Page 62 of Dating the Dealing Demon

The searing heat around me fuels the gods-awful adrenaline rush exploding through my body.

I can’t rein in the Brimstone blaze. The unlimited power I’d desired for so long through finding and conquering a mating bond spirals unchecked. My cruel ambition and its violent consequences threaten to burn down everything and everyone I’ve ever cared about.

Shadowvale.

Those who I’ve offered sanctuary.

Nic.

Val.

My magic will destroy it all, and I can do nothing to stop it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Val

Clinging to Theo’s wings, I drag the designer sweater Shadowvale conjured me this morning over my mouth and nose. Purple flames lick hungrily at the walls, devouring the plush carpets woven by house elves and the ornate high-stakes poker tables twisted and grown by dryads. Pixie spells ping out of control, their fireworks adding hearts and rainbow sparkles to the deadly blaze. The air hangs thickly, making each gasp feel like swallowing fire.

My throat burns with every breath of Brimstone smoke. Theo had been so worried about the poisons in my lab, and here, he torches his own castle with it.

I have to stop him. Pushing through the panic that has my lungs on lockdown, I force my way around him—no easy feat when he’s rigid as though frozen in the fire magic. Flames writhe near us, and scorching winds tear at me from the exploding enchanted games.

Monty pushes at my back, helping propel me along. Thank goodness for little flying friends.

“Theo?” Calling his name the first two times did nothing. So much for the third time being a charm in this realm of actual magic. Cards around us transform into small paper birds to flutter past us, their thin wings tinted with a faint, ethereal glow. “Shadowvale!” I yell over the sudden swarm. “A little help?”

A glittering foam pours through the floor in places and the ceiling in others, moving like a living mass. Its heavy mist clouds the air, and I blink to clear my vision, but it’s impossible between the spray and the smoke. Yet the foam slowly devours flames in its path.

Score one for the enchanted castle.

Dice pop and sputter into life nearby, their spells sending ice magic crackling across charmed craps tables to extinguish the fire there.

“Thanks, Shadowvale,” I whisper. The castle deserves some serious TLC after this disaster and the power expenditure it must cost for it to conjure a supernatural sprinkler system.

I can’t see Nic through the haze, but the spot where Theo’s mother started this whole mess stands empty. She must have taken off.Useless instigator. I manage not to mumble the thought out loud. First things first. I need to get my guy to stop spiraling.

“Come on, Theo.” The plea comes out muffled between the cloth over my mouth and my coughing. His muscles vibrate with tension, and his face is locked in an expression of agony and horror. My heart twists. Sure, I spin out of control, but Theo doesn’t. He prides himself on keeping everything together. Such a massive, frenzied outburst must be killing him.

Well, I won’t let it kill me. Or anyone else in Shadowvale.

This ends now.

Brimstone flames lick around me. Thank goodness the mating magic gave me an immunity to the burn of his fire, if not to the rest of its deadly effects.

I drop the sweater away from my nose. Smoke instantly fills my lungs, choking me. My chest burns, and dizziness threatens to pull me under. Yet I go onto my toes and yank on Theo’s horns, pulling his head down to press my mouth against his.

Kisses work in storybooks. Here’s hoping one will bring my demon back.

His mouth remains unyielding, and I crush tighter against him, begging him with my body to wake the fuck up.

“Val?” Nic’s shout comes from close by. “Come away from his and Montejanus’s flames. I can’t reach you in there.”

“I won’t leave Theo. He wouldn’t leave me.” I think. I hope.

“We have to get you out of here. You’ll die if you stay.”

I don’t move away from him. Tangling my fingers in his hair, I let the Brimstone fire wrap around the two of us as the whirlwind of emotions and flames threatens to sweep us both under. I nip at his mouth, risking the bite of his fangs.

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