Page 60 of Tricky Princess

“Would you prefer—”

“I think Sam would lose it if I got to play with your shadows when you didn’t use them on him,” Devon laughed.

It was a true Devon laugh, one Ros hadn’t heard since before this all started. He laughed too; he could picture the look on Sam’s face if Devon got a chance with some shadow play instead of him. Ellea came into the room, pushing Sam in a…wheelchair?

“What’s so funny?” she asked, wheeling Sam to sit between him and Devon. She kissed Devon on the cheek before crawling into Ros’ lap.

“You can summon a wheelchair for me with your magic but not a chair for yourself?” Sam asked her.

“I could summon a whole sectional if I wanted, but I prefer demon chairs.” She looked up at Ros sweetly, and he wrapped his arms around her. “So, what’s so funny?”

“Wondering how Sam would feel if I got to play with Ros’ shadows when he never got the chance.” Devon looked at Sam and laughed again. “Something like that.”

Sam looked horrified and then crossed his arms. The dramatic pout must have pulled at his partially healed wound; he winced, and the expression vanished. Ros winced with him as guilt weighed heavy in his stomach.

“Oh, you poor thing,” Ellea consoled him. “To have a demon boyfriend and to not get to play with his shadows…that’s pretty cruel of you, Ros. At least you have matching tattoos.”

She gave an eyebrow waggle that reminded him so much of Sam’s, and Ros looked between all of them. “How did this become my fault?”

“You are the one with the shadows,” Devon said, grinning.

Ros groaned, hitting his head on the back of his chair.

Ellea chuckled. “I never got to hear the breakup story. I would think two pretty men like yourselves would try to tie it down.”

“I’m so glad that’s what you base your ideals on,” Ros said. “And that was it, two pretty men, one summer at war.”

“I was sticking my dick in anything.” Sam patted Devon’s thigh. “Sorry, love.”

Devon only shook his head. “You were asking Ellea to give you a sponge bath and you think I’m worried about where your dick was almost a hundred years ago? We have bigger problems.”

Ros couldn’t help but smile. It was grossly cute how they stared at each other as though they were the only two in the room.

“Aweee,” Ellea squealed, and Ros almost threw her off of him at the high-pitched noise. They both looked at her and blushed.

“That was all; I was going through some shit, Sam was fucking everything, and we wanted each other happy. It was a spark for a very annoying friendship, nothing else.”

“Oh please.” Sam threw his hands up. “You love me and you know it.”

He did, but he wouldn’t say it. He didn’t have time to; Garm and Billy strode into the room.

“We’ve been summoned,” she said. “The king wants us to join him for dinner…all of us.”

Ros twitched in his chair as Ellea and his father laughed at an inside joke to his left. Ellea sat to his father’s right; apparently, the seat she’d had since her arrival. Billy sat to his left with Garm by her side. Sam and Devon were at the end, but never forgotten. Asmodeus had dragged them into any conversation going around the table or asked them about their lives, their fears, their wishes… Ros grimaced. This was not the father he remembered.

Maybe Ellea has rubbed off on him, Garm noted.

Ros glared at him over his glass. No amount of time with Ellea could change his father.

You don’t think she has changed you? Garm remarked with an arched brow.

He could hear the tsk in his voice. Yes, she had changed him, but he was… Ros let out a breath.

He was being an ass and underestimating Ellea. Again.

“Did they ever find the soul Ellea freed?” Devon asked.

Ellea and his father’s mouths both thinned as they passed amused glances at each other.