Page 65 of Prince of Demons (Demon’s Mark #2)

“Rumpelstiltskin. Since you… left. I’ve been researching, about demons.

” Larry’s lips pinched as he took a cautious seat on the edge of the armchair facing them.

“That’s what you are, isn’t it? A demon?

That’s what she’s been seeing all these years?

She made a bargain with you in exchange for healing me. ”

Kesh nodded once in confirmation.

Larry looked back to Georgia, his eyes searching hers. “You don’t seem… in distress, like you did at the hospital. Have you been… magicked? Mind controlled?”

Georgia gave him a soft smile. He was brave, her baby brother, to ask in front of the male who’d just confirmed his demonic nature.

And concerned enough about her safety to risk his own.

“No. I haven’t.” She shot Kesh a fond look.

“He can’t—even if he wanted to. I’m immune, as it turns out. And also… we’re married.”

“Married?” Larry placed his mug on the coffee table with a clonk, eyes wide in alarm. “You married one of them? That was the bargain? Oh, Georgie, no?—”

She held up a hand before he managed to say something that might offend her mate.

“No, no. Nothing like that. I married Kesh because I love him. It’s been…

a bit of a whirlwind. A lot has happened since I’ve been gone, but…

it’s been good. This is good.” Then, because there was still a distinct look of alarm on her brother’s face, she added, “I’m happy, Lar.

Really, truly, happy. You don’t have to worry about me anymore. I promise.”

“You always said that.” His voice was soft. “That I shouldn’t worry about you. You know I always will, right? You’re my sister.”

“Your big sister. It’s my job to worry about you, not the other way around.”

“No. It isn’t. It wasn’t.” He frowned and looked down at the mug in his hands for a moment.

When he raised his eyes to hers again, for the first time, she saw the young man he’d become, rather than the child she’d raised.

“What happened when we were kids wasn’t okay, Georgia.

You deserved so much better. Even if I’ll forever be grateful for everything you sacrificed for me. ”

“I know.” Her voice was quiet, choked by the unexpected lump in her throat.

The silence stretched across the living room.

Finally, Larry looked at Kesh. “If you ever hurt her, I will find a way to kill you.”

“Larry!”

“If I ever hurt her, I’ll let you.” Kesh ghosted his hand down her thigh and closed his fingers gently around her knee. “My kind doesn’t find love easily. Be assured that I will protect her against anything and everything—in your world, and mine.”

Larry nodded once, clearly understanding the demon’s words as the solemn promise they were. “Good. I will hold you to that.”

“Well, this sure is a nice family visit. Anything else you’d like to threaten my new husband with, or…?”

“Considering you brought back a demon, I think it’s going pretty well,” Larry shot back. He took a sip of his coffee and shook his head.

She chuckled, the unexpected levity nestling in like a warm blanket. This moment? This was more than she’d ever thought she’d get.

“So… are you still in town? Can we… hang out more often?”

She grimaced and shook her head. “Not for a while. We’re moving to Europe. I don’t know how long for, but at least a few years. But… we can email? Maybe video call, if you’d like?”

“Yeah. I’d like that.” Larry smiled at her. “I could even try to save up and come visit over the summer?”

Kesh squeezed her knee in warning. She ignored him.

“You’re always welcome wherever I am.”

By her side, her mate swallowed an annoyed sigh.

Larry, however, lit up. “I can’t wait. Do you know where you’re going yet? Please say Paris.”

“Milan.”

“Oh.” He bit his lip, his easy smile fading. “Is it… related to the… Rome-thing?”

The Rome-thing. The human world was still beside itself from the disaster.

Understandably. There were not logical answers to be found, no explanation for what had happened, and while governments were still searching through every possible explanation involving terrorism or freak accidents, the internet was split down the middle on an alien super weapon, and magic.

No matter the combined efforts of the demon lords around the globe, there was no stopping this.

It was only a matter of time before the truth came out and Breeders were no longer the only ones who knew about the demons who lived among humanity.

Until then, however…

“It’s not… not about that.”

“Ah.” The frown was back on her brother’s face. “But… you’ll be safe?”

“She’ll be safe,” Kesh rumbled. He exhaled and nudged gently at her shoulder. “It’s time for us to leave, little one. We have a long drive home.”

