Oh great…it was poison.
“Not poison, pet, but I doubt that makes it taste any better,”
A warm chuckle followed by a tender rub to her back brought Amelia’s rogue guts back under control. She glanced up from the floor to Knox, looming over her in all his purple glory. Slicked back hair, broad smile full of razor teeth, tail flicking behind him, her Knox stood before her. She sat back on her calves when she realized the vomit was gone.
“How did that work? I thought…I just… I had your soul.” She took his offered hands.
“Our contract stated you got me in exchange for a lie…it never said you had to keep it. You devoured me when I broke the contract. You just needed to cough me back up, so to speak.” He brushed the back of his knuckles across her cheeks lovingly. Amelia leaned into his touch, stumbling forward into him. “Hello, pet.”
“You absolute fucker,” she hissed, throwing her arms around him. He grunted as she fell against him, collapsing in his arms. Knox chuckled softly, clutching her just as tight. Amelia rubbed her face into his collar. He even smelt like her Knox. Like he’d never been torn apart. Breathing him in, she greedily drank in every bit of him. The feel of him in her arms, his kiss against her hair, his fingers burrowed into her sides, all of it. Amelia was finally home again.
“Amelia,” he sighed dreamily, kissing her over and over.
After an eternity soaking him back in, she ripped out of his arm and slugged him across the face. Knox cackled as he stumbled backward. Amelia’s fists quaked as she roared, “How fucking dare you pull that shit with me, you absolute fucker!How dare you rip my heart out like that and die before me! How dare you break your promise to me! Did you do this because you knew I’d be able to bring you back? Huh? Was that a backup plan of yours? Did you know that outcome too? Huh?”
Knox licked his already bleeding lip before peeking up at her. “Pet, I had no idea you’d be able to bring me back or that Persephone would even offer her services. I’d done nothing to deserve her help. Nor have I earned your mourning me enough to threaten an eldritch god to bring me back. I mean, pet, you’ve always had the absolute gall, but what you did with Persephone? Aravis? Beheading Declan? You continue to amaze me…and surprise me.”
Amelia panted for air, hunched over as her body sank from the release of pent-up rage. “What were you thinking?”
“When?” He raised a brow.
“When you looked me in the eye and told me you wouldn’t die, Knox.” She tossed her arms out with exasperation.
“Amelia…I looked at you and thought to myself, would I rather be owned by you for all eternity or be dead…and there was never any question.”
Knox closed the distance between them, his hands finding hers until he was pulling her into his chest. Amelia gasped as he dropped her palms for her cheeks, holding her locked in his intense gaze. Golden cracks sparkled around the royal purple orbs that bore through her. His thumbs brushed against her skin, leaving her shivering.
“I have been yours, Amelia, since I cornered you in that rotten cabin in the woods. I have not thought of anyone else, considered any other outcome, nor wanted anything but you since that moment. And whether you carry my soul in your pocket or allow me the pleasure of being at your side, I belong to you.”
Amelia stood there, breathlessly. He waited for her to find the words. For an author, she’d never felt at a loss for words until she slithered her hands up his torso to cup his face. Her palms glowed with red and black lines as she breathed, “And I belong to you.”
Lines of inky magic ran up her wrists, across her forearm, and bit into her shoulder.
A different type of contract…a different type of deal sank into her flesh…a deal for the rest of eternity.
“Now, pet, let’s go home. I have blood to get out of the floor, a staff to apologize to, and an empire to run…with you at my side.”
Amelia let him lead her back through the library, a portal crackling ahead of them in the middle of an aisle. They would need to deep clean the house and sanitize everything. Plus, there was the need to throw open all the windows to let the stench out. And, of course, she would need to go see her sister and Brayden. They ought to know she’d survived.Not to mention she owed the Mumfords a huge apology as she was likely going to need to quit.
But after all that! Amelia smiled to herself as she buzzed with a new idea. A new book brewed in her mind as they returned to King’s Fall.
Epilogue:
Knox
~Sometime later~
“On a technical standpoint,it’s not Zrazduel anymore. I am not a fear-eater, I am a devourer now,” Knox explained to Maevin who squinted at him from across the desk.
“I’m not fixing the paperwork. Do you know how much bullshit goes into changing your name legally on an illegal company?” Maevin huffed, hands on his slender hips.
Knox snorted, rolling his head. “Not to worry, I’m rather attached to my name anyway.”
Maevin shook his eyes, looking down the stack of papers, “So then what is all this about?”
“Ms. Armstrong, for security reasons, is going to need to legally change her name. I thought Amelia Zrazduel would be nice.” Maevin’s eyes snapped up from the papers, twitching with fury and ire. Knox snickered, “What?”
“For security reasons? What security reasons? You have not informed me of any new threats! Wejustgot the house cleaned, Knox!”