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His sharp laugh filled the small cottage. Unfolding his arms and raising them in the air, he asked, “What else could it be? You disappear into the castle for a couple of nights and then I see something strange in your eyes, as though you have this enormous secret you’re enjoying keeping to yourself. Now you’re wearing a necklace that probably costs more than all the villages on this continent and everything within them.”
“Get over it, Michael. The necklace is only a temporary gift.”
This took him aback. “How so?”
“Because my life is only temporary. He’ll return for this someday.”
Michael’s dark-brown gaze turned shrouded with emotions she couldn’t read. “What kind of sick and twisted game is this?”
“It’s not a game. It’s a human reality.”
He stared at her for several suspended seconds, clearly stunned and befuddled. Eventually, Michael asked, “Is he in love with you?”
“I don’t know.” She turned away. If he was, that would delight her. If he wasn’t, that would be a relief. Her life of contradictions continued.
“Are you in love with him?” Michael demanded in a quiet voice.
Her teeth caught her bottom lip before she made any careless proclamations. Rather, she wanted to think about her answer. These questions weren’t ones she’d posed to herself out of respect for her own sanity. And because it was futile to ponder any likelihoods. Why waste so much mental energy on debating a moot point?
Facing Michael, she said, “I can’t define the relationship. I haven’t even seen him in weeks. He refuses to return to Ryleigh because he believes he’ll put me in danger.”
“So why give you the necklace? To remind you that you belong to him now, despite the fact that you can’t be together? Isn’t that…cruel, Jade?”
“You don’t understand.”
“No, I don’t.” His temper flared again and anger flashed in his eyes. “What are you doing all damn day, Jade? Wearing around the cottage a gift you can’t show to anyone else, while you pine after someone you can’t have? A demon. And not just any demon. Oh, no. You had to go and choose the king of all demons.”
Her own agitation percolated. “I didn’t choose anything, Michael. It just happened. From the moment I saw him.”
She didn’t bother mentioning the dream. He’d never grasp the connection she shared with Davian.
“Look, you can think I’m a complete idiot,” she offered. “That’s fine. I’ve felt that way myself a time or two lately. But the fact remains that something exists between us. I can’t explain it. I don’t even think Davian can explain it. All I know is that—”
“Wait,” he lifted his hand to cut her off. “Davian?”
Her sigh sounded decidedly long-suffering. “That is his name.”
“You’re on a first name basis with the Demon King. I can’t believe this!” he bellowed.
“Let’s drop the subject and drink the wine.” Anything to keep the peace between her and her best friend.
Yet Michael’s head jerked to the side in protest. “What else, Jade? You had to have done something to motivate him to give you all those diamonds.”
Her teeth ground. “Don’t push me, Michael.”
“Are you sleeping with him?”
“No!” He hadn’t been in her bed for almost a month, after all.
“Let me rephrase that. Did you fuck him?”
Now it was Jade’s fury that exploded. Her arm snapped up and she pointed to the door. “Get out.”
“This is serious, Jade.”
“Get. Out!”
He stalked to the door as she glared after him. She wouldn’t allow Michael—or anyone—to demean or belittl
