Page 27 of The Demon’s Little Girl

LIORA

T he footsteps in the hallway make me shrink deeper into the corner, pulling Nalla closer against my chest. She's finally stopped crying, her tiny fists clutching at my dress as exhaustion weighs her down.

Every sound outside this door feels like a threat, every creak of the floorboards a promise that he's coming back.

But then I hear Avenor's voice, low and urgent, speaking to someone just outside.

"She's in there. Just— Be gentle."

My breath catches. Rovak. It has to be Rovak, which means Xharn might still be in the house, might still be looking for me. The door handle turns and I press myself harder against the wall, as if I could disappear entirely into the stone.

The door swings open and there he is—Rovak, filling the doorway like a mountain of shadows and safety.

But something's wrong. His gray skin is spattered with dark stains that catch the lamplight from the hallway.

Blood. Fresh blood covers his hands, his forearms, splashed across the front of his shirt like paint.

He's shaking. Not with fear—I've never seen Rovak afraid of anything—but with barely contained fury that makes the air around him feel electric. His pitch-black eyes find mine immediately, and the rage burning there should terrify me. Would terrify anyone with sense.

Instead, I feel something inside my chest uncurl for the first time in hours. He looks like violence incarnate, like death given form, but the moment his gaze settles on me huddled in the corner with Nalla, his entire expression softens.

"Liora." My name on his lips sounds like a prayer, broken and reverent. He takes a single step into the room, then stops, hands hovering uncertainly at his sides. "Are you hurt? Did he—" His voice cracks on the words he can't quite force out.

I shake my head quickly, the movement jerky and desperate. "No. Not today."

Relief floods his features, but it's complicated by something else. Something that looks almost like guilt. He sinks to his knees just inside the doorway, making himself smaller, less imposing. The blood on his hands gleams wetly as he clasps them together.

"Liora, I need to ask you something, and I need you to know that whatever the answer is, it doesn't change anything between us. Do you understand?"

My throat constricts. I know what he's going to ask before the words leave his lips. Have known this moment would come eventually, despite all my careful evasion and silence.

"Is Xharn Nalla's father?"

The question hits like a physical blow. My whole body starts shaking—not the gentle tremor of fear, but violent shudders that make Nalla stir against me with a small sound of protest. I can't speak, can't breathe, can't do anything but shake as two years of buried shame comes roaring to the surface.

Rovak's eyes close for a long moment, his jaw working like he's fighting back words that would only make this worse. When he opens them again, the fury is gone, replaced by something infinitely more devastating.

Heartbreak.

"I should have known." His voice is barely above a whisper, thick with self-recrimination. "His reputation... the way he looks at women like they're things to be consumed. I should have fucking known and protected you better."

"Rovak—"

"He's dead." The words fall between us like stones, final and absolute. "I killed him. For what he did to you, for every moment of fear he put you through, for making you run from the only place you should have felt safe. He's dead, and he'll never hurt anyone again."

The room seems to tilt around me. Dead. Xharn is dead. The creature who haunts my nightmares, who convinced me I was ruined and worthless, who made me believe Rovak could never want me once he knew the truth—gone.

Relief hits me like a physical force, so overwhelming that I start crying again. But these tears feel different. Cleaner somehow, like they're washing away poison that's been festering in my soul for two years.

"Avenor." Rovak's voice carries that note of command that makes people jump to obey. His guard appears in the doorway immediately, taking in the scene with those sharp navy eyes.

"Take Nalla," Rovak says quietly, never looking away from me. "Give us some time to talk."

Avenor moves with careful efficiency, his expression gentle as he approaches. "Come here, little one," he murmurs to Nalla, using the nickname he's given her. "Let's go find you something to eat while your mama sorts things out."

Nalla goes easily enough, still drowsy from her crying. She reaches for Avenor with those tiny hands, babbling something that might be his name. He settles her against his shoulder with practiced ease, shooting us both a look that promises privacy and uninterrupted time.

