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“I would never make you. In time, you’ll agree,” he said, stepping away from the desk and coming to stand in front of me so quickly, I practically missed the movement. I looked at him in horror as he twisted the black ring in his finger, almost like Mama playing with her necklace.

“There’s another part of this that you are clearly not ready for yet,” he added, lifting a hand to cup my cheek as his other hand moved to my waist, “but I promise I will tell you when you are.”

I wanted to flinch back from him, to pull myself away, but my traitorous body leaned into his warmth as he dropped his forehead to mine.

“Elara,” he added in a reverent whisper. “Don’t you know by now that there was a reason I found you that day in the Bloodwood?” He lifted his head, looking at me with those too bright demon eyes that made me feel hot and cold at the same time.

“And what was that?” I whispered, heart racing at his touch, while my brain berated me for so easily melting into him. “You said you were hunting.”

“I thought that was obvious, Red,” he said, brushing my cheek with his thumb. He devoured me with his eyes, possessively almost, and anger and frustration and confusion coalesced into a writhing creature inside me. The bright and shadowy magic perked up with interest as he smirked. “I was hunting for you.”

Epilogue

Carnon

Gods above, this woman was going to be the death of me. She looked so innocent and fragile to an unsuspecting bystander, but she was a firecracker. She stormed around my office when I refused to let her leave, shouting obscenities and looking so effortlessly adorable it was difficult not to laugh at her tirade.

Not that she was wrong about anything. I felt guilty about the lies, and I knew I should have told her at least some of my truths sooner. But for once in my gods-damned life, I hadn’t been the Demon King or the sword of justice or the protector of my people. I hadn’t been loved or feared or envied. With her, I had just been Carnon, and I had wanted that for one more fucking night.

It was stupid, not telling her. I know that now. I’d had this grand vision in my mind of how I would tell her about being the Demon King, about the betrothal, about all of it. It had involved far more moonlight and romance and far less throwing of my valuables around my office. I sighed, watching as a pen bounced off a marble bust of the first Demon King, leaving it stained with black ink.

Artemis gave me a tug in sympathy down our bond, as if reminding me that I should have listened to her and Akela. They were right, as usual, my bonded protectors. They had known who she was from the beginning.

I had been so surprised by their insistence that they had found her, after searching for years, that I hadn’t even really had time to think all the lies through. And then she was with me, her head on my shoulder as she slept, her hand in mine as we traversed the wood, the scent of her everywhere. And when she confessed her lie to me, I should have told her then as well. But I was so shocked at what it would mean for us, so panicked for my people and angry at the Goddess for that twist of fate, that I let the lie linger.

And when I was inside her, thrusting into her and feeling like I was finally home, I should have told her then. I knew I was falling in love with her from the first moment our lips touched. Hell, I knew the moment the rusalka dragged her into that river. I should have told her everything before I took her to bed and crossed that line with her. But I was selfish. I wanted to be Carnon, just Carnon, for a little longer.

Herne was right. There would be a storm coming from the Daemon Lords when they found out who she was, both to the witches and to me. My blood ran cold at the idea of those bastards or her grandmother using her to control me, as I knew they all would when they learned the truth. Despite the fact that I would die to keep her safe, there was no way I could protect her from all of that. Arming her with the truth and her strange demon magic was the best thing I could do. I didn’t really give a fuck about where the magic came from, as long as she used it to defend herself.

So from now on, there would be only truth between us. And when she was ready and had found a way to forgive me, when I had earned her trust and her love, I would tell her the last part. Tell her everything. Once we had figured out how to master her unusual magic, how to navigate the politics, how to deal with her grandmother, and how to save her mother, then it could be just us again.

I had to believe, watching her freckled face grow red with anger as I refused to react to her destruction, her copper hair flying about her face like a whirlwind, that she would come around. That she would realize there was no going back for either of us. That she would come to love me as fiercely as I already loved her.

Gods, she was so beautiful and strong and full of the fire I craved. And she was mine. I had been looking for her for too long to let her go now, and I needed her. I wanted her. Even if I had to grovel for the next century, I would win her back and earn her love.

And she didn’t really have much of a choice. She had already promised to be mine. Always.