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“I promise to be careful,” she quickly assured him.
He nodded. “That’s one thing that deeply concerns me. The other is that you’ve proven to be an effective liaison between myself and the village. I’d like that connection to be more solid. You could assist me.”
Her head inclined to one side as she regarded him thoughtfully. “How?”
“Will you entertain the notion of a diplomatic post? Such as…an ambassador of peace?”
The suggestion stunned her. But myriad thoughts instantly snapped to attention in her mind. “Meaning I would advocate for a less volatile co-existence and you would help us find better, safer ways for humans to live?”
“You can confer with the villagers and present ideas to me for consideration. In turn, I’ll make an effort to improve human-demon relations. But I’m not just talking about Ryleigh. We would take our movement to other villages, all regions.”
Her spirits soared. “You really want to promote goodwill? Together?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Davian…” Her eyes misted.
He said, “That night Michael almost kissed you… Later, I contemplated whether my unrequited feelings for you had become the price I had to pay for letting the Demon War go too far. I thought of restitution and redemption. I hadn’t stopped the battles when I should have and I regret that. In the back of my mind, I’ve always wondered how I could make amends. Now, months following that night outside the tavern, I still contend you’re the key to my salvation.”
She stared at him, her thoughts too jumbled to process. Her heart, however, did not stutter. Rather, it picked up several beats.
“Maybe,” he added, “we were destined to meet—to team up and forge our own Reconstruction Era, as we’d previously discussed.”
“You might be right,” she said with hope blossoming. “I told you, I spent fifteen years just going through the motions every day. But since that first time you came to the village… Yes, there have been some painful moments, yet I’ve started to see things in a new light. I’ve become more involved. It feels as if that’s precisely what I’m supposed to do.”
He grinned at her, though it was notably strained. He still worried over her welfare. Probably still smarted over her disobedience too. He said, “We could help each other if we worked together.”
“Not just each other,” she pointed out. “We could improve a lot of lives. Make the human communities and traveling amongst them less perilous, while still allowing the demons to roam at will outside the borders. Your alliance hasn’t faltered,” she said. “It’s those who haven’t banded with you that present the most trouble.”
“I agree. And I’ll have to place a greater penalty on them. I want this insurgency to stop. Attacks on the slayers and other humans can’t be tolerated.”
She leaned toward him and kissed him. “Thank you for seeing beyond me and accepting a bigger picture.”
“I want you well protected, make no mistake,” he adamantly said. “And pampered; though I might have to settle for comfortable. My idea of ensuring that happened was to whisk you away to my home. But now I know how much you love the cottage—and why. And how fiercely dedicated you are to the village. As your father had been. I res
pect that, Jade. As such…I’ll try to be less controlling.”
She smiled.
“However,” he told her with a hefty dose of warning in his voice, “when I know there’s danger close by, I don’t want you doing anything hasty. You need to maintain your partnership with Toran and watch each other’s backs. Do you understand?”
“You have my word.” Triumph rippled through her. “I don’t want to divert your attention by causing you to worry about me because I’ve gone off half-cocked. I’ll be very level-headed and cognizant of hazardous situations. I swear.”
Relief crossed his devilishly handsome face. “I’m holding you to that. I’ve enough to deal with at the moment. In fact, I need to rally this next charge to find the pack that ambushed Walker. Something tells me tracking the shifters will lead us directly to the rebel army. When they materialize, that is.”
“You don’t have to leave just yet, do you?”
His gaze slid over her. “No. Not just yet.”
She stood and held her hand out to him. He took it and she tugged until he was on his feet and following her into the bedroom.
“I’ve read in my romance novels that make-up sex can be particularly exciting,” she said.
He pulled her into his arms and kissed her hungrily. Her own cravings were ravenous. She slipped her hands under his sweater and marveled over the feel of his warm skin against hers. His muscles bunched beneath her fingertips.
His hand cupped her nape and he deepened the kiss, conveying emotion and need, but also reminding her that she belonged to him. As though she might have forgotten this while he’d been away and she’d been off with Toran, honing her slaying skills.
Davian broke the kiss and hauled off his sweater. He turned her so her back was to him. His arms slid around her and he palmed her breasts. She sighed dreamily as his lips grazed her neck.
