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Annette looks up expectantly.
"Would that truly be enough to disrupt my supreme gifts?" I ask.
"For someone who's been a lone wolf for eons? It certainly could," Annette replies. "Emotions can be scary and confusing at first."
I rub my temples. “Perhaps there’s something to it. You are adequate company, for a human."
"Wow, don't inflate my ego too much with compliments like that," Annette laughs.
"I am simply being honest," I huff. Though in truth, the nearness of her body kindles a warmth within me that I cannot seem to put into words.
Annette traces a finger slowly up my arm. "You know, you're pretty 'adequate' yourself," she murmurs, trailing her hand along my jawline as I shiver involuntarily.
I capture her hand in mine, our eyes meeting. "Wicked girl," I rasp. Perhaps she is right about these burgeoning feelings after all. For the first time, the hunt is not the only longing that fills my thoughts...
Annette's touch leaves fiery traces across my skin. My breath catches as she trails a finger along my jaw. No prey has ever ensnared my focus so completely as this clever, playful girl.
"You toy with forces beyond your control, little one," I rasp, though I make no move to push her away.
Annette smiles up at me coyly. "I think the mighty demon is the one struggling for control now..."
The truth of her words stirs long dormant realizations within me. With her so near, the hunt matters not at all. Time seems to slow, centered only on her luminous eyes, on the sweet warmth of her mortal frame pressed close.
This growing fevered longing terrifies me in its novelty and intensity. Yet I cannot resist its pull - only surrender and let the rising tide carry me away.
I clasp Annette's hand over my racing heart. "You have awakened something in me I do not understand," I confess. "I only know that I wish you could stay here forever. I understand a cave is not the ideal home for you, which is why I suggested a cabin. That didn’t seem any more pleasing to you."
"Rukh, you know how deeply I care for you," she begins gently. "I wasn’t opposed to a cabin, just not that particular cabin. I’m not even saying I want to return to Mellara, but I’d like to have the option."
She trails off. I feel a hollowness opening within me even before she continues.
"My life is there, and my name means something to me," Annette explains. "I don’t know. I can’t explain it, but I don’t want to just stop here."
Though her words are kind, they pierce my soaring heart. For a delirious moment I imagined she might be saying that she’d happily stay here with me. Now, it sounds as if she’s politely trying to suggest she can’t promise anything.
"I understand," I reply quietly. "You have a future I can’t expect you to give up for me. Or at least, you could if you were cleared of these crimes."
Annette squeezes my hand. "I just don’t want to be here because I’m stuck as a criminal. I’m sorry. I don’t know how to explain it in a way that you’ll likely understand. It’s the principle of it more than anything."
I nod silently. Mortals cleave to their fleeting lives. I cannot fault her for it. But her absence will leave cold, unending nights ahead.
"Of course, my dear little one," I murmur through the ache. "I will keep my promise and let you go home."
A bittersweet tragedy perhaps fated for ones like us.
I will treasure the stolen moments fate allowed us to share.
21
ANNETTE
Iwish I could make Rukh understand that I don’t want to leave him. That none of this is out of my desire to get away from him as fast as I can. Every time I mention finding out who committed these crimes and framed me, he takes it as though I want my banishment lifted so that I can return to Mellara.
I don’t know how to explain to a demon who is so unfamiliar with human emotions why it’s more complicated than that. I don’t know what answer I can give him other than promising a future that, right now, is just too cloudy to say anything resolute about.
I know that I care about him, though. And I hope that he’s in that future, whatever it turns out to be.
I love when he touches me. And I love it even more when he tastes me. I love feeling him inside of me. And when he moves deep within me, it makes everything seem worth it.
