Page 53 of The Demon's Little Girl
Afterward, we lie tangled together, both struggling to catch our breath. I pull her against my chest, marveling at how perfectly she fits there, how right this feels after years of careful distance.
"That was..." she whispers against my skin.
"Perfect," I finish, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "You're perfect."
She tilts her face up to look at me, and the love I see there makes my chest tight. "What happens now?"
I trace the line of her jaw with gentle fingers, still unable to believe she's here, that she's mine. "Now we figure out the rest together. You, me, and Nalla. A family."
The smile that spreads across her face could power the sun. "A family."
28
ROVAK
The decision comes to me in the quiet moments after, when Liora's breathing has evened out against my chest and the weight of everything that's happened settles over us like a heavy cloak. The estate feels tainted now—not just by Xharn's presence, but by the years of separation, the secrets, the careful distance we maintained when we should have been living.
I trace patterns on Liora's bare shoulder, feeling the delicate bones beneath her skin. "We need to leave."
She stirs, amber eyes blinking up at me in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"This place." I gesture vaguely toward the door, encompassing the entire estate in the motion. "It holds too much pain. Too many memories of keeping apart when we should have been together. When we return, I'll sell it. Find us somewhere new."
The uncertainty that flickers across her features makes my chest tighten. After everything we've just shared, she still expects me to change my mind, to send her away again. The thought makes anger coil in my gut—not at her, but at every circumstance that taught her to expect abandonment.
"We?" Her voice is barely above a whisper.
I cup her face in my hands, forcing her to meet my gaze. "You, me, and Nalla. There is no scenario where I let you go again, Liora. You're mine now. Completely. And I'm yours."
The smile that blooms across her lips chases away the last of her doubt. She presses her mouth to mine in a soft kiss that tastes like promises and new beginnings.
"Where would we go?" she asks against my lips.
"We can find a new home for us." Then I ponder it. "But we could go on a trip while I have our things moved."
She smiles at me softly. "I'd like that."
Two days later, we're loading supplies into a carriage while Nalla bounces on my hip, babbling excitedly about the adventure ahead. She's dressed in a tiny riding outfit that makes her look like a miniature explorer, her pale gold eyes bright with anticipation.
The little nubs of her horns catch the morning light as she twists to look at everything, pointing at the zarryn hitched to the carriage and declaring, "Big!"
"Very big," I agree, adjusting her weight as she tries to lean out of my arms toward the silver-coated beasts. Their shaggy fur ripples in the breeze, twin tails swishing with typical temperamental energy. "But they'll take us somewhere special."
Liora emerges from the house carrying a basket of supplies, the sunlight catching the bronze undertones in her skin and making her glow. The sight of her in traveling clothes—practical but still feminine, with her dark curls pinned back and her amber eyes bright with excitement—makes something possessive and primal stir in my chest.
She's mine. Finally, completely mine.
It didn't take us long to find a new estate, and our things will start being moved tomorrow. When we return, we won't even have to come back to this house tainted with bad memories.
We'll go to our new one that we will fill with much better ones.
The journey takes most of the day, winding through the mountains that separate my estate from the coastal regions. Nalla alternates between napping against my chest and chattering at the passing scenery, her tiny hands grabbing at everything within reach. When she spots a black pitter bird streaking across the sky, she shrieks with delight, clapping her hands so enthusiastically she nearly tumbles from my lap.
"Fly! Fly!" she demands, as if expecting the bird to return for her entertainment.
Liora laughs, the sound lighter than I've heard it in years. "She's obsessed with anything that moves fast. Last week she chased a lunox for half an hour before I could catch her."
The image of our daughter toddling after a snow-white creature with her determined expression makes my chest warm. All the moments I missed, all the firsts that happened without me—but there will be more. So many more, and I'll be there for every single one.
