Page 111 of Married to the Devil

Zena may reach out as if in comfort, but the shop is a blur as I make my way out.

Every moment, every touch since the beginning, I knew this had an end date, but it doesn’t make the last grains of sand in the hourglass easier.

The ache in my chest is distracting even as I try to ignore it and sightlessly take in the other people on the street. A couple of women who were laughing together stare at me now. Their gazes knowing.

I duck my head and find the nearest alleyway to teleport away. When I get there, I fall against the brick wall, gasping. The pain is like nothing I’d ever crave, but this is the end.

I don’t want to leave them, but my presence is hurting Stella and Stoneheart, and I will not allow that.

I’ll grant myself one last night with them. That thought allows me to take a breath past the tightness in my body.

One night to enjoy them and to be instrumental in solving their problem.

One night to say goodbye.

36

REMY

I liftmy chin at Connors when I enter Stella’s workshop, and he leaves to stand guard on the outside of the closed door.

Stella doesn’t register any of it and mutters angrily at the metal she’s hunched over.

“Wife,” I greet, but other than a single glance up, she doesn’t say anything. “How did the conversation with your mother go?”

Her shoulders come down, but she keeps her gaze on what’s she working on. The metal piece would fit in the palm of her hand and has intricate designs around the centerpiece.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she says.

I nod, unsurprised. Ben had told me as much. “I think you should.”

The look she casts me is caustic. “Excuse me if I don’t want to talk about my feelings with you.”

Her eyes drop back to her work as if ashamed for lashing out, but I’m unbothered. She’s right. I’m hardly the one to talk to about emotions, but I can’t ignore what is troubling her.

My lips twitch, and I bring my hands to rest on the table on either side of her, my breath brushing her fiery hair as she stills.

“There is only room for one stubborn stoic in this relationship,” I say.

Stella chuffs a laugh, before falling silent. After a moment, she places the charm she’s working on away from her and leans back into me.

“She doesn’t believe I can do this.” Her voice is soft.

“Do what?”

She shrugs. “This. Manage the politics, gain acceptance from the shifters. She doesn’t think I can be the leader they need.”

And that hurts the woman in front of me more than she cares to admit.

I frown. “She said that specifically?”

“Not all of it, but if my own mother doesn’t think I can succeed?—”

“Stop,” I growl without meaning to, but she halts with a sniff.

I turn her on the stool to face me. Her brows are furrowed with the insecurities she shrugged off early in this marriage.

I tilt her chin up so our eyes meet. “Her doubts have nothing to do with your abilities. Elena Elderflower entered into an arranged marriage with a dangerous territory leader. The similarities are too much for her to handle, but you are not her.”

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