Page 19 of Taken to the Deadlands (Stolen Demon Brides #1)

Chapter 19

Aris

“ I thought my work here was done,” Yien said in a bored tone.

She leaned against the broken statue and looked up at the dull sky with a dazed expression.

I didn’t have the energy to even roll my eyes at her attitude.

I had messed up… again. I hadn’t planned to fuck her in the hallway like I had. My plan had been to let her stay in the house until I found a better way to get her passage home.

There were only a few ways one could get out of the Demon Realm. You either had the power to create a portal or you could find one.

And it had been years since the one in my realm had all but disappeared overnight.

I would have sent her home that same night, but I was one of the weakest of my kind and therefore would have to rely on my connections to get things done.

“I promised her I would get her home when her job was done,” I said through gritted teeth.

I didn’t owe Yien any kind of explanation, but I needed something to get her to help. I didn’t want to have to lie to her, but I wasn’t above it.

“And is it?” Yien asked. “She certainly took her time.”

I bit my tongue.

Things had changed since I first brought Mia back to my realm.

I had grown attached to her in a way I never allowed myself to. Just her presence here had changed my life. Changed everything I had been focused on.

Cara was only a ghost of the past now. One that still haunted me, but ever since Mia… I found it didn’t matter that much anymore. Not when I was focused on her instead.

To anyone else, it might seem like I had simply traded one human for another, but I knew it was more than that. I knew that anyone who met Mia and saw the fierceness that hid behind those eyes, they too would fall for her.

The moment in the hallway would serve as our goodbye.

It was a cold, callous goodbye. One that she didn’t deserve. But it was the only one I could give.

If I let myself get close enough to her again to hear those cursed words from her lips, I truly might never let her go.

Don’t make me leave.

The words swirled around my mind. A plea from her that sounded so utterly heartbreaking.

She doesn’t belong here , I spat back at the voice. Images of my demon maid standing over her, ready to feast, hit me like a knife to the heart.

I am the reason she was in that situation to begin with.

And I wouldn’t always be able to protect her. Not when she was but a human in his unforgiving realm.

“Yes,” I spat. “Now can you get her back home or not?”

“Are you afraid Madam will take her from you if you go to her?” she asked, her eyes trailing to mine.

Her eyes were narrowed, and I swore I saw a slight smirk rest on her face. I didn’t have time to think about how much her human seemed to have changed her as well. A being who once gave no indication of her feelings was almost smirking at me.

Yes, I wanted to say. If I ever so much as let Madam know that I was thinking of giving up this human, she would take her back in a heartbeat.

After all, to her, this human had great potential. A spirit seer or not, she could still see wraiths, something not every demon or human could manage. That alone would cause her to go up for auction again.

Or Madam herself might want to keep her.

I couldn’t suppress my shiver at the thought.

The humans in the auction house looked frail, and their bones were often misshapen. I wasn’t sure exactly what she or her customers had done to them, but I suspected it was far worse than what Mia experienced here.

“The auction house is no place for a human,” I said.

She watched me for a moment before turning her attention back to the sky. Her shadows had gathered around us without me noticing. Some of them tickled my exposed skin.

“I know. I’m just trying to figure out why you seem so enamored with this human.”

My hair stood on edge and my spine straightened. A low growl rumbled from my chest.

I couldn’t help but be possessive of her. Yien was no threat—I knew that. But the way her lips twisted and her swirling shadows were enough for my instincts to go crazy.

“Don’t act like you don’t have your own companion waiting for you back in the Shadow Realm,” I countered.

There was a long pause before she pushed herself off the statue and turned to me. For a moment, I thought she would refute my claim. It hadn’t been that long since she carried word from her companion to mine, but things could change in an instant if us demons weren’t careful.

“You’re right, and I’d like to get back to her,” she admitted. For some reason, that caused me to relax. Because if her human was still alive, that meant she was able to control herself around her. Probably better than I could around Mia.

“Show me where she is, and I’ll have her back in the Human Realm before she knows it.”

This is it.

Yien would go in there, send her back to her realm, and Mia would be gone from my life in the span of a few minutes.

You can still turn this around. Tell the shadow demon you changed your mind.

But I didn’t allow myself to listen to those tempting thoughts.

They were the same ones that fantasized about keeping Mia here. About building a bigger, better house for her. About living a fulfilling, human-like life with her where we did nothing but spend our days together.

I had long since learned to shut those thoughts out, and I wouldn’t allow them to control my actions.

I nodded, shielding my emotions, and motioned to the house, starting to walk back with heavy feet.

“She should be sleeping. Let me show you where.”