Page 78 of Of Bone and Ash

“You get your damn magic off me!” she snaps, the blood dripping down her cheek, looking like some kind of morbid tear. “I can't stand it,” she adds, and I shake my head, letting my hand fall from her soft skin and turning away, hiding what her touch does to me, all while reassuring myself it's not my choice to feel this way. It’s the bond between us.

“Now that's a lie,” I chide, moving back to my desk and sinking into the overstuffed chair that looks more like a throne.

“If I knew you were a Demon Prince, I would have killed you the moment I saw you. You are nothing but trash. Garbage feasting off the lives of the innocent,” she spews, her words falling from her lips like poison off a blade. The words are far too similar to the ones my father threw at me my entire life, and I can't help the flicker of anger that surges up in me. Flicking my wrist, my magic explodes from me, racing toward Serafina and wrapping her so tight that she gasps and then groans in pain.

“It bothers you that I’m a Demon? When you yourself are practically one as well?” I point out, and she shakes her head.

“I’m a Fae.”

“A Fae with Royal Demonic Magic,” I add, trying to contain my anger, which is becoming more difficult by the second. “How are you any better than me? I’m also a Fae with Demonic magic.”

“You're a damn Demon Prince! You take the lives of innocents, kill those who have done nothing to deserve it. You are the worst of all the Demons! I’ll never be anything like you,” she screams, her emotions getting the better of her.

Standing, I press my hands to the desk in front of me, an odd glee pulsing through my body as I lean toward her. “And you, my darling, are my Soul Tie. Do you know what that means?” I ask, watching her dirty face, obsessed with how stunning she looks covered in blood.

“Only a Demon of Royal blood can complete a Soul Tie, which is the same to Demons as marriage or mating is to the Fae. You say I’m the worst of them all, that you are so much better than me?” I scoff and grin, my teeth sharpening as I lick at my lips.

I watch as that information registers over her beautiful, shocked face, her lips parting in horror as the color drains from her face. “Our fathers did us a disservice when they tied our souls together. There would have been a chance to break the tie if I’d found you fast enough. But you were always out of reach. If you want to be mad at someone, blame your brother. They were only trying to recreate whatever your father did to him and his mate,” I add, letting my frustration show through as my horns slowly begin to grow at my temples.

I sit back in my chair and look back at my computer, relishing in the pained silence. “I may be a Demon Prince, Serafina. But you are my Princess. My equal in this fucked-up world. The moment your Fae form fully emerged, it locked our Soul Tie into place. Binding not only our physical lives but every aspect of our magic together, making you a Zephyr, not a Covington.” I gesture around my office, then smirk at her. “Make whatever peace you must in order to accept your new reality, Serafina, because death is not an option. For either of us.”

Her stunned and horrified expression is all that stares back at me as she manages a single, jerky shake of her head. She’s pale and trembling, and I grin, reaching deep into myself and grabbing hold of the magical tie that runs between us, tugging it enough that her eyes widen, and she trembles in her seat. It’s much easier to access with her this close, and I nod in satisfaction as she stares at me almost vacantly.

“Welcome home, my darling wife.”