips were numb where they curled around Severin’s arm.
According to him, her body was still too hot for her to be left alone, and her anger certainly wasn’t helping.
It was too easy to feel anger now. Was this how Severin always felt? She didn’t understand his easygoing attitude, or the mischievous smile he always wore. This wrath was hot enough to burn her alive.
The village was quiet as they moved farther from the tavern. Only the occasional voice drifted through town, many of the demons already fast asleep after another long day of preparing the vineyards for winter. The first snow would be here soon, and for once, Aurelie was looking forward to it.
As the world slumbered, her father would be healed and Azriel returned to his normal self. The demons would have their cure, and by the waking of spring, the world would be entirely new.
That was the hope she clung to, forcing away Yuri’s doubt and cruelty. If she disgusted him so much, he could leave once the cure made its way across the land. Rhovar wouldn’t need him anymore, and he could return to Sanctuary and wait out their bond until her life was complete. Then he’d be free.
Fury burned hot within her, though there was something else, too.
Frustration not just at him, but at herself for failing at a bond she’d worked her entire life to secure.
Her body was a mess of emotion, her mind unspooling in too many directions.
She hadn’t even noticed how long they’d been walking in silence until Severin finally spoke.
“If you allow yourself to stay angry, your wrath could take hold,” he warned gently. “Just because you’re bonded doesn’t mean you’re immune to becoming a demon.”
“How do you know I’d be wrathborn?” she asked, and Light, even that question sounded angry. “If the story you told us was true, wouldn’t whatever demon I turn into be predetermined?”
“Not when you’re bonded. My influence on you supersedes all else. But try not to worry about that.” They were far from the village now, surrounded by nothing more than trees and low-hanging stars. “We’ve had a great day, and no matter what happens from here, your father will be safe.”
“How can you be so certain?” She exhaled a slow breath, careful not to let it shake as she lifted her gaze to his. Yuri’s warnings still rang within her, and though she didn’t want to believe them, they gnawed at her all the same. “You don’t know what’s going to happen once we get to Rhovar.”
“You’re right,” he agreed, unflinching as he held her stare. “But I’m going to do everything in my power to protect your father. He’ll be human again, Aurelie. I swear it.”
There was no jesting in his voice. No pretense or coyness. She didn’t want to believe him so easily, but somehow, she trusted this demon.
“You’ll be with him tomorrow,” he said, squeezing her hand. “For now, don’t let that damned bird spoil our joy. Especially not after the performance you just gave.”
Her cheeks flushed, heat flaring low in her belly. “I’ve never played like that before.”
“It was incredible.” Severin’s words were the gentlest rainfall, soft as they glided across her skin. “You were made for my magic.”
Her throat was suddenly thick. If Severin was trying to cool her down, this wasn’t helping.
She’d sworn she would never let herself become entangled with someone.
Entanglements led to love, which led to distraction and loss.
Heartbreak. She had never wanted to let anyone into her life in any serious capacity.
But tonight, with the cold pressing in and the promise of all that was to come, those old defenses felt harder to hold.
She’d miss the magic when he took the cure and severed their bond. But more than that, she’d miss the steady heat of his soul. The way his confidence rubbed off on her, making her feel bolder. Braver.
Yuri was a perfect angel, bound to law and order. Aurelie would never be able to measure up to that kind of perfection.
But Severin was messy. He was flawed, and somehow those flaws made it easier to breathe around him.
When they’d kissed, it’d been because the Nyxaris had plagued them with their whispers, stirring emotion where there should have been caution.
Yet while she’d been thinking about that kiss for days, it was possible it had meant nothing to this demon.
That he’d disappear from her life entirely after tomorrow—a shadow from a brief, wild chapter of her life.
She could always keep guessing how Severin felt. She could bait him and try to decipher his mess of emotions through their bond. But Aurelie was too tired for such games.
“The other night,” she began, only for her heartbeat to spike when his expression tightened.
“That night was a mistake.” He let go of her hand. “I apologize, I never should have spoken to you the way I did.”
It was a surprise just how much those words cleaved into her chest and hollowed her out. Her hands drifted to her stomach, fingers curling against the ache she could barely contain.
