Page 130 of Married to the Devil

I needed him. I needed them both. And they left.

So erasing this pregnancy won’t bring back the moments my love felt too big for my chest.

It would just be me losing something else.

How many more things do I have to lose for this territory?

Not this.

I may be the only one to care for it right now, but it’s mine to care for.

“I’m fine,” I say, my voice stronger than my insides.

Silas doesn’t offer any arguments about how this makes everything so much more complicated. He only nods.

“Whatever you need,” he says.

“I need—” I break off to swallow the bitter rush of disenchantment. “I need to work.”

Stoneheart doesn’t returnuntil late into the evening. That must be the time anyway. The actions of charm making soothed the numbness, but it doesn’t quell the anger or frustration.

Fucking men. Fucking Council. Fucking territory and all the people in it.

His presence announces himself. The dark air shivers across my skin, but I ignore it. I am no shirking bride tonight. I’m a coiled snake willing to strike.

I don’t respond to him entering the room. Connors leaves to wait outside. A talon taps the plate of dinner that’s long since gone cold at the far end of my worktable.

“They say you haven’t eaten much,” he says.

My stomach turns at the thought of food and the ridiculous observation. Why should he care? “I haven’t had much of an appetite.”

Pepper probably suspects about the pregnancy. It’s not like this is some secret to keep quiet even if Connors had delivered the food rather than let the female shifter close.

I could hide it. I could possibly make a charm that would remove the scent of Ben from me.

The thought of the demon stings, but he’s not who lulled me in with whispers of mutual caretaking only to turn away.

Ben always planned to leave. Maybe he’ll return, maybe not, but I’m not basing any plans on needing him either way.

Hiding that the baby is his indicates that I’m ashamed of it.

I’m not.

And I find I’m not so quick to want to capitulate to the cries of the mob. If they really think Frank is their best option at the end of everything? Maybe they don’t deserve to be saved. It’s a disingenuous thought, but it’s my current state of mind.

There’s an heir. So what if it’s not Stoneheart’s? It’s mine, and I’m the one with a blood right to this territory.

“Stella, about the baby—” Stoneheart starts as if reading my mind.

“I’m keeping it,” I say, glaring at him and unable to read the flicker in his eyes. “And I don’t want to talk about it with you, not yet.”

He nods, so giving and magnanimous in this moment but not when I actually needed him.

“You’ve been busy,” he says, gesturing to the partly completed charms around me. With each physical action of shaping the metals and stone, I plan my next moves. I grieved what we had between the three of us, but I’m moving forward now.

I know when he sees it because he flinches, and his expression becomes even more remote.

The labradorite is the center stone for the newest charms.

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