Page 26 of Demon's Bane

“For what part, in particular?”

“Take your pick,” I say. “Skulking around your shop all day, accosting your friend when she arrived, pestering you about your wards and security.”

Acting like an idiotic, bond-struck ass who’s afraid to tell you the truth.

I don’t say that last one out loud, but when I glance back up at Joan there’s something softer in her expression, something hesitant and uncertain.

“I’ll take ‘all the above,’” she says finally.

“A fair choice.”

With a long sigh, Joan takes a couple of steps around the island and sits next to me. Leaning on her elbows, she glances over at me with a small, tired, unlikely smile tugging at her lips.

“Apology accepted.” With one hand, she tugs at her half-undone braid until the long, wavy, midnight black strands spring free. She combs her fingers through them absently as she thinks for a moment. “And yeah, my friends are witches. Butmost of them are like me and still marginally involved with the coven, or like Seren, and separated from it completely.”

“And they’ve made their way here, to Beech Bay, like you?”

“Yeah. Or, well, close enough. Most of them live nearby and like to come here sometimes. Somewhere that’s got magick and other witches, but isn’t the coven hall, you know?”

I nod. “A coven away from the coven, I believe Seren called it.”

“A coven away from the coven,” she murmurs. “Not that we’ve got any rules or formality around being here, but it’s nice. To hold on to a little of that. I feel… protective of them. Of all of this.”

“As you should be.”

Her eyes linger on me for a moment before she turns her gaze back to her folded hands and lets out a long breath through her nose.

A million thoughts behind her tired eyes. Emotions and worries I can only guess at.

Someday, I might know every inch of her face. With a single look, I’ll know when she’s frustrated or sad or stewing over something. I’ll know every facet of my mate and exactly how to support each one.

But tonight I don’t.

Tonight all we have is a mess to unravel and my own uncertainty standing between us.

So, in exchange for the peace offering of honesty she’s just given me, I hold out one of my own.

“Do you know why it’s so important to me to learn the truth of what’s happening with these thefts?”

Joan’s gaze cuts to me. “For your realm. To, I don’t know, get justice and all of that.”

“It’s more than that.” I mirror her posture, resting my glamoured elbows and forearms on the counter and hunching over them.

This truth, too, is something I have not yet been forthcoming about, not even to the High Priestess. As far as she knows, I’m only here as a representative from the demon realm handling a conflict with her coven, not the personal stake I have in it.

But for my mate? To nourish this little kernel of trust glowing between us?

For Joan, I will be honest.

“It’s my village these crystals are being stolen from, my kith and kin who are suffering because of it.”

“Rhett,” Joan breathes, “I didn’t—”

“It’s alright,” I assure her. “There’s no way you could have.”

She nods and falls silent as she waits for me to continue.

“My family has worked these mines for generations, and our ancestral home sits on the mountainside where they are located. My father gave most of his life to working in that mountain, and he was a great leader in our community.”