“I know, but…” He walked to the nightstand and grabbed something from its drawer, then made his way back over with the item hidden in his fist. “I stashed it in here earlier when you went to the bathroom,” he told me sheepishly.
When he reached me, he opened his hand to reveal the small black box resting in his palm. I recognised the GvR stamped on the lid instantly—his jewellery business’s logo.
My breath caught in my throat. Hesitantly, I reached out to take the box and carefully snap open its lid. Inside was a ring nestled on a black pillow, its delicate band silvery black, with an emerald held between tiny demiurgus claws.
“Greid…” I swallowed hard, a lump forming in my throat. “It’s beautiful.”
“I told you I’d make you a ring.” He was fidgeting anxiously, long fingers picking at the front of his ugly Christmas sweater. “The first day you moved in.”
I nodded, my gaze growing a little blurry. “I remember.”
“I had to measure your finger while you were asleep. After you moved into my room,” he added hurriedly. “I didn’t, like, creep into your bedroom in the middle of the night like a weirdo.”
I let out a wobbly laugh, gently plucking the ring from the box to inspect it closer. Insides knotting with something that made me breathless, I looked up at Greid. “Is—Is this… Are you…”
He stared back at me nonplussed for a second, before his eyes grew comically wide. “Oh fuck. Shit. I wasn’t—I’m not—It’s not an engagement ring. Unless you… I mean, I would mate you tomorrow if you wanted to. Or marry, whatever we’d call it… Fuck.”
I burst out laughing. “You’re such a dork.”
“Fuck, I’m sorry.” He dragged a hand over his face. “I didn’t even… I would totally marry you, berry. Seriously. Like, today. Right this second. But that wasn’t… Shit, I need to stop talking.”
“So, wait…” I couldn’t help but tease him just a little. “Are you proposing, or not?”
“I don’t even know anymore.” He gave me a helpless look. “Tell me what to do.”
Chuckling, I stepped closer.
“How about this…” I slipped the ring onto the third finger of my right hand, then grinned up at him as I snuck my hands under the back of his sweater to palm his warm skin. “When one of us proposes—whichever one of us gets there first—I’ll put it on the other hand.”
“Okay,” he said, cupping my ass and lifting me into his arms. “I’m sorry. This would’ve been a shitty proposal anyway. It still somehow smells like dirty socks in here.”
“Well, at least we would’ve had a young, sexy Parin var Gelligar watching over the moment.” I nodded at the old poster taped to the wall above the bed.
Greid’s ears fluttered. “Shut up,” he mumbled, then leaned in to kiss me. “We can always take the poster home if you want it to be there when one of us does propose.”
“Please,” I deadpanned. “It’s what I’ve always dreamed of.”
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Author’s Note
Thank you for reading Beryl and Greid’s story! What started as a vague kernel of an idea—originally set on another planet! In another timeline! Waaay different to what it ended up being!—has now evolved into a whole freaking family of monster siblings annoying the crap out of each other and falling in love with humans all at the same time, for some reason. (What I mean by that is—I hadn’t initially planned for this to be a series, and now it is one, so just don’t think too hard about the fact that all these monsters end up finding their humans around the same time, it’s just a happy coincidence okay?)
These two characters mean a lot to me for various reasons. I wanted to write a character with vaginismus, but not only that—a character with vaginismus who actually didn’t want to be penetrated anyway. I didn’t want it to be something that needed fixing to make Beryl and Greid’s romance and/or sexual relationship work. That’s not to say vaginismus isn’t a very upsetting condition for some people who have it. My goal was more to try and show Beryl finding someone who didn’t place her worth as a woman, sexual partner and romantic partner on whether she can be penetrated.
Which is also, in a similar but roundabout way, why I wanted to write a male character in a MF romance who is the bottom! I have a lot of feelings about both of these things, but I won’t clamber up onto my soapbox, so I’ll just say that I love both these characters and their relationship and their sexual dynamic.
Like I said, I hadn’t planned for this to be a series, but those side characters with Main Character Energy do tend to sneak up on me—namely Greid’s siblings. So far, Nuni, Laki and Sorin will be getting books. Laki because—obviously. They are already the coolest sibling. I love Nuni and I really wanted to write a total arrogant douchebro with a secret soft side. And Sorin, who you’ll meet properly in the next book, is kind of like Greid only with a lot more confidence and a lot less social anxiety. He’s also way less of an awkward lanky goblin.
The next book in the series is Nuni’s book—he is actually a total sweetheart, just trust me, and his human is very annoyed by how attractive she finds him—at least at first. This one will also be M/F, and it’s kind of enemies-to-lovers, plus there’s a secret ‘forbidden’ friends-with-benefits arrangement (though the ‘friend’ part is iffy) in a corporate setting. We see a lot more of the var Rorik siblings. We also see how a demiurgus lives when they’re filthy rich and living in a high-end contemporary nesthouse in the heart of the city, not in a cozy townhouse on a leafy street like Greid. There’s also desk sex! Sex in other questionable places! A chastity/strap combo scene I’ve been dying to write for AGES. So yes, there’s still some kink in there, though not the same flavour as Beryl and Greid, and book two will also include P-in-V penetration. (They figure out how to work around the barbs.)
After that will be Laki’s story, which will be NB/F, then most likely Sorin’s, which will be M/M. This series will be a big lovely diverse mix of relationships! I really, really love this world and this monster species and just all of it, so I already want to just keep writing these fluffy, lighthearted romance-led stories. They soothe me. I already miss Greid!
What’s next?
Next will be book two in Deep Earth Dating—Nuni and Anita’s story! It’s already written (I couldn’t stop) and I’m really excited to start writing Laki’s story as well.
Later this year I’ll also be releasing book three in my Folk trilogy, an MM fae romance. And Nikole Knight and I will be releasing the first in our joint series! This is also monster romance, and it was so wonderful and fun to write with Nikole. We are very excited!
Later this year will be book eight in my Monstrous series, which is Lyri and Cat’s story. We finally get Cat’s story!!
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Books by Lily Mayne
Monstrous
(MM Monster/Human Dystopian Romance)
Soul Eater (Book One)
Edin (Book Two)
The Rycke (Book Three)
Wyn (Novella)
Gloam (Book Four)
Moth (Book Five)
Seraph (Book Six)
Lor (Book Seven)
A Collection of Monstrous Short Stories
Coming in 2023: Lyri (Book Eight)
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Folk
(MM Fae Fantasy Romance)
Mortal Skin (Book One)
Forgotten Vows (Book Two)
Coming soon: King of Death (Book Three)
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Monsters & Mayhem Collection
(MM Dark Horror Romance)
Death’s Bloom
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Deep Earth Dating
(Monster/Human Romcom)
Berries and Greed (MF)
