Page 46 of Married to the Devil

Maybe for him, it is.

I glare at him. “I see your strategy.”

His smile is dangerous. “I doubt that.”

“Stella already told me you want my abilities.”

He nods with ease. “I do. It’s something I get access to as long as you stay enamored with my wife. I don’t need to have you pledge your loyalties to me. We can all beflexible.”

I swallow.

Stoneheart sits on the arm of the couch. Stella’s bare feet are curled in reaching distance. She’d kicked off her heels after picking a book from the shelf which lays face down on the floor telling the story of how she’d fallen asleep before finishing the first page. There’s a softness to his face that has me blinking. I’m caught off guard when he speaks next.

“If I hadn’t existed, would you have ever acted on your desire for her?” His pale gaze meets mine in challenge.

I don’t answer. It’s a question I’ve asked myself with little to show for clarity.

“You aren’t a fan of mine, but my presence has made you claim her as your responsibility, and responsibility is how you structure your life.” His brow arches. “You wouldn’t allow yourself to even breathe her air if it weren’t for me.”

He’s probably right, and I hate that. The underlying reason I should stay away from them isn’t only to avoid hurt. It’s to avoid causing conflict with my role as Kalos’s second-in-command. I have many responsibilities to my family. I can’t abandon those just because of a tantalizing witch…and a compelling gargoyle taunting me.

But he did say this could be flexible—I clench my jaw at my weakness.

What must it be like to notice the flaws of everyone and still take advantage of them?

Stoneheart makes an exaggerated sigh when I don’t respond. “This is hardly the gratitude I’d expect.”

“So youdowant me to fall on my knees for you,” I quip.

If I thought his smile was dangerous before, it doesn’t hold a candle to the way his eyes glitter now. “I suspect there’s a part of you that would enjoy that.”

I take a breath, trying to not allow the tease to bring me back to the night he’d grasped my throat. Had that only been a couple of days ago?

Stoneheart tilts his head like a predator scenting blood. “When’s the last time you let yourself be selfish? Let yourself imbibe in something that feeds the Ben part of you. Not the satisfaction you get from doing your duty, from serving, but something solely for you?”

I jolt at his use of my name. I open my mouth but don’t have a clue what to say to that. Duty isn’t my sole function… Right?

Luckily, Stella makes a soft sound, and both of our attentions snap to her.

“Stoneheart?” she asks blearily. “What time is it?”

“It’s not very late,” he responds as if he hadn’t been weaving a spell over me. He moves to stroke her bare leg as if to soothe her but pulls away before contact. “Do you think you’ll want to head to bed yet? You’ve napped for a long time.”

I inhale, allowing my body to relax now that I’m not his focus.

Stella sighs and sits up. “I think I need to be awake for a little before I’m ready to sleep through the night. The energy drain hit me hard.”

Her eyes widen when they land on me.

“Ben, you’re still here. You watched me sleep?” There’s a crease across one of her cheeks, and her hair is fluffed up in an adorable way.

“I may have enjoyed it,” I joke.

“Do you want a drink?” Stoneheart asks as Stella blushes and tries to surreptitiously wipe away any drool.

She winces. “Just water. Didn’t Silas say there’s a mini fridge in here?”

I half expect that he’d bark the order at me, but the leader of multiple territories with a fearsome reputation puts down his drink and goes to the mini fridge, bringing back a bottle of water along with a granola bar from the snack stash.

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