Page 24

The blue demon grinned widely and she gave her bow a spin around her finger like he’d shown her, more graceful than she’d ever done.

Severath pointed to Rasmos then, making the young demon stand taller.

“And you—you are already extremely strong, and you will only become stronger as you grow. Someday you’ll be able to volley many arrows in quick succession to protect your future squadron before your enemy can close the distance to attack.

And make no mistake—protecting others is how you should use that strength. Do you understand?”

Rasmos nodded, fist clenched around his bow, the aggression leached off his face and replaced with something much more stalwart.

Severath could feel other eyes on him then, and he used his good one to spy Ember sitting up against the house, watching with a smile he would call affectionate if he thought it at all possible .

“Come now, show me how your skills have softened in the time I’ve been away.”

Rasmos and Amrian had been practicing, though, and their grasp on magic had improved as well.

Amrian’s icicles remained frozen even after piercing the knots of the misty buckthorn, and Rasmos had increased the size of his flaming arrows.

Even Bazzie was making headway, using the slingshot the other two had fashioned for her to propel seeds from her pocket into the ground, sprouts popping up out of the holes.

Ember watched with great interest, and Severath found himself standing straighter and demonstrating slower.

He never loosed an arrow, though—he simply couldn’t miss in front of the children—but it was quite a bit more effort than he expected, holding his fire and the bowstring taut just to slowly return it to a relaxed position and swallowing up his own spells over and over.

By the time the moon was setting and he sent the three on their way, Severath’s entire body was sore.

Once inside, he sat at the dining table and stretched his neck only to feel a twinge in his shoulder too similar to the day he’d lost his eye and horn, but it was the way Ember was grinning at him that gave him true pause.

“They love you,” she said breathlessly, hands falling to the table opposite him as she leaned forward.

“They do?” He reached up to his own shoulder and squeezed.

“Of course! And it’s adorable.” She huffed a wistful sigh and then hurried into the kitchen. “Stay there,” she called back as she rustled around in the pantry.

Severath remained in place as he pinched at the tightness in his shoulder, glad to be out from under her gaze as he contemplated what she’d said and worse how she’d said it.

Who knew Ember could sigh and not sound completely exasperated?

And to speak of love ? Well, it was the love of children, which was fleeting and easy to earn.

What had he even done? Shown them how to properly string and draw a bow?

That did not earn one real love. If it did, he wouldn’t be so… well, so him .

A few moments later, Ember appeared again with a board covered in bits of cheese, bread, and a pile of berries. He’d left the knives in the kitchen instead of the rune-locked box by the door, but it seemed she didn’t pick them up unless he was using one as well.

“Were those your brother’s children?”

Severath snorted out a laugh as he picked up a hunk of cheese.

“Lazerath does not have children. Rasmos is a distant relation, and Amrian and Bazzie are his neighbors. They’re his closest friends as well, though he is hard-pressed to admit he chooses to play with them rather than is forced to by his mother. ”

Ember nibbled on a piece of bread, her dark eyes catching the crimson lanterns and shining as she listened.

She was waiting for more, so he went on, telling her about how his once-quiet lunches had been overtaken by mock training sessions.

In turn, she shared that she occasionally watched children as part of her duties and described the games they would come up with, hiding and seeking each other out in the garden or another that involved a blindfold and a chase.

He bit his tongue before he could blurt out that she could cover his one good eye anytime she liked if it meant he could attempt to find her with his other senses alone.

When the food was gone, Ember frowned at him. “You’re in pain,” she said. “More than usual.”

Severath had been absently rubbing his shoulder again but stopped.

“If you still have that tincture from Balran, maybe it’s time to use it. I’ll clean up. You go and take care of yourself.”

He sighed heavily as he stood, knowing she was right and finally telling her so before heading upstairs.

Alone in his private chamber, he stripped off his tunic and sat on the edge of his bed.

The vial Balran sent was filled with an oily liquid that smelled vaguely medicinal.

