Page 100 of Demon Bound

“Does that worry you?” she asked, wondering if he was concerned about the safety of the people in town.

“I like your plane the way it is, without demons. There is a peace here that I never knew in the hells.” He looked down at her, putting his hands on hers. “Will you come with me?” he asked, gesturing for her to follow him upstairs.

Casting another glance back at the ominous split in the air, she followed him out of the dungeon and up to the more pleasant parts of the castle. They came out on the balcony overlooking the gentle hills below. Soft snow covered the land and coated the roofs in Frosthaven. Smoke was rising from a few chimneys in the town.

Raiya moved closer to Azreth, and he obligingly wrapped an arm around her, pulling her against the furnace of his body. For a long while, they looked out at the landscape in silence.

“I wish I had been born here instead of the hells,” he said. “I wish this was my home.”

“It can be.”

He gave her a sideways glance. “No one will welcome my presence here. Except for you.”

“And Jai and Madira. And the Roamers.”

“I will be hunted. As you will, if you harbor me.”

“Let them hunt, then.” She turned around to face him. “Nothing has changed between us.”

His hand went to her face, touching her hair and her cheek, and he focused intently on placing a lock of hair behind her ear. He was delaying saying what he wanted to say, but as Raiya leaned into his touch and brushed her fingers along his back, he worked up the courage he needed.

“I want to stay here,” he said. “I want to be with you.”

“I want that, too.”

“But I am putting you in danger by remaining near you.”

“No. I have never felt safer than I have when I’m with you.”

“I doubt that.”

“You shouldn’t.” She felt foolish now for ever having stayed with Nirlan. But before she’d met Azreth, she hadn’t known it could be like this. She hadn’t known this sort of love was possible. “Even before you knew me, when you could have hurt me—even when you needed to consume me in order to keep yourself from starving—you resisted. Even then, you protected me.”

“You seem to forget sometimes, but I am a demon, Raiya. My world is one of destruction and danger. I was designed to deal death and take violence. You weren’t.”

“You are more than the circumstances of your birth. You are not wrong just for being what you are.”

“What about the other mortals who will want to come for me? If you do not fear me, you should at least fear them.”

“If you’re being hunted, then I must stay with you to protect you.”

His eyebrows went up a little.

“I’ve made my decision,” she said. “I want you here beside me for whatever comes next, and for whatever comes after that.” She motioned to the sturdy, ancient stone walls around them. They’d stood for hundreds of years, and they’d stand for hundreds more. “We have a whole castle to ourselves. A fortress to protect you.”

“You want to take over the castle? Someone will stop you.”

“No one will stop me, because it’s my inheritance. It was Nirlan’s land. I am his closest remaining relative. That makes it my land.”

Suddenly, she could see a future for herself. It had been a long time since she had envisioned anything other than boredom and misery ahead of her.

She was going to make this place hers. Hers and Azreth’s.

“We can watch over the gate to the hells from here, in case anything else comes through,” she went on. “We can fix up the castle and make it a real home. I could have a study to work on enchanting, and you could put some behelgi in the stable if you like. And we can leave whenever you want, of course,” she added quickly, not wanting him to feel trapped. He’d been caged enough. The last thing she wanted was for the castle to become yet another prison for him.

He studied her for a long time, and she could see him breaking. He leaned down, touching warm lips lightly against hers.

“For a violent creature designed for dealing death, you kiss very sweetly,” she said wryly.

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