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“Howsweet,” he taunted.
“Shut up. I’m trying to benice.”
“If I wantednice,I would have taken the first doe-eyed, weak-willed human off the street. No, I knew what I was getting when I chose you,” Ambrosius hummed against the crown of her head.
“Why did you choose me?” Gwen asked, fingers playing with the lapel of his vest.
For a moment, she could only hear her own heart in her ears. Gwen tried to taper it, but with every breath, it felt more and more uncontrollable. When his hand tangled in her hair, pulling gently to tilt her face up to look at him, Gwen was certain her heart had stopped beating.
“Because I saw this in you. I saw a soul with the potential to become every wicked little thing I could imagine. Someone who could channel my will in my absence. You wereachingto be freed of your mortal coil. The moment you stepped toward my door, I knew what you were.Mybittersweet.”
It was a strange sort of praise that made Gwen grow warm. While she still didn’t exactly understand how he could have seen that in her, Gwen found that it didn’tmatter. How his power worked, how it worked through her—did it really matter? Gwen liked it—she likedhimand how he felt against her. Maybe they didn’t need a name just yet, maybe whatever this was couldn’t be defined?
Then why is a part of you so desperate to call him ‘boyfriend’? Why do you want him to be yours?
“That’s a lot riding on one soul, Ambrosius. Especially someone like me. I’m sure I’ve failed to meet your expectations,” she said.
Gwen knew what she was doing even before the words left her mouth. The fear of getting hurt again had risen above all other emotions, and now a part of her was desperately trying to create distance between them. If she kept him at arm’s length, then it wouldn’t hurt when he inevitably didn’t want her anymore. The same way all the people in her life had decided she wasn’t worth being around anymore.
Because Gwen was too …Gwen.
“Maybe… but there’s a beauty in failure, and you’ve been entertaining, if anything else.”
“I’mamusing?”
“Yes,” he grinned.
Gwen moved her hands to push off the bed, but Ambrosius’ grip was firm. She scowled at him, to which that terrible grin only grew feral. He was frustratinglyhotfor a fucked-up demon.
“But you’re also interesting, undeniably unique, and worth knowing.”
Praise—the kind that Gwen had unknowingly been desperate to hear for so long. It hit her so hard that she was completely unprepared for the impact. The emotion was too much, so Gwen kissed him.
Nonsensical. The way he made her feel was completelynonsensical.One moment she was trying to keep him away,and now she wanted nothing more than to crawl into his mouth. To be cradled within a jaw of razor-sharp teeth and a powerful tongue. Gwen felt completely out of control, and needy as she pushed her own tongue behind rapidly sharpening teeth and—
Ambrosius jerked back.
A moment of panic swept through Gwen. Had she misread something? Had she been too much just now?
“Fuck,” he said, eyeing something behind her. “Fuck!”
“What—”
Gwen let out a yelp as Ambrosius suddenly rolled them. By the time her back hit the mattress, Ambrosius was already standing. Gone were the horns, gore, and disheveled hair. The demon looked no different than he had before their encounter, cane in hand. Gwen pushed herself up, skates now firmly on the floor. The stickiness of their encounter was now missing from her skin.
“I can give you ten minutes, but you won’t be able to stay for very long,” Ambrosius said. “The store can barely tolerate two souls. I doubt it can handle three.”
“What—”
“Read the scroll—and don’tsassme, Gwendolyn. You’ll find it’ll be much easier to read now. The doll, on the other hand, might be where your real trouble begins, hmm?”
“But—”
A rough kiss was pressed to her mouth, silencing her questions before Ambrosius was suddenly near a vacant wall. Gwen could have sworn that had been where she had entered. There should have been a door with a teal handle there. Where could it have gone?
“Remember to be good forDaddy, my bittersweet. I’m counting on you.”
Gwen cursed as Ambrosius suddenly melted into the wall. Why was he so damn evasive all the time? Frustrated, Gwen spotted her discarded backpack crumpled near the bed. She snatched the strap, lifting it onto the bed. If reading the scroll meant getting a fucking straight answer for once, Gwen begrudgingly would do it. Opening the backpack and reaching inside for the scroll, and promptly knocked her hand against something.