Page 109 of Their Demon

“So Godisreal?”

I turned to her. She was staring at me with huge, curious eyes. I couldn’t help but smile at her, my heart beating a little faster as I tried to memorize what she looked like in the low light.

I shrugged. “I honestly couldn’t tell you. Heaven supposedly doesn’t have much to do with what happens on Earth or in Hell, so we’ve never seen him or anyone from heaven. The last residents of Hell to supposedly see him were Lucifer and his fellow fallen angels, but they’re all long gone, and things are different now.”

She turned on her side, nestling into my shoulder and throwing her leg over my abdomen. I placed my hand on her thigh, stroking it with my thumb.

“How so?”

“Demons were evil creatures in the beginning; I’ll never deny that. The goal was always to drag as many souls to Hell as possible, a ‘fuck you’ to the guy who threw out Lucifer, but we’ve changed and adapted since. Most of us live, or at least try to live, somewhat normal, mundane lives. My father and his army are the only true evil here anymore, but they’re under his control, so sometimes I wonder if they even have much of a choice.” I clenched my jaw and held her tighter.

She sat up, pulling away from my body and making me miss her soft, warm skin on mine. She braced herself on her elbow and placed the other hand on my chest. We sat like that for a moment, staring at one another, enjoying the comfortable silence as she examined me.

I could have looked at her like this forever. She looked happy, relaxed, and free. I wished I could capture her at this moment and never let her feel anything but this amazing lightness.

“Do you even want to be the next Satan?”

It felt like a truck ran right into my chest, the wind knocked out of me by a simple question. “No one has ever actually asked me that…”

“Oh,” she said sadly. “I’m sorry.”

I blew out a breath. “Don’t be. It's actually kind of nice to know someone cares about what I want.”

A puzzled look washed over her as she moved her hand from my chest to my face. “I willalwayscare about what you want. You deserve to be listened to, to choose your own path. I’m sorry you’ve been convinced differently.”

My stomach filled with flutters as I stared at the girl I once wrote off because I was afraid I’d break her. Instead, she was putting me back together, piece by broken piece. Happy tears pricked at my eyes, but I tried to blink them away, not wanting to cry in front of her for the second time today.

“You are a peculiar creature, princess. So soft, so kind to me when you should be anything but. I'll never know what I did to deserve such a wonderful woman by my side, but I will spend my eternity working to be the man you deserve.”

“You already are.” Her hand moved to my cheek, her thumb stroking my skin. “You’ve put yourself on the line for us, taking a punishment you didn’t have to bear alone. You’ve stood by my side this entire time, cheering me on. You’ve given me everything you have to offer. What more could I want?” She placed a gentle, sweet kiss on my lips. “You are everything I need, everything I want.”

“You are so damn perfect,” I told her as I grabbed her chin to bring her lips back to mine for another kiss.

“That’s awfully sweet,” she said with a smile, her cheeks turning a rosy red. “But you still haven’t answered my question.”

“Ah, yes.” I thought for a moment. “The crown isn’t something passed down, not really. The current Satan, as you know, has to be killed before someone can ascend to the throne. Some Satans have been killed by enemies and others pass it to their eldest by falling on their swords as a sign of strength. I don’t think my father intends to relinquish his throne anytime soon, not by choice, anyway.” I paused. “But to answer your question, no, I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to be the next Satan.”

Just like that, a million tons of bricks were lifted from me. I closed my eyes, relishing in the freedom my admission had provided, knowing it wasmytruth.

When I opened my eyes, Lillian was staring at me, a happy smile on her face. Even her eyes were smiling.

“What’re you thinking?” I asked her.

“Just that mydestined lovelooks awfully cute when he’s happy.”

I fucking loved her. I loved her more than I’d ever loved anything, and I silently cursed myself for keeping my distance, feeling stupid for missing out on all of this for so long.

“Well, he regrets not taking you on the altar that night when he realized who you were.”

She furrowed her brows. “You knew that night?”

I nodded my head. “Your birthmark on your thigh. We call them soul marks. I have the one to match yours.”

Her eyes widened as she scrambled to look at my left thigh, finding a familiar shaded area of skin. I sat up on my elbows to watch her.

“Holy fucking shit…” She covered her mouth in shock. “You even have a cut through yours, like the one I have. The one… the one he gave me that night. What happened to yours?”

I sat up all the way, pulling her into my lap, her back to my chest, holding her tightly as I breathed her in. “It was changed to match yours. The night you were attacked, we were on our way back to find you. I made us search the area so no one could follow us through the portal. If I had just gone in right then, maybe you wouldn’t have been…” I choked on my words, remembering the moment we passed through the portal and I saw the way he had abused her. She’d looked so tiny, so broken that night. “I felt a pain in my thigh, like someone had taken a knife to it. I felt your fear, your agony. I heard your screams. That’s when I knew something was wrong. I knew you were in trouble.” I squeezed her even tighter. “I’m sorry we weren’t faster.”

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