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“Good. I will keep you to your promise, il mio ragazza,” his aunt responded softly. She pried the lid off the small container filled to the brim with shredded cheese. With a handful trapped against her palm, she started releasing it all over her pizza. Those silver eyes flickered toward the prince as he started scooping the dough off of the wooden tray. “Are you sure you remember how to do it? It has been a long time…”
Asher released a sharp breath that sounded borderline annoyance, although it was allowed to escape with a playful edge involved. He braced the dough on his hand. “I remember how to do this-” The words faded into an immediate silence when the dough spun off his fingers as soon as he attempted to mimic the spinning.
His dough managed to sail straight between us and land on the grass.
It took everything I had not to let the laughter escape me, managing to bring it down to a stifled squeak, while Primrose had absolutely no shame in letting her own amusement run wild. She slumped against the table with her cackle dancing around us. “I warned you, boy!” She smirked at him. “You may be willing to cook your own meals, but there are some of them that you haven’t done since your mother last brought you here. That includes making pizza from scratch.”
Before tonight, I would have quickly crumbled into the assumption that our laughter would simply cause the prince to succumb to a fit of rage. We’d witness his painful failure, after all. Yet, he simply blew out a breath and eyed his aunt. “You always did enjoy it when you happened to be right.”
The pair fell into a friendly banter over how Asher could help relearn some of the skills he desperately needed to relearn when it came to some of the beloved Italian meals of the Kaia family. While a part of me was fully aware that I needed to start saucing my own dough so it could go over the firepit with Primrose’s, I was content just to watch Asher brush off the embarrassment like it was something that happened every day.
For someone that was forced to maintain a perfect, calm demeanor and strategize his entire life to keep himself ten steps ahead of his enemies…it was bittersweet to see he was just like the rest of us. Mistakes happened. He could still be embarrassed when his confidence didn’t quite live up to the skill he expected to still be woven into his being without losing his shit.
This was the side of Asher that I was finding myself falling in love with. The demon that had ordered the rest of the APL organization to be shot down before buying me didn’t seem to exist anymore. This was someone who wasn’t ashamed to bear his soul just so I could see what pain might still be scarring him, nor was he afraid to admit he was wrong.
The conversation eventually shifted into Italian and that was the point where I could only stare at them both with a baffled expression.
It only took Primrose a moment to realize that I had been completely left behind. She raised her eyes toward the tent with a huff. “Il mio ragazzo, you must start teaching your future queen Italian so she can follow our banters.”
My cheeks grew hot. “I don’t even know if I’ll be able to retain a foreign language. I wasn’t exactly…let loose in the world. The fact I even knew English was an accomplishment in itself.”
“Don’t fret yourself, amor.” His aunt reached out to tap my hand gently before she grabbed my unfinished raw pizza. She threw herself into adding the ingredients until it was completely covered just like hers. “You are no longer being held back by the challenges of your past. Although, I would encourage you to attempt Italian. There will come a time when Asher must tend to business back in Europe.” Her silver eyes flickered toward the prince. “I do believe the coronation will take place in Italy.”
“It will,” Asher agreed softly.
“Now, now. You will have the chance to change what you see fit once you have been crowned the new king. Consider it one of the final ways to honor how the kingdom was run beneath your father.” Primrose spun around on the bench, easing back onto her face with a flawless grace that mirrored her performance. She reached back to grab both of the pizza peels. All she offered us was a quick wink before she carried the pizzas over to cook them on the flattop stretching across the pit.
I was content to snag some of the shredded cheese to nibble on until he reached out to catch my hand. I immediately froze with one of them still trapped between my lips. “Is it…Is it an insult to snack on the ingredients?”
A soft chuckle escaped the prince. Shaking his head, he simply pried my fingers loose so that he could grab some directly from my palm. “It’s considered more of an insult not to try to grab quick bites while the meal is being prepared. They’ll tease you for it and it might come off as anger, but it is seen as a compliment to do so.” With the cheese devoured, he rested my hands on his. It seemed like he was tumbling back into his own thoughts and he was desperately using the physical contact to ensure they didn’t stray too far.
“Thank you.”
Asher blinked, his golden eyes locking on me. “For what, pet?”
I stretched out toward him so that I could shift my hands further up his arms. “It means a lot that you wanted to show me the hidden gems of Vegas, but the fact that every single location you took me to was tied to your family… I felt included, Asher. You already knew I had a shitty childhood and I had no idea what it felt like to be welcomed. I look forward to seeing them all again.”
His expression softened. “I am glad you’ve enjoyed getting insight into my mother’s side of the family. I just wish…that you could have met her. Mother was a lively person up until her final days. It was agonizing to watch that light go out. Calianna never had the chance to discover it within herself before our father chose her path for her.” A weary sigh escaped him as he hung his head. “Now she never will.”
It is a crime to inflict violence upon a demon lord…and those that work for them.
I squeezed his arms. “You handle this the best way you feel that you should. I will support whatever you choose to do. All that I ask you is to remember this: you are not your father.”
I will never snuff out your light, Asher. Not if I can help it.
Asher tugged an arm free, shifting so that he could brush his fingers along my cheek. He couldn’t seem to bring himself to stop until he’d nudged my hair back behind my ear. Only then did he let the tips start back down my jaw. “You will always have my heart no matter what happens in the coming days, Quinn Faxiss. I love you.”
The final three words left my eyes misting. Sniffling, I turned to tuck my head against his hand. “I love you, too, Asher Alessio Aeternus…until my final day by your side.”
ASHER
She said it back.
It took everything I had not to sneak off with my pet just so I could tease the hell out of her pussy and express my gratitude the best way I could right now. I had contemplated seeing if Tydinn and Aydin had finished with the animals so that we could use the solitude of that space, but when the demon finally returned with straw sticking out in various places, I scrapped the idea.
Sand was one thing to get in every single goddamn hole that it could, but it was nothing more than a pesky annoyance. Straw simply took annoyance to a whole new level. It just wasn’t worth the risk when I didn’t have a clue as to if my pet would even find the setting sexy.
For now, I tucked the idea on the back burner with the intention of poking at her until I found out where the idea fell. If she didn’t like the idea of going nuts in a makeshift barn, then it was no loss on my part. I was content to take her back to the hotel for the meantime.
