Page 119 of Shadow & Stars
“Oh, buddy,” I answered, stroking his fur.
“It doesn’t matter. We had our time. It didn’t work out. There’d only be more pain if we tried getting back together.” He looked up at me with glimmers of sadness in his tiny eyes. “Sometimes, things are just not meant to be.”
“Like an icy, demonic theocracy,” Xavier contributed.
I shuddered thinking of what could have been, how the world came so close to another ice age with a demonic twist.
Piper changed the subject. “Now you’re better, I have a proposition for you.”
Please don’t put me back on the payroll.“Fire away.”
She took a dramatic pause, wriggling her eyebrows. “A holiday. With me. In Greece All expenses paid. I think we all deserve a break after everything we’ve been through.”
I went to protest the nice suggestion, Darcy foreseeing it. “We’d love to, My Queen. If you would permit me to join you.” He twitched his whiskers at me, proud of the deflect.
I understood the code to shut the fuck up.
Fine. I’d go to Greece. “Sounds amazing. Thanks so much.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Xavier added.
“Good. We’ll have a blast. A very relaxed blast. We leave in a week. I will send you the details later.”
We spent the rest of her visit analyzing world events and talking about her new friendship with King Basile of France.
By the end of it, I took the longest nap in my life.
I wokeup in the early hours to a room full of moonlight.
Xavier slept peacefully beside me, his muscular upper body painted with lunar streaks. Perfection. Absolute perfection.
A lock of his platinum blond hair fell across his face. I brushed it aside, enjoying the aesthetics of him.
“God, you’re so beautiful.”
I snuggled closer to him, throwing an arm around his body. His heat wrapped me up in an extra duvet, my love for him doing the same.
My demon. My incredible, wonderful demon I got to face the future with.
Whatever guilt I carried, I fully embraced this gift, this lucky twist. I wouldn’t waste a minute of this second chance.
After a while of listening to the rain and staring at Xavier, nature called. I got up to pee, then came out of the bathroom to see Darcy up, sitting at the top of his cage, staring at the living room window.
He never did that.
I went to him, wrapping my arms around myself. “What’s the matter?”
He turned his little head to face me. “Thinking. Are you okay?”
“I am now my bladder’s empty.” I sat in my chair, letting off a big yawn. “What are you thinking about?”
“My life. How long I have left.”
That smacked the sleep out of me. He’d got to be human again, only for it to be snatched away.
“Come here.” I patted my lap.
He scurried down. “You should go back to bed.”
