Page 92 of The Demigod

Yes, even if he had an annoying habit of leaving his clothes scattered around the floor. Or deliberately disappearing just when he knew everyone was going to get started on chores.

He was a shameless slacker in some regards.

In others, he went above and beyond. Especially when it came to showing me just how much he loved me.

Which was why I had a ring on my finger. And was about to give away a little sliver of my soul to spend forever with Daemon.

We didn’t really need to ‘rush into’ it. I was partly immortal, after all. There was plenty of time. But it felt right to do it a year after I first watched Daemon being dragged into the cellar by my siblings.

We’d even floated the idea of traveling all the way back up to those very woods where our love story started.

Unfortunately, we had no idea what was going on with my siblings. And our entire family didn’t need to suffer at the hands of Oizys, Ares, or Eris just for us to get a full-circle moment.

The woods behind our home were just going to have to do.

“It was scary,” Lenore agreed. “But not as scary as the idea of not spending my life with Lycus.”

“And now you have little demon babies,” I said, smiling at the idea of how they were the perfect mix of their demon dad and witch mom. When they were angry, little horns poked out of their heads. But when they were sad, they made storm clouds gather and rain pour down.

I had maybe spent a fair amount of time wondering what little demigod demon babies might be like. Horned, for sure. But would they be masters at hide-and-seek? Would they grow to be rebellious teens who had handy dandy shadow cloaks to use to sneak out of the house?

We weren’t there yet.

We were still enjoying the hell out of our alone time together.

But we both talked about another generation, about the qualities we hoped the babies would inherit from us.

“Speaking of,” she said, looking up at the ceiling as one of her kids let out a sound that was a bit more demonic than human. “Someone is awake. I’ll see you in the woods in a few!”

With that, I made my way upstairs, ready to throw myself together.

The world wasn’t anywhere near having stores to go and shop in anymore. So getting a fancy new dress for the ceremony hadn’t been an option. But with some help from Lenore and the other girls, I’d thrown together a pretty enough outfit.

“There you are,” a voice called as soon as I opened our bedroom door.

But it wasn’t Daemon inside. He’d been dragged with Lucy and Bael to comb the woods to make sure there would be no threats to our ceremony later.

It was my mother.

“Hey! What are you doing here?”

“I heard this is an important day for you,” she said, turning in that way she always did, her shadows dancing around her like a skirt.

“It is,” I agreed, not sure how she got that news, but definitely not disappointed that she’d shown up.

Nyx wasn’t exactly… maternal. I guess you couldn’t expect that from a primordial being. But she was there for me. She never missed a month to bring me more ambrosia. And when she visited, we always sat and chatted. She even got on with Daemon.

The point was, she hung around. She showed up.

“I’ll be glad to know I will have eternity with you,” she told me. “I brought you something to celebrate,” she said, waving toward the closet door.

Turning, I found a dress hanging on the back of the door.

No.

Not just a dress.

Thedress.

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