Page 41 of Wickedly Yours

“I wasn’thiding,” she said, her cheeks flushed. “I just?—”

“I’m sorry for leaving,” I murmured, crouching down to the edge of the pool.

A wince escaped my lips, and her brows furrowed, concern painting her features. “Is everything okay?”

“Not particularly, but you don’t have to be worried.” I put on my mask of indifferent arrogance, hoping she wouldn’t pry further. “I’m dealing with it.”

“Is there anything I can do?” She sounded hopeful, and a knot of worry unwound itself from my stomach. This would be okay. We would be okay.

I shook my head. She was already doing it just by being here. Smoothing out my rough edges. Tempering my mood.Grounding me.

Something had to be done about my father before it threatened our realm’s peace. Which meant I had to find a way through this. For my kingdom’s sake, I just hoped she would understand.

“You weren’t kidding about this place,” Luna whispered absentmindedly as she ran her hands through the surface of the water. “This is insane. I still can’t believe it’sreal.” She looked up at me. “I feel like I still can’t wrap my brain around it.”

I hummed in response, watching her. “Don’t the witches have stories about us?”

She laughed, the twinkling sound seeming to bounce off every inch of the room. Filling me up withlight. “Yeah, and wealso have stories about vampires and shifters and mermaids. But no one’s seen any of them for thousands of years, so… I thought the wholedon’t make a deal with the devilthing was just a cautionary tale.”

My chuckle was more of a rasp. “Just because you don’t see something doesn’t make it any less real.” Mermaids might have been a bit of a stretch, but my future queen had no idea what sort of creatures lurked inside her world, hidden behind magical barriers of their own. One day, I’d show her everything there was to know.

“Okay,Santa Claus.”

“What?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Are you saying you don’t know who Santa Claus is?” Luna looked stunned.

I shrugged. “I haven’t exactly spent a lot of time in the human world.” Not until I’d gone to Pleasant Grove. “I’ve been a little busy here.” Running my father’s kingdom. Trying to keep everything in line, even in a system threatening to pull me apart.

“Right.” Luna’s shoulders sagged. “Until me.”

Did she think she was a distraction? That for one minute, I’d ever regretted walking into that bar and findingmywitch sitting there, waiting for me? Fates. That was a mistake I needed to remedy immediately.

“Yes,” I agreed. “Until you.” My hands itched to reach out, to touch her, but I kept them where they were. “But don’t for one second think that I regret meeting you, Luna. Even if I had to do it all over again, exactly the same… I would.”

“Oh.” Turning in the water, her hands grasped the side of the pool as she turned to face me. Her green eyes held my gaze as I focused all my energy on her.

“You’re not a distraction,” I promised.You’re my salvation.

Luna bit her lip. “Okay.” She looked flustered,and I was trying to ignore how much I wanted to bring her lips to mine. To wring those sounds for her that had my cock stiffening in my pants. Fuck, losing myself in her body was like nothing else. And knowing her body lay a few feet from mine, completely naked andwet…I stifled a groan.

“Zain?” Her soft voice drew me out of my thoughts. I needed to control myself around her, which was even more apparent now. “There’s something I’ve been wondering about.” She gave me a puzzled look. “How do you… did you speak into my mind earlier?”

She still had no idea.

“It’s just something I can do. As a demon.”

“Soalldemons can mind-speak?”

I frowned. “Not exactly.” But explaining it, explainingwhyI could share thoughts with her… that would require another conversation she wasn’t ready for. Not yet.

Not until I made sure she loved me.

Her head was still resting on the edge of the pool, looking up at me with such devotion on her face that I almost broke down right then and there and told her.

“Come on,” I said, extending my hand out to her. “There are some people I want you to meet.”

Luna raised an eyebrow, slipping her hand into mine. “Other demons?”

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