Page 150 of Married to the Devil

Violence lashes my insides at the idea that anyone would dare target my—what? Stella and Stoneheart don’t belong to me. All that’s left between us is a bond I can’t bring myself to let go of.

“The vote was in their favor,” Kalos says, interrupting my emotional upheaval.

I blink in confusion. “But why?—”

“Because apparently the only one who is going to give you a wakeup call about ignoring your feelings is me. Maggie wants to give you space to heal, and Katarina thinks you should suffer for abandoning her friend.”

I flinch and focus on the glossy piano in front of me instead of the sear of pain I feel when Stella enters my thoughts. I hurt her, but she’s better off without me.

“I care deeply for you, Ben. Enough to let you go, but you have to act before it’s too late.”

“They don’t need me.”

“Do you think I need Katarina?” Kalos asks.

“Yes.”

Kalos would burn down the whole world if anything happened to her.

His lips twitch at my quick response. “That’s fair. Do you think that she needs me?”

I pause, because I wouldn’t say that. Katarina could survive just fine without Kalos. She wouldn’t want to be without him, though.

Kalos sighs as if sensing he’s making headway. “Loving someone isn’t about what you do for them.”

His scale covered hand grips my shoulder with meaning. “I know what it is to lose a mate and child, but yours are still here.”

The understanding in his golden gaze makes it hard to speak.

He continues, “Don’t make me fire you to get your priorities in order.”

After a moment I clear the ache from my throat.

“That sounds rather high-handed. I don’t have a place with them,” I say, and the excuse sounds terrible to my own ears.

Kalos snorts. “Did you ask?”

My phone buzzes, and I check it, frowning as I read the message.

“What is it?” Kalos asks.

“Zena. She’s calling in a favor.”

Kalos rolls his eyes, but with how valuable of a resource Zena is, neither of us would dare ignore her. “We aren’t done talking about this.”

“Repeating yourself doesn’t change anything,” I say even though something has shifted the doubt lodged in my chest.

“If there’s a chance to make you happy, I’ll repeat myself until I lose my voice.”

I blink, losing my ready reply in the face of his honesty, but Kalos only nods with satisfaction.

I teleport to my favorite potion master’s shop to escape the screaming demand in my soul that he’s right.

I made the wrong choice, and every action since then compounds that.

“I’m here,” I call out, needing a distraction. The eclectic mix of the shop isn’t enough to pull my thoughts away from the people I should be talking to.

Something falls in the back, and Zena bustles out. Her hair frizzy with energy and her eyes bright with obsession. I’ve never seen her so in the zone.

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