Home. He meant the casino where they temporarily had their base while he and his brother prepared for their trip to Milan where they were to take point on the clusterfuck that was ‘the Rome situation.’ It didn’t matter, though, that they didn’t have a comfortable house or a place that was truly theirs yet. Her home was with him. Always would be.

“Alright.” She placed her coffee mug on the table and got to her feet. “It was good to see you, Larry.”

“You don’t want to stay a little longer? Mom should be back from work in half an hour or so.” He stood, too, and followed them to the hallway, clearly reluctant to say goodbye.

“No, that’s alright. But you give her my best.” There was an ache in her chest again, but softer this time. Lighter.

“I will.” He pulled her into a hug again, tight and long enough for Kesh to start making impatient noises.

When he finally released her, she took his face between her palms and gave him a reassuring smile.

“We’ll email. And video chat. And you’ll come to Milan this summer, and fall in love with a pretty Italian girl. ”

Larry let out a chuckle and lifted his hands to cup hers where they bracketed his face. “I love you, Georgia.”

She brushed her thumbs over his cheeks and finally took a reluctant step back, releasing him. “I love you more.”

***

“For a human, he’s not… the worst.”

“You just liked that he threatened you. You big weirdo.” Georgia leant her head against the car window as the city lights passed them by. Exhaustion that had little to do with anything physical flirted at the edges.

A large hand found her thigh, anchoring her. “I like that he’s protective of you. Even if you are stronger than most other beings on this plane of existence.”

An involuntary smile quirked her lips. “Thank you. For taking me to see him. It meant… a lot.”

“If it makes you happy, it’s my job to make it happen, little one.”

“Well. I hope you don’t expect me not to take advantage of that for the rest of our lives.

” She turned her head from the window to give him a tired grin.

“Which reminds me… I seem to remember something about a pumpkin pie situation you were trying to resolve. Ya know, before you blew up your penthouse, and—I assume—the million squashes along with it.”

“Hmm. You remember correctly. I suppose I will have to rectify that—in between political and global chaos.” He gave her thigh a squeeze.

“Yup. Gotta learn to bake. It’s in the mate handbook. I’m certain your brother bakes for Selma, too.”

“I have absolute faith you’re correct about that,” he mumbled, just the slightest sardonic note sneaking into his deep voice.

She paused as something struck her. “Speaking of Selma… Why did it never occur to you that I might have been Pure, too? From day one, you were all ‘you are not for me, Breeder. Only the purest of Breeders can withstand the might of my dick.’ Yet apparently your dad knew the moment I shook off his restraints, back when I, ah… tried to climb him like a tree. Due to evil ring manipulation, I will hasten to add. Wouldn’t it have been prudent to, I don’t know…

tickle me with magic or something, just to make sure? ”

To her amusement, a flush of pink colored his cheeks. “Yes. In hindsight. Obviously, that would have been helpful. But Pure Breeders…” He glanced at her out the corner of his eye. “You are rare, Georgia.”

“Yes, I know.”

“I don’t think you do. With you, there have been three within this past century, globally.

That’s unheard of. Before that, it was perhaps one per century.

You being Pure… it was impossible. And testing you…

” His expression turned agonized, and his fingers tightened around her thigh, as if afraid she’d vanish if he didn’t cling on.

“It would have required me to entertain the possibility that you… that you could have been mine, only to then face the very real possibility—the almost guarantee that you wouldn’t be compatible.

I couldn’t face that. So no. I didn’t test you. ”

Her heart did something stupid and mushy in her chest. Gently, she placed her hand on top of his, warm into the marrow of her bones. “Well. I guess you’ll just have to make it up with monthly—no, weekly— pumpkin pie baking.”

Kesh rumbled a soft laugh. “I guess so.”

“Maybe you don’t buy a whole field of dick-shaped gourds every time. Your feeder kink is a little out of control,” she teased, the lightness in his voice nestling in deep behind her ribs.

“Is that a complaint in how I care for you, mate?” His tone turned to a playful rumble. “You know what else those dick-shaped gourds can be used for, if you have objections to eating them, hmm?”

A scandalized gasp escaped her throat when the implication—and the exact, huge shape of his last pumpkin-heist hit her. She turned fully to face him, mouth agape. “You wouldn’t!”

“I’m afraid you’re wrong on this one, my love. I absolutely will.”