The door clicks shut behind them, leaving us alone in the dim storage room surrounded by barrels of grain and hanging herbs. The silence stretches between us, heavy with unspoken truths and years of careful distance.

Rovak moves closer on his knees, reaching out slowly like he's approaching a wounded animal. When I don't flinch away, his large hands cup my face with devastating gentleness. His thumbs brush away the tears still sliding down my cheeks.

"I'm so sorry, sweetheart." The endearment breaks something loose in my chest. "I failed you. I should have protected you better, should have seen what kind of creature he was and never left you alone with him. This is my fault."

"No." The word tears from my throat, raw and desperate. "No, it's not your fault. It's not—" My voice breaks as the dam I've built around this secret finally crumbles completely.

"Is that why you left?" His voice is so soft, so careful. "Because of what he did to you?"

That's when I break.

Two years of buried pain and shame come pouring out in a rush of words I can't control.

"He cornered me while you were gone. I tried to stay out of his way, I tried to be invisible, but he saw me and—" A sob cuts off the words.

"Afterward, he told me you'd never want me once you found out.

That your honor wouldn't let you keep something ruined.

He said you'd throw me out the moment you learned what happened. "

Rovak's face goes murderous again, but he doesn't interrupt. Just holds my face and lets me purge the poison that's been eating me alive.

"I believed him. I was so ashamed, so broken, and when you came home I couldn't even look at you without wanting to disappear. I didn't know I was pregnant when I ran—didn't find out until months later. By then I was already hiding, already convinced I could never come home."

My hands clutch at his bloodstained shirt, desperate for something solid to anchor me. "I was so embarrassed. So ashamed. I couldn't bear the thought of you looking at me and seeing what he'd done, seeing how I'd been... used. Ruined."

Now that the words have started, they won't stop. They pour out like blood from a opened wound, carrying away the infection that's been poisoning me from the inside.

"And when I came back, I wanted to tell you the truth, but I was terrified you'd send me away again.

That you'd look at Nalla and see him instead of—" Another sob.

"I pulled away from you because I was carrying this secret like a stone in my chest. Because I wanted you so badly and thought I could never have you. Not after what happened."

Rovak's eyes are wet now, tears cutting silver tracks through the blood spatters on his face. "Liora?—"

"I want you," I whisper, the admission ripped from somewhere deep and desperate. "I've wanted you for years, even before he—even before everything went wrong. I love you. I've loved you for so long it feels like breathing."

That breaks him completely. A sound escapes his throat that's part growl, part sob, and then his mouth is on mine with desperate hunger. His hands tangle in my hair as he kisses me like I'm salvation itself, like I'm the answer to prayers he never dared speak aloud.

When we break apart, both breathing hard, he rests his forehead against mine.

"I've wanted you since that first time you came to my study with tea and a smile and told me to stop working so hard.

Like you were the only one that saw me and cared .

For years, I've watched you and wanted you and held myself back because I never wanted you to feel trapped or obligated.

Like you had to say yes to me because of who I am. "

His words crack something open in my chest, letting in light I haven't felt in so long. "You... you wanted me? Before everything?"

"Before, during, after. Always." His voice is fierce with conviction. "I've been in love with you for so fucking long, Liora. You make me want to be better than I am. Make me want to build something worth protecting instead of just surviving."

I'm crying again, but these tears taste like relief instead of salt and shame. "I thought you could never want me. Not after what he did."

"Never think that." His hands frame my face again, forcing me to meet his gaze.

"What he did to you doesn't change how I feel.

Doesn't make you less precious or less worthy of love.

It makes me want to burn the world down for not protecting you better, but it doesn't change the fact that you're everything to me. "

His thumbs trace the curve of my cheekbones with reverent gentleness. "You and Nalla—you're my favorite girls. My reason for every breath I take. I would die before I let anyone hurt you again, and I will never, ever see you as anything less than perfect."

The words wrap around me like armor, like protection against every cruel voice that's whispered I was broken or used or worthless. In his eyes, I see the truth he's offering—not pity or obligation, but genuine love. The kind that sees all your scars and finds you beautiful anyway.