Page 127 of Demon with Benefits
“They were presents for you.”
“I didn’t want those fucking presents!”
“He didn’t know that. He was trying to be nice.”
Iris was staring at the crack in the bedroom door. “It’s... done? Just like that?”
“Yeah. Fuck, I need a drink.” Belial stormed off.
Raum followed him. “That was a pretty epic decapitation, brother. You sure you’ve got the rage under control?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
“I’m just asking...”
Tuning them out, Iris leaned forward and pushed the bedroom door open. The smell was truly foul and likely to stick around for a while. She should just open a window.
She stepped inside Meph’s room, heart racing for some reason.
And then she saw the pile of ash.
It was indeed all over Meph’s clothes, although most of it was contained to the cleared space on the floor where the hellgate was drawn. The ashes were a light, colorless gray.
A lump rose in her throat, and she dropped to the floor right then and there.
This was it. This was the end. Valefor was dead. Her parents were avenged. Her sister was safe. Just like that.
It was so easy. Just another day in the life of Belial, she thought with a snort.
The laugh burst out of her, and with her emotions all haywire, it quickly turned into tears.
All this pain and suffering, foryears, and it was over now. It could have been over ages ago, she realized, staring at that ash pile.
The ashes meant nothing. Valefor had never meant anything. The only importance he had was whatshehad ascribed to him.
Well, she was done.
She was done wasting her energy over a donkey-lion demon who wasn’t even that cool or powerful at the end of the day. All his power had come from controlling others. Belial could launch hellfire from his hands. Mist could turn to mist. Meph, well, she already knew what he could do. But Valefor had just been a master manipulator. A useful skill, but it wasn’t that exciting. It certainly wasn’t worth the pedestal of supervillain she had elevated him to.
She stood suddenly and kicked the ash pile. “Fuck you and good riddance.”
While she was at it with the metamorphosis, she decided to forgive herself too.
Yes, she should have told Lily the truth about the fire from the beginning, and yes, she should never have allowed the lie to fester for as long as it had, but her poor choices had been made with good intentions. All she’d ever wanted was to keep her twin safe and happy.
Lily had seen that. It was likely the real reason she’d forgiven Iris as easily as she had. They were sisters, and they loved and protected each other no matter what. Lily knew that. Iris knew that.
And maybe Iris’s difficulty accepting Lily’s forgiveness had nothing to do with whether she deserved it or not and everything to do with the fact that Iris hadn’t forgivenherself.
Well, now she did. She had fucked up, but she’d done her best, and in the end, everything had worked out. They were safe and happy and alive. The absolution she had sought had been hers to grant all along, and she did so now.
And god, what a relief. She felt so light, she half expected to lift off the floor and start floating toward the ceiling.
She gave herself permission to be happy. To fall in love. To finally put her grief to rest.
She loved her parents and would always miss them, and she would likely still wake from time to time with that pain in her chest after dreaming memories of her childhood, but she was done with the anger and resentment.
From now on, she was going to live the life they’d fought so hard to give her.
