Page 112 of A Study of Blood and Ichor

Her eyes flicked down toward her feet, and her cheeks flushed a rosy pink as she hesitated to meet my gaze.

I set down the spatula and stepped into her path. “I’m sorry. C’mere.” I wrapped her into a steady embrace, and she eagerly folded herself against my chest.

“I’m okay. I’m right here,” I whispered into her hair. “I’m not going anywhere.”

They were the same words I repeated to her all through the night until we fell asleep in each other’s arms in her bed.

I bent down to place a kiss on her forehead. When she looked up at me, I found myself lost in how soft her lips looked, the warm blush of her cheeks, and how her honey eyes glimmered with fresh tears. I caught them with the pad of my thumb before they had the chance to fall.

Ava turned her head to the side, glancing down at the stove. “Those don’t look like pancakes,” she mumbled against my chest, and I laughed, the sound lighter than I’d felt in a long time.

She was right. They were weirdly misshapen and none of them were the same size because of how sloppily I’d poured the batter. A distinct burning smell wafted off them from sitting too long on too high of a heat.

“Shit,” I hissed and moved to try and salvage them as Vain rounded the corner.

“Don’t you dare burn my penthouse down, mortal. Or are you trying to force my hand and make me possess you again just to show you how not to ruin a simple meal?”

God, that voice. It was almost unsettling to hear him speak outside my head. I couldn’t help but stare at Vain after I had scraped the last of the ruined batch into the garbage.

He looked exactly as I remembered him from that day seven years ago when I had let him in. The day he saved my life. He was all sharp angles, and a cold, predatory stillness hung off him. His silver hair flopped to one side as his dark stare took me in. Ethereal and otherworldly were the only words that came to mind to describe him, and even they still couldn’t fully encompass all that he was.

If Ava was the sun, then Vain was the moon, and I stood in a fixed orbit between them both.

We held each other’s stare for a long moment, our eyes searching the other.

“I’m sure you could do a better job than me anyways,” I said to him.

The demon rolled his eyes. It was such a human expression that it caught me off guard. Maybe I had rubbed off on him a little after all.

Vain yanked the spatula from my hand and pushed me aside. He worked in precise movements with the grace and skill of a tenured chef. Apparently, none of those skills had rubbed off on me.

I attached myself to Ava’s side, drawn to close the distance between us. We moved to one of the dining room chairs, and she sat herself across my lap. I ran my hand across the smooth skin of her bare thighs, which poked out underneath the hem of an oversized T-shirt. Occasionally, I caught Vain shooting glances in our direction, yet he would always look away as soon as he noticed me watching him.

“What’s wrong?” she asked as she smoothed a lock of hair out of my eyes. “You seem distant.”

“It's nothing.” The smile I gave her must not have been convincing because she pressed further.

“Tell me.”

I sighed. “I feel…guilty. I think—you shouldn’t have—” I struggled to find the right words to express all the thoughts I had about what she had done. How hard it must have been for her to make that kind of decision.

Ava laid a hand to my chest, silencing me before I could finish. “It was my choice, Rory.”

“But was it worth the cost of your soul?” My voice cracked as I fought down the hard lump in my throat.

Her eyes bored into mine, full of golden light and warmth as she shook her head. “It’s not quite like that. I didn’t give up my soul. It’s just tied to Vain now, like we’re tethered, sort of how you were with him.” She brought one hand up to my cheek. “Besides, you are worth everything, Rory. And we would choose you all over again. Every time.”

I buried my face in her hair and allowed it to muffle the sounds of my cries as I finally broke. Ava cradled me in her arms, one hand cupping the back of my head while the other brushed slow circles along my back as I shook in her arms.

Without even having to look up, I could feel the demon’s possessive eyes on me from across the room, his stare holding me with the same gentleness as Ava’s did.

I’m not sure I had ever felt so unburdened and at peace before as I did in that moment.

It was a good thing Vain ended up cooking breakfast instead of me. The pancakes he made looked like they could have been straight out of a fucking cookbook, beautifully golden, fluffy and topped with some fancy mascarpone cream he was fond of. The bastard had even garnished them with fresh berries and mint. I wanted to call him a show-off, but the second I shoved the pancakes into my mouth, I almost melted. The insides were so light and airy with the edges crisped up just the way I liked them, and the berries exploded, tart and sweet in my mouth.

“I think you’re drooling,” Vain said, pointing his fork at me as I swallowed.

I furrowed my brows at him before wiping at the corner of my mouth with the back of my hand like a savage.

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