Page 18 of How Not to Charm Your Human Colleague (Falling for Demons #2)

A WHAT?

Aofe

T he potion bottle slipped through Aofe’s fingers, clipping the edge of the table and beyond her fumbling grip before shattering on the ground.

“Suffering sugar,” she groaned. She gripped a crutch, using it to lower herself to her knees to clean up the glass.

Again.

It was the second one today, so the dustpan was already at her feet. The sunshine mocked her back as she brushed the shards into the trash before collapsing to sit on the ground.

Hours in here, and she’d only managed to disturb the serenity of the place and cost Kizros two expensive vials.

Aofe turned her palm up, fingers trembling as the warmth of the greenhouse light sank into her skin. Sunlight wouldn’t fix her, but the heat was nice at least, staving off the worst of the pain.

It had relieved her to know Kizros was spending the morning running errands, so she could be as slow as she needed. He’d let her sleep in, left a tray of sweets on the counter, then instructed her to take the day off with a kiss to her forehead.

The only thing worse than leaving her alone with her thoughts was not allowing her to do any work.

So she’d pushed herself further than was wise, sketched a few plants in the compendium she was helping to make for the other humans, and then decided she’d stubbornly figure out those runes until her fingers bled.

Which had happened a dozen attempts ago, when she’d broken the first vial and sliced the tip of her thumb by accident. But she’d felt hopeful that today would be the day. It had to be. Something had to go right.

Aofe sighed and let her arm go limp in her lap, closing her eyes.

Maybe she should have just stayed in bed, read a book, or finally skimmed through those papers she’d still not read about the whole work program she was part of.

It was probably important stuff to read, but that would bring up memories she would rather not deal with today. Possibly ever.

Something tickled the back of her hand, and despite the initial surprise, she had no energy to swat it away .

Kiz had warned her about the plants that were poisonous, but she’d not considered there might be some demon-realm bugs or?—

Snakes.

The thing slithered over her wrist, smooth and cool to the touch, and Aofe’s eyes flew open. Immediately, the movement stopped, as if caught in the act, but…

It wasn’t a snake.

Heartbeat still burning in her throat, she blinked down at the vine that had twisted down its bed and across the stone to her. It had to have been crawling her way since she’d knelt because it was thick enough she would have seen it earlier.

“Hello,” Aofe whispered, afraid she might spook it further beyond just her observing it.

Kizros had talked about psychic plants before—the whole reason Tim seemed to have a personality, or, a mirror to Kizros’s demeanor.

She hadn’t been introduced to all of them, but she imagined this one must have some of Kizros’s gentle, reassuring traits.

The vine relaxed, and while it didn’t continue moving across her hand, it did seem to… could plants nuzzle ?

“You’re very beautiful.” Aofe brushed a finger over the deep green leaves, flat and waxy against her skin. A blue flower had bloomed not far from her fingers, its petals thin and long, oddly like a fern, but in a tight spiral.

“I think I miss green plants the most. No offense,” she added to the dozens of other colors visible just from her seat. “I know you need sunlight the most, though. Kind of like me, so it’s a good thing we have this place, right?”

The necklace at her chest warmed, and Aofe reached up to hold it with her free hand.

Kizros’s magic, always with her. He’d assured her it would serve the same purpose as the ball of light floating within the greenhouse, if for some reason she was away.

Which he’d then frantically added that he wasn’t sending her away, but the charm’s magic could be for longer visits to other parts of Heck, a couple days with the other humans, or anything else that required getting out of the shop.

Well, Aofe didn’t exactly want to leave, not if she didn’t absolutely need to, but then the seed of worry had already planted itself in her belly. Did he want her gone? Was she hovering too much? Had she encroached on too much of his space and he needed a break from her?

There was a squeeze at her palm, and Aofe gave the vine a resigned look. “I know I’m spiraling, but this is what happens. I don’t like… being alone.”

Then again, she was in a greenhouse full of plants that had some psychic connection to Kizros, so was she really alone? Or worse, could they actually communicate back with him?

She’d spent every night in his room, addicted to his warmth and sleepy morning kisses.

Then the sleepy morning sex and sleepy morning cuddles.

She was starting to wonder if there was a part of him or their time together she wasn’t addicted to, which felt…

dangerous. Not because he was a demon, but because?—

“Aofe? ”

Well, she’d worry about that later.

The vine retreated immediately, wiggling back into its bed and upsetting a few clumps of soil as it readjusted to its confines again. Aofe scrambled for her crutch as Kizros’s voice got closer, pushing to stand with only a few groans.

“In here,” she called, plopping back on her seat just in time for Kizros’s head to poke through the doorway.

“Good, found you,” he said with a wide grin, cheeks flushed. But he didn’t completely enter, just lingered awkwardly with half his body hidden by the blackout glass.