Of course he would regret everything. She should have regretted it, too.
“It’s fine.” Her words landed too fast, too sharp. “You were in quite the state. I should have left you alone.”
“No, you shouldn’t have.” His reply was quiet, certain. “Our lives and emotions are tied. If you have questions, you should be able to ask them.”
She had many questions, but one burned hotter than the rest. “You’ve lost someone, haven’t you? Someone important.”
“I have. The angels took them from me.”
Wrath burned through the bond, and she let herself sit in the anger, wanting desperately to understand what it was that he felt. To her surprise, there was an eerie familiarity to it that coiled tight within her.
“I know what that pain is like.” She pressed a hand to where it simmered in her chest. “The demons took my family. They’ve taken my freedom. I used to believe that every last one of your kind deserved to die for it. That you were all the same.”
“And do you still feel that way?”
Her throat was dry from an answer she didn’t know how to admit out loud. If she admitted it, then what did that mean for her mother? For Orion? What did it mean for the two decades of her life that she’d dedicated to this and would never get back?
“You owe the angels nothing.” The wind nearly stole the demon’s quiet words. “They have spent their entire existence manipulating you. Lying to you, while pretending it’s protection. They claim their duty is to you mortals, but if that were true, then tell me why I’ve seen them kill your kind.”
The weight of those words dragged through her like a stone sinking in water, dread slowly unspooling. “What do you mean you’ve seen them?”
“With my own eyes. The Divine have no discretion or kindness. They’ll eliminate anything and anyone if they believe it’ll serve them.”
“But Yuri’s not like that.”
“Are you certain?” Moonlight caught in Severin’s crimson eyes. “Because I believe he’s every bit as bad as the rest of them.”
That couldn’t be true. Yuri had a soul kind enough to be upset that Severin had turned a demon to ash. As angry as she wanted to be, some part of her still bristled at the accusation, protective over her bonded.
She thought of the Glory that had poured through her and wrapped her in a warmth more beautiful than anything she’d ever felt. She thought of the gentleness in his voice, and how utterly taken she’d been the first time she saw him.
Yuri was good. If there was one truth she knew, it was that.
Across from her, Severin’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t tell me you care for that angel?”
Her cheeks flushed, and she felt a sudden urge to argue with him, because surely that couldn’t be true. But then she remembered how Yuri’s gaze had locked onto hers in the hot spring. How he’d held her stare as he’d stripped that night in the inn, demanding to be seen.
She tried to feel for him now, but everything was dulled by whatever was making this bond between them so inaccessible.
Even this bond didn’t believe she was good enough for Yuri. Still, that didn’t mean she felt nothing for him.
“He’s an angel,” she said. “It’s complicated.”
Severin made an agitated scoff, and suddenly he was stepping closer, gaze trailing the line of her mouth. “And what about me?” His hand brushed her waist, testing her reaction. “Am I complicated?”
Aurelie didn’t pull away, her heart racing. “Incredibly.”
“Good. Then allow me to simplify it for you.” His other hand rose to cup her cheek, calloused thumb brushing lightly beneath her eye. Then, as her breath faltered, he eased her against the bark of a tree and kissed her.
His touch was light at first, giving her the opportunity to deny him. When she didn’t, his lips claimed hers like a man starved. One hand cradled her jaw, the other sliding to her waist and anchoring her against the tree as if she might vanish.
Aurelie was breathless as her fingers curled into his tunic, pulling him closer until there was no space left between them. When he deepened the kiss, she met him without hesitation. Every brush of his tongue sent heat racing beneath her skin until she was trembling.
This time, there were no vespers urging them on. No magical drinks to excuse her behavior.
Aurelie had nothing she could blame her desire on, and still she held Severin tighter.
His lips found the corner of her mouth, then her jaw, then lower still, following the slope of her neck with gentle bites that made her knees weak. She let her head tip to the stars, breath catching as his mouth grazed the hollow of her throat.
“The angel could never touch you in all the ways you crave.” There was a husk to his voice that made her knees fall weak. She shivered as the heat of his skin bled into her own.
“He cannot worship your body,” he murmured against her skin. “But I can.”