Page 20 of Death C*mes Inside Her
I press my mouth to the crown of her head. “You’re mine, little Eve. But I am yours, also. There is no separating us.”
The words boarder on a lie. Something inside me swells with dread.
She settles deeper, fingers tracing idle paths over the back of my hand. Just us and the slow lap of water against porcelain.
“Rest,” I say. Her tired, human body is losing energy faster than I can replenish it.
Her answer is a soft sound that lands against my throat. I hold her there, skin to skin in the warm bath, and know that I can never leave her.
I will keep her fed, keep her warm, and keep her mine. No matter the cost.
Chapter 7
Eve
Aios holds the spoonful of soup to my lips.
“Swallow.” He orders and I smile but do as he says.
His thumb brushes a drop from my lip. The tenderness makes my chest ache. Part of me still thinks I’ll blink and find myself alone again, my arms empty, last night a dream I told myself to survive the quiet.
He exchanges the spoon for a slice of strawberry, holding it to my lips. He carried me to the kitchen after my stomach started growling, then conjured the food with a flick of his finger.
On impulse, I catch the tip of his talon between my teeth. His eyes narrow and his teeth seems to move into as close to a smile as skull teeth can.
“Keep that up, and I’ll bite you back.”
His gaze slides down. I follow it and see faint half-moons along the soft inside of my thighs. Heat skims my skin.
After the bath, he lifted me from the water, dried my hair with those impossibly gentle, cold hands, and brushed it until it shone. He set me on the counter, knelt, and worked me with his mouth until I begged—please, mercy—and then he pressed his forehead to mine and said I was never to be without some part of him. I didn’t know how to answer, but my heart did. It fluttered at the idea of being kept.
“You can mark me anywhere you want,” I say, tracing one dark semi-circle bruise with a fingertip.
His eyes go darker. “Yes, I know, but you need rest, little witch.”
I pout. I’m tender, yes, but needy heat still prowls under my skin. He sees it and laughs low in his throat, then kisses me deep enough to pull the sulk from my mouth. His tongue takes and soothes at once.
I try to wrap my legs around him from my place sitting on the table with him in front of me in the chair feeling that tug of impatience between my legs. He catches me with ridiculous ease and rolls until I’m tucked in his lap. His arms band tight and hold me where he wants me.
“I take care of you. Those pouts will work most days. But not when your body needs something else.”
“Mmkay,” I breathe, turning my face into the hollow of his throat. His heartbeat knocks slowly against my cheek, and I frown in puzzlement. “Do demons have hearts?”
For a moment, he’s silent, but it’s not anger. He’s deep in thought, I can sense it.
“Not like yours,” he says finally. “But here in the human realm, perhaps. Rudimentary. Except mine seems to have grown since I’ve been with you. I feel it filling my chest.”
“Three sizes?” I tease.
“I don’t understand what that means.”
“Then you need to watch The Grinch. We’ll rent it, or get a subscription service or something at Christmas.”
“Christmas...” He chuckles under his breath. “I’ve had such fun at Christmas in the past. I think those joys are lost to me now I have you, little Eve.”
“We’ll enjoy it together,” I tell him, nuzzling into his chest.
No one has ever done this—fed me, steadied me, told me to sleep because I needed it. My father kept me alive because someone had to. I learned to vanish into books and ask for nothing. Until last night. Until Aios came into my life.
