Page 37 of Deviled Eggs

“No, just wait,” he interrupts, and I snap my mouth shut. “I don’t want you to lie to me and make me feel better with promises you have no intention of keeping. Just… before you’re done with me… maybe you could take me dancing?” He sounds so small as he says it, and fuck, how my heart breaks at the soft request.

My voice is thick as I say, “Yeah, I can do that.”

He twists and lifts onto his knees, and he looks so young and innocent as he stares at me, wearing my t-shirt that’s a little baggy on him with his hair pulled back in the braid. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to kill the mood.”

“You didn’t.” I smooth his hair and give him my sunniest smile before leaning in and pressing a kiss to his lips. “Why don’t we grab some breakfast? There’s an amazing diner right down the street.”

“Diner food, how common,” he says, and I scoff before I catch the sneaky grin on his face. I reach around to swat his ass once more.

“Come on.” I stand and pull him to his feet. We walk hand-in-hand through the lobby and along the sidewalk, and I can’t remember the last time I’ve been so happy.

Chapter 13

Xalreth

The following week passes in a blur. Every free minute is filled with Micah, and the ease with which we’ve fallen into this comfortable companionship is terrifying. We have established that neither of us likes to cook, so most evenings we grab dinner together before we fall into bed.

It’s every fantasy I’ve ever had come to life, and they play like a reel through my mind. Ropes binding his hands and ankles behind his back as he knelt submissively. The quiet whines and louder moans that crawled from his throat as I hooked his knees and fucked him face to face. His powerful thighs flexing as he rode me on the couch when I allowed him to remove his cage, and the way his thick cock leaked against my abs until he couldn’t contain it anymore. One night, I even had him bentover his podium, with his pants around his ankles and my hand covering his mouth.

His eyes meet mine from behind that same podium, and he flashes me the tiniest hint of a grin. I have to shift in my seat as more of those memories play in my mind.

“Ugh,” Damien groans as he plops into the chair beside me. “We wentdecadeswithout having a single meeting and now Micah insists on calling us here over and fucking over again. Is he that starved for attention?”

Something ugly and visceral contorts inside me, the urge to defend him twisting into a knot in my stomach. I force my expression to remain carefully blank, but inside, I’ve never felt so guilty. It feels like a betrayal to keep quiet, and an even bigger one to speak up and bring secrets to light that Micah isn’t ready to have exposed. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you didn’t want to see me.”

Damien makes a show of his irritation, huffing an obnoxious scoff and rolling his whiskey brown eyes up into his head. “All those times you accused me of being the drama queen, and who’s wearing the crown now?”

A soft chuckle forms in my throat as I bump him with my shoulder. “That’s a title no one will ever take from you.”

“Yes, well, you never used it when you announced me.”

“‘All hail The Lucifer, The Queen of Drama’ doesn’t quite have the same ring as the others.”

He tries not to grin and fails, scratching his face to cover his smile. “We had some good times, even if you’re too stubborn to admit it. No, of course I want to see you. It’shimthat I have no desire to be around. I’d rather fight my way through a thousand pissed-off demons than have to sit through another meeting with that self-righteous Angel.”

Unbidden, my eyes fall to Micah as he prepares his notes, and the irritation that used to form at his presence is replaced bywarm affection. In the past, I’d perceived him as pompous and arrogant, just as Damien does. A sanctimonious, smug man who did whatever he wanted and ignored any advice that didn’t align with his own inflated ego.

But now that I know him, that’s not what I see anymore.

Sure, I recognize the rigid set of his jaw, the unwavering gaze and refusal to bend. The stubbornness that still makes me want to shake sense into him daily. But they’re traits of a man who’s spent millennia with no choice other than to be in absolute control. One who lives by the rule of perfection’s impossible demands, without the freedom that comes from being allowed to fail. It’s a freedom the rest of us take for granted—the ability to fall, knowing we can pick ourselves up from the wreckage.

Not him.

He’s carrying the weight of responsibility that might crush a lesser being, and that’s what I see when I look at him now. Someone who tightrope walks every aspect of his life while he tries to balance the tasks he has no choice but to take. Someone ridiculed and hated, no matter those choices.

Someone who desperately craves love and affection, and is afraid that, too, means he is a failure.

Damien continues to speak, oblivious to my inner turmoil. “Hell, and you’ve been having to spend all this extra time with him. I bet that’s fucking torture, isn’t it?” He mimes stabbing himself under his fingernail, a huge grin splitting his face as if the action is hilarious.

And I suppose at one time, it would’ve been.

I give a noncommittal hum and open my mouth to change the subject, but of course, Damien isn’t done. “If I had to be in his presence that much, I’d throw myself off a fucking cliff. Actually, I’d still be able to hear his pompous ass voice the whole way down, so scratch that. Just give me an old-fashionedbeheading, but do it guillotine style, so I don’t have to look at how he lifts his stupid nose into the air.”

“Damien,” I warn quietly as my temper prickles at the back of my neck.

“I mean, he acts like he’s perfect when he is the biggest moron I’ve ever met. How do you get to bethatold and still make a fool of yourself every time you open your mouth? Hehasto know that no one likes his angelic ass.” The room has fallen silent, and when I glance up, Micah stares at the podium, his eyes vacant and jaw tense.

To everyone else, he probably appears to be disengaged and disinterested, but I’ve seen the depth that lies beneath his armor. Damien’s words reached him, but not only that, they hurt him. I recognize the pain on his face, and how he hates himself for allowing it to affect him.

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