Page 75 of Barbi and the Villain

“But don’t you see?” I burst out, grabbing onto the material of his shirt and dragging myself closer to him. “I am twenty-one and I am mated to a thirteen-thousand-year-old god/demon, whatever you are! I’m getting lightheaded,” I add dramatically.

“I do not see the need for histrionics, Barbi,” he mumbles drily. “It is what it is.”

“How could it be? Do you know there are hundreds of forums making fun of books where the heroine is a young and innocent human and the hero is a hundred-year-old supernatural baddie? In our case, you’re thirteen thousand years old—even worse. You’re basically robbing the cradle, Nykander.” I shake my head at him.

He plucks my hands off his person and deposits me away from him.

“You are not a heroine and I am not a hero, Barbi,” he speaks slowly, his eyes trained on me.

I release a heavy sigh.

“Of course you would say that,” I mumble.

He gives me a warning look.

I return my attention to my food, chewing slowly as I think of painful ways to make him regret his words.

“Wait a moment!” I suddenly say, my eyes widening at the realization. “If Damien is consuming souls at such an alarming speed, then…” I gulp down. “Is that why he was so interested in how many people are in my world? Because he wants to eat them too?”

Nykander nods.

“Precisely. It is also why he would need to sacrifice you,” he explains matter-of-factly. “Demons can only travel from one world to another in their physical form by using the blood of someone from the target world. Your blood functions like a key to open the portal for him to go to Anthropa.”

I stare in shock at him.

“Does that mean I saved my world? By not dying, I mean?”

“Well,” he muses thoughtfully. “Technically, you did.”

“Ha!” I point my finger at him as I jump to my feet.

He blinks in surprise.

“I am a heroine. I saved Earth from psycho Damien!” I jump up and down ecstatically. “I knew I was meant for greater things,” I add in a wistful tone. “Ever since I was young, I knew I had a bigger fate than just going to school and becoming a boring lawyer—which I was never going to do anyway, and my mother would have probably disowned me.”

“Barbi, you are doing that thing again,” Nykander mentions wryly.

“So what! I am a heroine. You should thank me, you know. Now, by extension, you are a hero too since you are my mate. I know you would have never imagined such a thing, with your villainous reputation and all.”

“Your logic does not make sense,” he murmurs, though he’s fighting a smile.

“Come on, Nykander. I know you secretly like it,” I say as I drop down next to him. “Admit it.” I wiggle my brows at him suggestively.

“I will admit no such thing.” He chuckles.

My lips slowly stretch into a smile as I regard him. He looks like a different man when he’s laid-back like this, laughing instead of scowling at me and telling me all the things I can’t do.

“There is one thing I am not clear about, though,” I start. “Why is it that you have such a bad reputation in Akkaya? Everyone was telling me that you were after Damien because you wanted to steal his crown.”

He scoffs.

“As if. I was after him because he happens to be the thrall of a man I abhor. He heard the rumor that the artifact might be located in Akkaya and he sent Damien here to get it for him. But you have met him. He is a narcissistic bastard who thrives on adulation.”

“A cheating bastard too,” I quip. “When I met him, he was in bed with two naked girls. Two, Nykander. And his wife was standing right there!”

“She is his wife only in name,” he mentions. “She is also a thrall, and they use their marriage as a cover.”

“It doesn’t matter! A marriage is a marriage,” I declare proudly.

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