Page 15 of My Demon Charming

“I don’t know. But…if I fall, you will catch me, right?”

Lucian looks at me over the rim of his glasses and, without a grin, smirk, or anything to indicate he’s joking, says, “Always.”

I don’t want to admit the kind of somersaults it causes on my insides. I don’t want to admit how being with him, in his presence, in his company, makes me a whole new person. A person I might actually like.

“You mean because you have to. Because I’m your summoner.”

Lucian runs his hand through his perfectly trimmed beard. “No. I mean always.”

I swallow whatever knot has formed in my throat. How could he say that when he barely knows me?

“Ha. I’m sure that’s what you say to all your masters,” I say when the silence and intensity of his gaze get to be too much.

“I don’t, as a matter of fact. You’re different, Yu-jin. You’re not like all the other humans who have summoned me. You don’t want to use me. You are…special.”

“Yeah. A special kind of pathetic.”

“Don’t talk about yourself like that.” He hooks a finger under my chin and lifts my head to look into my eyes. “You’re special. I can feel it in my soul. And my soul is never wrong.”

I swallow again.

What on earth does he mean by “in my soul?”

“I know you don’t believe me, but I felt it from the first moment I set my eyes on you. But I’ve been fooled before. It was your kiss that sealed the deal for me.”

“Sealed the…what do you mean?”

“You, Yu-jin.” He takes no pause. “Are my soulmate.”

My breath catches, and I feel the shiver running a whole new course through my body.

Did he just say…?

“Soulmate? You-you barely know me.”

Lucian shakes his head.

“I don’t need to know you. My soul does. And that’s all that matters.”

“You must be mistaken. I can’t be your soulmate.” I turn away from him and try to focus on the Quartz Peak skyscraper. The trademark of my home city.

“And why is that?” He pulls my gaze back to him, and my cheeks flush again.

“Because…look at me. I’m a sorry excuse for a human. I didn’t even inherit my mom’s powers or any powers whatsoever. I’m…”

“You need to cut yourself some slack, and believe me when I tell you you’re worthy, Yu-jin. Demons can sense these things.”

I want to believe him. I want to let him fill my head with sweet little lies like that, but I can’t.

“I…I find that hard to believe.”

“Believe it.” He doesn’t shout it, but I feel it reverberate through me as if he has. “And what are you talking about being powerless?”

I shrug.

“I don’t have one. Kevin did my ignition ceremony, and I didn’t manifest a power.”

The ceremony to ignite a witch’s power is an important ritual in a witch’s life. Without it, not only can we not perform magic, but we could never express the natural magical power within us.

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