Page 66 of Demons of Eden

“Nobody, it’s just a part of the marking.” The hunter shrugs. “Eden, you ready?”

“To bleed all over your wall? Sure!” I say, mockingly cheerful as I take the dagger. I wipe the tiny bit of blood off on Ash’s clothes before sanitising it with a quick spell. He frowns at the small stain I’ve given his shirt but doesn’t comment. Honestly, if he didn’t want to be used as a rag, he should have cleaned it off himself.

I lightly slice across my fingertip, hissing quietly at the faint sting, just like an annoying papercut. After adding my blood to another triangle that Dai points out, I find my free hand drifting to my stomach. “What about the baby?”

“They should be fine as they’re inside of you, but just in case, drag your finger and make a connection between the two imprints. It will recognise any shared descendants of yours too.”

I follow Daion’s instructions, connecting mine and Ash’s markings, watching the sigil glow once more as I pull my hand away. “All done?”

“Almost,” he replies, gesturing for me to step out of the way. He cuts himself with another blade, though he swipes directly across his palm rather than a finger, then presses his bleeding hand over the centremost point. With a quiet murmur of anincantation, I feel a wave of energy pass through the entire building as the wards activate.

It’s done.

I feel some of the tension drain out of my body, my shoulders relaxing and my hands unclenching. It undeniably feels safer here now I know Paimon can’t just waltz into the building and abduct me again. Even if he found a way to break through the warding, we would have the warning of it being broken. Time to prepare or run.

“Well,” Ash drawls to catch our attention. “Now I know I’m not about to explode and that Eden’s safe from that iracaedi bastard, I’m going out for a little bit. I trust you can make sure she doesn’t leave the building till I return?” He directs the question to Daion, who nods in answer.

“I’m right here, you know,” I point out, resisting the urge to pout.

“As if I could ever miss your presence,” he replies, turning the charm on while dragging me into his arms. He holds me tightly to his chest for a moment before pulling back for a kiss. It’s just as gentle as the ones to my forehead were. “I’ll be back soon, little witch.”

Then he’s leaving before I can ask where he’s going.

Torrin must look away from the ceiling for long enough to notice the unhappy way I stare after Ash once he’s left the room, as he finally pulls himself up off the couch. “I’ll go with him.”

“I’ll go too, if you’re good holding down the fort?” Rio questions Daion.

“We’ll be fine. Just…try not to get into any trouble,” he orders while wrapping his hand with a bandage.Did he really have to give himself such a big cut? Or was he just being dramatic for the sake of it?

“Never do.”

“Liar,” Daion accuses his youngest brother. It’s said with good humour, though, and Rio doesn’t argue it, just slaps him lightly on the shoulder as he walks past him to the door.

“And then there were two,” I mutter a few moments after Torrin and Rio have left to follow Ash.

“Are you hungry?” Daion asks, and I’m about to say no when my stomach chooses then that exact moment to growl, apparently deigning to answer for me. He smirks. “Come on, I’ll make you something to eat.”

“Doyou want to talk about it?” Daion asks once we’ve finished eating, setting our empty plates onto the table before joining me on the sofa.

“Talk about what?” I reply, shuffling the cushions around and repositioning them to make myself more comfortable now I’m no longer worried about getting crumbs everywhere.

“What happened with the demon,” he clarifies, then gestures to my stomach. “I know he’s sped things up there, but he didn’t do anything else, did he? You seem…quieter than usual.”

“He didn’t really do anything else, other than talk a lot,” I answer, perhaps a little flippantly given the seriousness in Daion’s tone.

Ignoring my feelings might not be the healthiest coping method, but I don’t want to go into all of the gritty details right now. Like how helpless I’d felt, unable to protect myself or my baby, and the way his disturbing threats made my skin crawl. I hold myself still as a shudder tries to rattle through me.

“Honestly, I’m a thousand percent sure he’s in love with the sound of his own voice, the way he just droned on and on,” I add, trying to keep it light.

“Not what I meant.”

“He really did mostly just talk,” I protest, not meeting his eyes.

“What about?” Daion asks calmly, clearly not about to give up on the topic.

“You know…insane demon lord stuff. Insults to lesser species, some bullshit about how he was protecting my child, not only trying to steal them, the usual nonsense.”

“Eden.”

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