Page 84 of Dating the Dealing Demon

“That’s incredibly sexy.” He didnotjust break out his rumbly demon voice that makes my lady parts throb harder than the bassline at a rave.

“A little more venom, and I might be able to?—”

“No.” He levels me with the full Prince of Darkness glare.

I sigh because oh, to be able to take his mind off the clusterfuck that is both our families with a quick and mutually satisfying screw? That would be wonderful. Unfortunately, the burns left by my magic seem to get exponentially more painful each time I use it. Worse, I have to admit to myself that he’s probably right. Not even his venom can take my brain off theowfactor of a sunburn that stings as though I stood on the surface of the actual sun to get it.

Sighing hurts. Friggin’ sighing!

He prods the bottle toward me. “Take the potion, and I’ll talk about feelings.” He grumbles the last word like most beauty influencers would sayfungus. Or at least those who don’t celebrate the anti-aging and antioxidants those wonderful littleorganisms—“Vicious,” he cuts into my runaway thought train. “You drinking it before you pass out from the pain would be nice.”

“Fine.” I take the bottle from him, tip it back, and fight my gag reflex. “Gah, hand sanitizer would go down smoother than that. I swear Ora makes each more disgusting than the last.”

“She’s working to treat a magical malady no one has ever seen before.” His reminder sends my guilt factor soaring until he adds, “Although I wouldn’t be surprised if she hasn’t thrown in some particularly foul ingredient to remind younotto use your magic until we’ve discovered a way to keep it from burning you from the inside each time you invoke it.”

“Is she?” I narrow my eyes. “Or areyouadding it?”

“Would I do something so devious?”

“Hmm.” I save my decision for later because I need to concentrate on what he promised or he’ll wriggle out of our bargain. “I drank the potion, so talk.”

Now he’s the one sighing. “I didn’t see Gilly as a remote possibility of being the traitor. I missed all the signs. How did I not notice how unhappy she’d become?”

“I think shooting your cousin in the head, not to mention planning to take over every realm in every world, goes a bit beyond unhappy.” I’m careful with my choice of words, not wanting to add insult to massive injury by calling his traitorous, backstabbing…or um, back-of-the-skull shooting…sister batshit crazy. “It’s more than the betrayal of you, your family, and your people. She’s fine with wiping out entire existences.”

“All the more reason I should’ve noticed.”

“Are you blaming Nic for not noticing?”

“No.” His answer is so quick, so sure.

“Are you holdingliterallyanyone else responsible for failing to pick up on the levels of psycho she’d descended to?” Okay, so much for sugarcoating. Hey, I tried.

“No, but I’m the crown prince and her older brother?—”

“Oh my god, Theo, you’re not the boss of everyone everywhere, no matter how much you might want to be. Your sister went megalomaniacal tyrant on a universal level. No one could’ve predicted that. So get pissed off or sad or have any and all of the emotions except feeling guilty about the choicesshemade when you’ve lived your entire life for the benefit of the kingdom, starting with your family.”

“Starting with you, now.”

“Don’t try to flatter your way out of this.”

“It’s not flattery. Just truth,” he says. “You were right about not leaving you.”

“You’ll find I’m right about a lot of things, but you can keep telling me.” I sink into the pillows. Maybe he didn’t heap too many onto the bed. Maybe there are exactly enough. Of course, some of my sudden comfort could be him sayingI’m rightor the healing potion finally taking the edge off my pain. “Now I sound like a brat.”

“When you’re feeling better, you can show me how much of a brat you can be.”

“And talk feelings since I held up my end of the deal.”

“We’ll talk about whatever you like,” he agrees. “But for now, get some rest. I sent others to sort through whatever they could find in Dupree’s rooms, his house, or Gilly’s mansions that might tell us more about her next move. I can wait to feel all thefeelings…” Again, with the strong hatred of the word in his tone. Will my man ever own up to having emotional depth? “After we’ve stopped Gilly,” he declares as though that’s the end of discussion.

“How do we stop someone we can’t find?” I ask. “She could be anywhere by now if she’s able to open portals without worrying about your family’s rules.”

“I can help with that.” Nic walks in the room, her wings tucked to keep from sweeping the gnomes off their feet or the pixies from the blooms. She steps over the salt patterns. “I don’t know where our sister is this exact moment, but she sent a message of where she’ll be for the full moon. I think she means to draw you out.” She looks from me to Theo. “Both of you.”

“Why me?” I ask. “I mean Theo I understand since she has a warped sense of needing to show him up.”

“You have the magic she believes to be rightfully hers,” Theo says.

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