She said it would help with pain and swelling, but Severath had been doing fine on his own, and the random pangs were important reminders to be more vigilant, at least within the walls of his own home.

Still, this ache was deeper, and he would never sleep through it, so he uncorked the vial and dipped a finger in. He reached over his shoulder, grimacing as he stretched at the pain from the effort.

“Can I help you?” Ember stood just outside of his bedchamber.

Apparently, vigilant, he was not.

She pushed her dark hair behind one ear, and the dim light of the hall fell over the sharpness of her cheeks and her bottom lip, glistening where she’d just run her tongue over it.

Blazes, yes, please help me . He swallowed. “I couldn’t ask you to?—”

“You’re not,” she cut in, stepping over the threshold and holding out a hand. “I’m offering.”

He thrust the vial at her before he could come up with some ridiculous excuse.

It was selfish, perhaps, because it was what he wanted, but he was able to convince himself it was also a good test to be completely vulnerable in her presence—not that he really needed to conduct anymore tests.

Not after he’d allowed her to be in the presence of children .

She poured a small amount of the thick amber liquid into her palm and then placed the vial on his side table. Ember gave it a sniff and used a finger to swirl the tincture thoughtfully. It coated her hand, and then her dark eyes flicked back up to him. “Well?”

Severath snapped shut his mouth and followed her gesture to lay out on his stomach. He folded his hands under his head, turning away as she climbed up beside him.

Inhale slowly and fully , he repeated in his mind as if he were drawing a bow. And hold .

Severath’s heart fluttered as the mattress shifted and one of her knees tickled at his side.

Ah, fuck it. The mental bowstring snapped, and he exhaled with surrender .

Ember’s hand pressed to the achiest part of his shoulder like she had found it on instinct, and Severath bit a fang down on his lip to hold in any sound that might try to escape. But when her second hand joined the first, he was no longer so stalwart.

He groaned quietly into his forearm as she smoothed over his skin in the place he had been desperate to reach all day. She moved easily with the tincture now coating both hands, and the relief was immediate, tightness unraveling and even the pounding in his head began to melt away.

“What’s that on the wall?”

Severath peered upward slightly, but there was only one thing hanging there. “My favorite bow. Well, the pieces of it. I’m working on fixing it.”

“It can be fixed?” she asked warily as her hands continued to dance over his skin.

He closed his eye again already knowing how bad the yew wood looked. “With fire, perhaps. If not, I have others.”

She made a small, thoughtful sound. “Can I help?”

He thought first to laugh because Ember didn’t have magic, but the offer was too kind. “Maybe. But…”

“But what?”

“I’m not sure I’m worthy of that bow anymore,” he admitted miserably.

Her hands stopped, but only for a moment. “Don’t be ridiculous,” she said, and something in him shifted at the simplicity.

Of course, he was being ridiculous.

Severath took a full breath, relaxing fully, and then he groaned again involuntarily.

“You overdid it,” she said, her voice as tender as her touch. “But it was kind of you to spend so much time with them.”

“They will be the warriors one day,” he mumbled. “And I will be too old to draw or cast. It’s all really just self-preservation.”

Ember laughed quietly from above him, and he grinned into his arm. It wasn’t often he thought about that far future when he would be useless to his city, and never could he joke about such a thing, but somehow in Ember’s presence the future seemed less bleak.

“You’ll have more time to cook then,” she said as her fingers kneaded into him like he was dough. “Gods know you’ll need it if you ever intend to season things properly.”

“I’m sure you will have no qualms correcting me.”

Ember’s massage slowed, and that was the only way Severath realized what he’d suggested—that she would be there with him in that distant future.

He swallowed hard, heartbeat pounding in his ears, mouth shut tight.

He could have sputtered a correction and attempted a joke, but instead he stayed quiet, and then Ember’s hands were working at his muscles again.

“You have a nice kitchen,” she said after clearing her throat. “Big enough for two to cook in.” One of her hands found the back of his neck, and her thumb fit perfectly into a knot. “Your whole home, it seems, was built for more than one. Yet you’re here alone.”

