Page 95 of A Realm of Fire and Ash

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I seizeMorte by the hand and focus my energy on the destination, teleporting us to our room in the castle. My heart is pounding, and my vision blurs as we swirl through a portal of light and land with a thud. I barely register the heat of Morte's hand against mine as we rush to change into dry clothes.

My attention weighs thick on her naked form as she pulls the dress over her head, exposing her pale skin. The air is still heavy, and I don't think she notices the way my gaze lingers on her curves instead of the conversation.

She glances up at me after she pulls on a pair of pants, her hands still on the button. Her breasts hang heavy against her chest, and her voice is husky when she finds my focus there.

"You go on without me." She grabs a shirt from the closet, and when she emerges, she slips it over her head. "I'm going to try and get home from here."

"No." I close the distance between us, stopping in front of her and placing my hands on each of her shoulders. "What part of me telling you thatKing Ollin Valtorious is a monsterisn't computing for you?"

She yanks herself out of my hold, face screwed up in fury. "He hasn't bothered me once while I've been here!"

"That's what he wants you to think!" I roar before having the wisdom to place a sound barrier up. "He tortures, maims, and kills people, Morte!"

"So do you!" She shoves my chest, but I stand firm.

"Only people who deserve it!"

"And did I, Aggonid?" Hurt flashes across her face. "What did I do that was so heinous in the devil's eyes that he thought to extinguish the light from mine?" By the time she finishes, fat tears pour down her cheeks and her voice breaks. "Forever?"

Agony cleaves my chest. Telling her will only make it worse, but I can assuage her pain a little. "You didn't."

"And did your brother?" Anger flares in her eyes. "Huh? I know you to be cruel, Aggonid, but I never thought you'd make your mate's sister kill her own!"

"It was a punishment for them both!" I roar, picking up a glass vase and hurling it at the wall. It shatters, raining shards onto the floor.

"There is nothing that can justify making someone kill their mate." She wipes angry tears off her cheeks, her voice shaking with rage.

How wrong she is.

My shadows coil in anger, bathing the room in inky blackness. The only color in the room are the glowing rubies of my eyes and the crimson locks of her hair. "Do not lecture me on justice, Morte," I hiss, my fangs elongating as I stalk closer to her.

But she doesn't back away. Instead, she faces me down with a fierce defiance, her eyes blazing with fury. "I've known a lot of monsters in my thousands of years of eradicating them from the realms, but none eviler than you," she hisses, her voice dripping with venom.

"Oh?" I smirk, delighted by her fervor.

"Yes!" She steps closer, her face inches from mine. Heat radiates from her body, and it sends a thrill coursing through my veins. "You take away what people love, destroy families, and rip out hope from their hearts like a cruel puppeteer," she seethes.

"And yet, here you are." I chuckle. I grab her wrists, holding them between us. "You let me. You let me do all these things and still you're here, in my arms."

She looks away, her breaths coming out harsh and ragged. A hint of vulnerability swims in her eyes as she trains them on the fire flickering in the hearth. No woman has the power to destroy me like her.

Love is like that, though. It has great capacity to burn. Fitting for a phoenix and the devil.

"You speak of my cruelty, yet it is your love that has captured me in its merciless embrace." I cup her cheek, and her eyes shutter against my palm as a tear tracks down her face. "You say I'm a puppeteer, but it’s you who pulls at the strings of my heart with every tear. Don't cry."

My words, though true, taste like glass. If things could just be different, our love could burn brighter than the sun. Add Caius to this mix and we could be unstoppable.

If she weren't destined to destroy us all.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," she whispers, leaning into my touch. "You act like you're the only one who's been burned by love, or the idea of it."

"I am the devil," I remind her, but my voice is gentle.

"And I am a phoenix," she counters, her voice strong despite the tears. "Together, we can rise from the ashes, even if it's not in the way we expected."

Her words stir something in my chest, something dangerous and wild. Love may burn, but it can also ignite, lighting the way to something new and uncharted. I press my forehead to hers, willing her to feel the intensity of my love, the depth of my need for her.

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