“Kiz?”

“Oh, right. I, uh… have a surprise for you. You might want to sit.”

Aofe blinked, glanced at the chair, then back at him. “Okay, I’m sitting.”

His mouth parted, then he hastily shoved his glasses back up his nose. “You were… already sitting. Right, yeah, I knew that.”

Any nerves Aofe might have had before about Kizros fluttered away. She chuckled, shaking her head. “Please don’t make me wait, Kiz. I told you I didn’t like surprises.”

“But this one’s a good surprise, promise.” Kizros pulled the door open further, revealing the rest of him and nothing else. Just a tall green demon grinning like he’d hung the sun.

“Kiz, if you’re the surprise?—”

Aofe immediately cut herself off with a squeak as a giant silver thing bounded into the greenhouse.

“Oh. My. Gingersnaps!” she squealed, suddenly unsure what to do with her hands. Grab for her crutches? Greet this creature? Bury herself into its fur and never leave?

The beast answered for her, trotting right up to her seat and sniffing with interest. It probably should have made her nervous that this massive fox with massive ears and a massive number of eyes was licking her palm, but it was too precious to have her worry for her life.

And when the animal chirruped and set its head directly on her lap, she almost cried.

Her arms wrapped around its neck as she buried her face into its enormous ears that were so dang soft .

Her head jerked up, finding Kizros with an oddly confused but happily surprised look on his face. “Where did you get a giant fox?”

And that look was immediately gone. “A what?”

“A fox. But it has six eyes. And it’s giant .”

“What’s a fox? That’s an atteapir.”

“A what?”

“An atteapir,” he said, then shook his head and laughed. “She’s a runt, and I wanted you to have something to… okay, now I’m realizing this might have been incredibly offensive.”

Aofe frowned. “What?”

“I, uh…” Kizros rubbed at the back of his head, coming to join her at her worktable.

“She was trained by my friend, Ragnar—I told you about him—and she was really good at comforting the other beasts, sometimes helping them recover from injuries, and I thought maybe she could be… well, maybe she could be here when you’re having bad days.

But good days, too! You told me about that stray cat you woul d feed, and how much joy it brought you when it came to visit you when you were hurting—I’m getting off track.

” He blew out a breath, then gave a resolute nod.

“I thought maybe the atteapir could be that for you all the time. She’s yours, Aofe. ”

“She’s—” Aofe looked down at the fox, all six eyes closed and ears reclined against her head.

Hers.

It didn’t feel real. Nothing felt real, and yet suddenly it was crashing down on her.

Something that was hers . Something permanent.

Her throat began to burn, eyes following.

“I should have asked you first,” Kizros was muttering to himself.

“This was rude of me, right? Making an assumption. Because now I realize you might think that I think you aren’t capable, or that I’m not trusting you to stop when you need to take a break.

Honestly, I was just wanting to do something nice, and?—”

Aofe was already standing, the atteapir lingering but not getting in her way as she pushed up with her crutches and somewhat fell into Kizros.

“O-oh,” he stammered, tail holding him steady as he caught her. But then she was able to ditch the crutches, wrapping her arms around him in the tightest hug she could manage.

Kizros only hesitated a moment, and then his arms wove into better positions to hold her. “Okay. You’ re not mad then?”

“No,” Aofe laughed into his chest, tears slipping from her eyes. “I mean, yes, you should have asked. If we were still in the human world, just giving someone a service animal would be… it’s complicated.”

“But we aren’t in the human world.”

“No, we aren’t,” she agreed, leaning against his warm chest as that heavy feeling returned to her limbs.

“Do you… miss it?”

Aofe could hear how carefully he’d picked those words before speaking. “Not particularly.”

“It was your home. It’s okay to miss it.”

“I lived there,” she said quietly. “I don’t think I’d call it home, though.”

Kizros was silent as the atteapir brushed against their legs and sat closer than was probably necessary when the demon was still holding her up.

“She’s adorable, Kiz,” Aofe reassured him. “And, I’m not mad. I’m grateful for her company and assistance, because those stairs are really starting to mock me.”

He stiffened in her hold. “Aofe, if?—”

“I’m kidding, Kizros,” she teased, though not entirely, leaning her head back to see his cheeks darken under a furrowed brow. Her typical dark humor wasn’t going to work on either of them today, so she changed the topic. “Does the atteapir have a name?”

“Not yet. Her name is up to you.”

Aofe hummed, glancing down at the beast. It looked right back, each of its eyes blinking one after the other. “How about Attie?”

The six-eyed giant fox chirruped, then butted its forehead into her hip. Aofe beamed, then turned her smile up to Kizros. “I think she likes it.”

He chuckled, holding Aofe a little closer. “I think so, too. Hopefully she knows she can call this place home.”