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I can’t help but giggle. “I’ll be fine. Let me work my magic.”

Gideon’s hand grabs my arm as I attempt to make my way toward her. “I’m coming with you.”

Glaring at the offending hand, I peel him off finger by finger. “No. You’re not. Now don’t make me reconsider my answer to your earlier proposal.”

Gideon’s scowl is enough to wilt flowers, but I’m already turning away.

The shadow of fear in Seraphine’s eyes gives me an undeniable tickle of delight.

When I’m standing in front of her, the cognitive dissonance she’s experiencing seems to have rendered her silent. “You broke your promise to me.”

Her eyes widen and for a second I worry that she’s going to scream.

“Come on, let’s go for a walk.”

When she hesitates to follow me, I turn back toward her. “Unless you prefer I fulfill my end of our bargain? The one where I bring this reincarnation of yours to an abrupt end?”

Seraphine blanches but manages to move forward and join me as I begin to walk toward one of Gideon’s pastures. Daring a glance back at Gideon, I find him glowering and tailing us at a distance. I am both annoyed and warmed by the action.Ferion.

Seraphine isthe first to speak, her voice almost a whisper. “So, it was really you? The other night?”

My eyes reluctantly shift to meet hers. “Indeed.”

Seraphine’s mouth gapes like a fish as though unable to articulate what she really means to ask, so I do it for her. “Yes, I’m a daemon. Well, half.”

Seraphine pinches the skin of her arm, but is otherwise in shocked silence for several moments as we continue to walk, so I give her the time to process it.

“What’s the other half?”

I tilt my face toward hers, smiling and revealing my fangs.

“I’m a goddess.”

I am met with more stunned silence, her bronze skin fading to a shade of ash.

“You’ve been through a lot, I gather?”

Seraphine eventually nods. Tears are already gathering in her eyes.

“So when I pray, is it you that hears me?”

Surprised laughter bursts from me and I have to clap a hand over my mouth to stop it.

Seraphine’s brows are pinched and I see something like an ember of hope flickering in her eyes.

“Not quite…”

When I see that little ember dim within her, a wave of realization hits me and I cannot believe I hadn’t consciously known it sooner.

She wants to be saved.

It’s why she won’t let go of Gideon and it’s why, now, she’s looking at me like I’m Akash herself, her savior.

It’s a relatable desire.

How many times have I wished I could have been saved?

More times than I can count.