Severath shifted slightly, but the truth came despite the desire to anxiously wiggle away. “I lived in the barracks for many years and saved all my coins until I could build this place for my mate and children.”

“Oh, Severath,” she said, and her hands stilled completely. “Did they…”

He blinked then twisted to peer up at her over his shoulder. The lanterns in his bedchamber glistened in the glassiness of her eyes, deep sadness looming there and threatening to spill over. “Oh, no! Nothing bad happened to them—they don’t exist. They never existed.”

Her mouth opened, brows dipping with confusion and then she clicked her tongue, giving his lifted shoulder a shove back into the softness of the bed. “Oh, hells, I thought you meant they died! You almost had me feeling sorry for you!”

He snorted into the linens as her hands wrought revenge on his shoulders, painful yet exquisite.

“Instead I find out you’re just pathetic! Building a house for some poor demon woman you assume will be so pleased to carry all your imaginary demon babies!”

Severath laughed harder. “No, Ember, I swear to Vitae it’s not like that .”

She grunted playfully, giving his back a light slap. “I bet you never even thought about if your pretend wife wants to have any demon babies. Especially if they come out with your pointy, twisted horns!”

“They wouldn’t,” he insisted, body bouncing against the bed as he laughed. “Newborn demons don’t even have much of a tail, let alone horns.”

“Well, I guess I believe you, otherwise none of you would have any siblings. Now, stay still,” she ordered, and then there was shifting as something smooth slid across his lower back and weight deposited itself right above his tail.

Severath tensed as soon as he realized that Ember had mounted him. The heat of her thighs squeezed his waist as her fingers continued to rub along his neck and back.

That tenseness, of course, only made her hands work harder, and there were many twinges of pain followed by the deep relief of the tincture and then her impish words, “You really don’t deserve this.”

He wanted to tell her how right she was, but fucking blazes, it felt too good, so he bit down on his pillow instead. He hadn’t been fast enough to stifle a small moan.

Ember hummed in response as her hands dipped lower on his body. “But you’re enjoying it anyway, I see.”

She wasn’t actually seeing how much he enjoyed her touch, not really, but Severath could feel every inch of it as his length hardened.

Distressing and pleasurable both, he swelled between his own body and the mattress, every deep knead and gentle caress urging his cock on.

He couldn’t reach down to rearrange himself, but neither could he quell the desire that was quickly rising.

He tucked his tail beneath his knee to keep it in place, feeling its eagerness to flick up and touch her back .

None the wiser, Ember leaned into the twisting of his flesh, bearing her weight down on him. He reveled in the heat of her body against his own and how she rolled herself along his low back with the movement of her hands.

Eyes shut, that precarious imagination of his came to life all over again, and he fantasized about her taking her own pleasure from him.

He breathed deeply, that intoxicating scent of hers overpowering even the tincture.

Blazes, she didn’t even need to ask, he simply wanted her to take from him everything she desired and more.

But mating wasn’t pleasurable to Ember, the truth shattering the imagined vision of her straddling his lap rather than his back. And what a monster he was to even put her in the position in his mind’s eye.

“Ember,” he rasped, clutching his pillow.

“Hmm?” She was absently staring down at his back when he glanced over his shoulder again, her lips parted and eyelids heavy, redness once again peppering her cheeks.

“I am…fine now.”

“Wha—oh.” Ember quickly lifted her hands, blinking down at her palms and then to his face. “Of course I didn’t mean to…” She slid off of him, and his skin prickled with the chill of her absence. For a moment, she stood awkwardly beside his bed and then turned for the door.

“Ember, wait.” Severath lifted onto his elbows, but was too afraid to reveal much more.

She froze in the doorway, just glancing back over her shoulder.

“Thank you,” he breathed, hoping she knew that he truly meant it.

Ember’s lips curled as she gave him a quick nod, and then she slipped into the hall, pulling the door shut behind her.

Severath dropped his head back into his pillow. No amount of controlled breathing would fix any of this, and so he simply groaned long and low, wondering how in blazes he would face her again.