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My pulse quickens. We haven't done that since I gave birth. "Vael, I'm exhausted, and you're injured?—"
"Not for that." His mouth quirks slightly. "Just...come."
Something in his tone makes refusal impossible. I place a gentle kiss on each twin's forehead before taking his outstretched hand, allowing him to lead me from the nursery. His fingers entwine with mine, warm and secure.
Vael's bedroom is a place I've glimpsed but never entered—a private domain with massive windows facing the forest, dominated by an enormous bed draped in midnight-colored linens. Weapons mounted on the walls catch the lamplight, gleaming dangerously. It suits him, this room—dark, powerful, yet unexpectedly comfortable.
He guides me to sit on the edge of his bed, then paces before me, a caged predator wrestling with himself. The bandage around his ribs shows a faint pink stain, but he moves as if the wound is irrelevant.
"Trinity." My name sounds different when he says it, weighted with meaning I can't fully decipher. He stops pacing, turns to face me. "Today made something clear that I can no longer ignore."
I swallow, wincing at the pain in my throat. "What's that?"
"I can't let you go."
The words hang between us, vibrating with intensity. He drops to one knee before me, bringing our faces level, his hands resting on my thighs. Heat radiates through the thin fabric of my nightdress.
"I've been lying—to myself, to you." His eyes burn into mine, pupils narrowed to slits with emotion. "This was never just about an heir."
My breath catches. "What was it about, then?"
"You." He reaches up, gently tracing the bruises on my neck. "From the moment I saw you in that room on Galmoleth, something in me recognized something in you. Like recognizing a path I was always meant to walk."
I try to look away, but his hand cups my cheek, keeping my gaze locked with his.
"I told myself it was about continuing my line, about appeasing my mother, about having someone to inherit what I've built. But those were excuses." He leans closer, his breath warm against my lips. "The truth is simpler and far more terrifying: I wanted you. Just you."
My heart pounds so hard I'm certain he can hear it. "Vael?—"
"Let me finish." His thumb brushes my bottom lip. "When I saw him touching you today, when I heard our daughters crying... I've never known fear like that. Not in all my years hunting the most dangerous creatures across three worlds."
A tear slips down my cheek before I can stop it. His thumb catches it, gentle despite the strength I know those hands possess.
"It stopped being about an heir long ago, Trinity. Maybe it never was." His voice drops lower, rougher. "I've been afraid to admit how deeply I want you. Not just in my bed—though gods know I want that too—but in my life. By my side. I've always feltso drawn to you, and I would do anything for you. I know that. But the one thing I just can't do is let you go."
I stare at him, this demon whose cold exterior has cracked open to reveal something I never expected to find—vulnerability.
"I know our arrangement was temporary," he continues. "I know I promised you freedom after the birth. But I'm asking—begging, if I must—for you to stay."
His words wash over me like an impossible wave, leaving me trembling in their wake. This wasn't supposed to happen. Demons don't fall for humans. Bounty hunters don't beg. And I—I don't get chosen. Not when there's nothing left to give.
"You want me to stay?" My voice cracks, the bruises on my throat making each word painful. "As what? The mother of your children? Your personal bedwarmer?"
Vael's jaw tightens, those red-gold eyes flaring with frustration. "Asyou, Trinity. Just you. I have always been willing to take whatever you would give me as long as I could have you."
I stand abruptly, breaking away from his touch because it's too much—too gentle, too real. I pace to the window where Aerasak's crimson sky bleeds into the horizon. The strange metallic flora of his garden catches moonlight like scattered coins.
"I don't understand what that means," I whisper, pressing my palm against the cool glass. "Nobody just wantsme."
"I do." Two words, spoken with such conviction that I have to close my eyes against them.
"You don't even know me." I turn to face him, wrapping my arms around myself. "You know the woman who bartered her way through survival. The woman who traded her body for safety. The woman who agreed to bear your children for freedom."
He rises to his full height, towering and powerful, yet somehow vulnerable in this moment. "I know the woman whoprotected other girls in those dungeons. Who challenges me at every turn. Who looks at our daughters like they're miracles, despite never wanting children."
A laugh escapes me, bitter and defensive. "That's what I do, Vael. I adapt. I survive. I figure out what people want and become it."
"And what do I want?" He takes a step toward me, careful, as if approaching a wild animal. "Tell me what mask you've been wearing for me."