But I didn’t want him to go.

Alice plops down next to me, an easy grin on her face. “You know, I thought it was one-sided, but you’re gone for him too, aren’t you?” She ignores my shocked expression and keeps chatting in that deceptively casual tone. “Don’t bother to deny it. You’re sitting here watching him like you’re seeing the next fifty, seventy, hundred years stretch out before you and you don’t hate the idea of it.”

I blink. “I’m thirty-five. There’s no way I’ll live another hundred years.”

“You will if you stay here. It has something to do with the magic infused in every bit of our realm. It makes people live longer. And yes, it does apply to humans. Not everyone who makes a deal goes home at the end of their seven years.”

Seven years. Not a lifetime.

My anger tries to bloom again, but it sputters and sparks, not gaining momentum. I’m so damn tired of fighting. I don’t know what that means for my future, but Azazel isn’t a monster. He’s a man who’s made mistakes.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I finally say.

Alice takes a long drink of her beer. “He’s getting close to his limit. I’ll distract them, and you get him out of here.”

I glance at her in surprise. She’s been boisterous and irreverent this whole time, but I should have realized there’s a keen and caring mind under all that attitude. “I can do that.”

“Good girl.” Alice bounces to her feet and moves toward the band. A new song begins, and she lifts her mug over her head. “To Azazel!”

“To Azazel!” the crowd cheers. They flock to Alice, cheering and dancing.

The man himself appears at my side a moment later, looking a little hunted. “How are you holding up?”

“Come on.” I take his hand. “Let’s get out of here.” Within seconds, we’ve slipped away. The sounds of celebration follow us into the trees and then finally fade to silence as we keep walking, putting distance between us and the village.

It’s only when we’ve been accompanied by what I assume are the normal night sounds of the trees—it’s not as if I have much experience with nature—that Azazel slows his stride and squeezes my hand. “Sorry about that. I didn’t expect a full event. I should have, knowing Alice.”

“It was fun.”

He pauses and gives me a look. “You don’t have to say that.”

“I know.” I find myself squeezing his hand back. “But it’s the truth. You dance well.”

“So do you.”

This is awkward but not in a painful way. Almost like we’re just meeting, just feeling each other out. It’s strange, especially considering I know what he sounds like when he comes.

Azazel loosens his grip like he might drop my hand, but I give him another squeeze and lace my fingers through his. “They love you.”

“They don’t know me.” He shrugs. “Well, Alice does, but she’s family. It’s not the same.”

My heart twinges, but I’m too content for it to be more than a passing ache. “I wouldn’t know.”

He gives me a sharp look. “Family isn’t only blood. Pope knows you better than anyone.”

My body flushes hot and then cold. “I’m aware.” I swallow hard. I’ve been very pointedly not thinking about Pope too often, but they slip into my thoughts more and more as time goes on. “I miss them.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” He doesn’t look at me. “After I deal with Brosh, I’ll take you home. It never should have gotten this out of control. I never should have panicked. The thought of you being hurt . . .” Azazel gives himself a shake and drops my hand. “I wasn’t thinking clearly. I was only reacting.”

I could call him a liar, could ask him how long it took him to write up that contract and if that counted as solely reacting. I don’t. It would hurt for the sake of hurting, and this moment feels as fragile as a soap bubble. “Azazel?”

“Yes?”

There are so many things I could say right now. The possibilities choke me. Today has shown me a different side of Azazel, but one that’s so intimately familiar, reminding me I’ve known him for years. In the back of my mind, I’ve spent this entire time trying to reconcile the man I thought I knew and the monster who tricked and then kidnapped me. Today gave me both. They’re the same. Facets of a single gem, priceless beyond measure.

I inhale deeply and stop. Azazel takes a few more steps before he realizes I’m not keeping pace. He turns to face me. “Eve?”

I close the distance between us slowly. “I don’t know if I’ll ever forgive you.”

His expression goes tormented even as his gaze heats. “I know.”

“But I’m . . .” I take another deep breath and press my hands to his chest. This feels scarier than anything I’ve experienced thus far, and that includes the attack the other day. “No matter how hard I try, I can’t stop myself from caring.”

“Eve,” he breathes. “You don’t have to.”

But I’ve started and now I can’t stop. “I don’t know what it means for the future or for us or for anything, but I’m so damn tired of fighting. I just want . . .”

He waits. It seems like he barely breathes, like he’d stand right here and be content to listen to me falter my way through this for years.

“I just want you,” I finish in a whisper.

Finally—finally—Azazel moves. He catches my hips and pulls me flush with his body. “Stay with me tonight?”

There’s only one answer. There’s only ever been one answer. “Yes.”

I don’t know how we get back to the castle. It feels like a fever dream of kisses and stumbling steps and questing hands that never quite reach where we need them. Between one step and the next, the forest fades away to be replaced by stone walls and then a familiar scent.

The castle took us to my garden.

Azazel strokes a hand down my spine and looks around. “We could⁠—”

“I don’t want to wait any more.” I shove at his shirt. “Please, Azazel.”

He lifts his arms, but he has to lower the rest of his body so I can get the tunic over his head. I toss it to the ground and go for his pants. He catches my wrists. “Eve⁠—”

“If I don’t get your cock in my mouth right now, I’m going to lose it.”

He blinks. For a moment, I think he might argue, but he finally releases my wrists. “You don’t have to.”

“I’m aware.” I slide his pants down his hips, freeing his thick cock. I love oral sex, both giving and receiving, and there’s been a distinct lack of the former in my life. “Now be a good Daddy and try not to come too fast and ruin my fun.”

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CHAPTER 16

Before this moment, I would have said there’s little Eve could ask of me that I wouldn’t all but kill myself to give her. But this? I stand there, every muscle tense, as she wraps her fist around my cock and, with an impish smile, flicks her tongue over my slit. She’s barely touched me and I’m fighting not to lose it.

I didn’t expect her feelings to change. Why would they? She has every right to hate me, and if I’m going to spend the rest of my life loving her, I know better than to expect something in return.

But today was . . . nice. Exhausting, yes, but those kinds of visits always are. Dancing with Eve, though? Having moments where it almost felt like we were different people in simpler circumstances? It was better than I dared hope—if I had even thought to hope.

“Daddy.” Eve squeezes my cock, her expression going wicked. “Normally when I’m between your thighs, you’re not focused on anything but me.”

“Sorry, baby girl.” I carefully lace my fingers through her hair. It’s longer than she usually wears it, nearly to her shoulders. “I’m here.”

“You will be.” She doesn’t give me a chance to respond, taking my cock in her mouth and sucking me down as if she never needs to breathe.

We’ve been in this exact position before, but never when in my true form. I should have expected it to be different, but up until this moment, with Eve’s cheeks hollowed and her stroking her tongue along the underside of my length, I hadn’t allowed myself to even imagine it.