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I get the idea that the duke doesn’t like anyone to know about his human mate. Not because he’s ashamed or embarrassed or anything, but because he prefers to keep her tucked away, out of sight and protected.
But now that she’s seen me, I think that’s off the table for the moment.
“I would really like to stay.”
“Su…”
“My love. Please.”
The duke doesn’t argue again. With a brisk nod, he says, “Very well. Dagon, stay close to her while I finish this.”
The human woman—Su—crosses toward the dais, stepping up to it so that she’s standing besides the throne. She looks so tiny next to the duke, but I know from experience that size only matters where it counts with these demon guys. At the very least, if I take the lovey-dovey look on her face as she peers up at the duke as any clue, she’s not being held her against her will.
The other demon—who must be Dagon—drifts within arm’s reach of the brunette, always staying at her back.
He also stays quiet.
Su doesn’t. “What is this all about?” she asks again. “I thought I heard you mention the ashbalm.”
“You did.”
She frowns. “You’re not going to let this girl find some, are you?”
This girl? I’ve only got two years until I’m thirty, and maybe I have a young-ish face, but I’m definitely not a girl.
Then again, when you take into account that any human who bonds with a Sombra demon gets to live forever with their new mate out of the deal, she could be just as old as Sammael is… and then I really would be a girl in comparison.
Duke Haures lays his hand on the arm of his throne, palm up. Su immediately places hers against his.
“It must be done. You did it.”
“I know. It’s just… never mind. I shouldn’t have interfered.”
“No. You must always know that I treasure your input. But in this… I couldn’t do it for you, my mortal. I cannot do it for Sammael’s, either.”
She nods, clinging to his fingers. “You’re right. And getting the ashbalm flower was the least of what I had to do to become your mate. But I would do it all again in a heartbeat to be yours.”
There’s that lovey-dovey look again. And to think I started questioning my own sanity when I decided to go all in with a shadow demon I had barely met just because he was ready to commit from the jump… this other human woman looks like the freaking sun rises and sets with the duke.
I guess there really is someone out there for everyone.
Her piece said, Su closes her eyes—so strangely dim now that I’ve gotten used to looking at Sombrans—and murmurs just loud enough for it to travel, “I think I’d like to return to the garden for now. Haures, my love… I’ll be waiting for you there for when this business is done.”
“Soon,” the demon duke promises.
Su nods her head absently before dropping her lips down to press a kiss to his meaty palm. Then, without another look back at anyone else, she slips around the back of his throne, gliding toward the open door that leads outside.
Halfway there, Duke Haures points his inch-long claw after her. “Dagon,” he rumbles.
It’s not necessary. As though he’s the brunette’s shadow, the red-eyed demon had already followed behind her.
Okay, then.
The duke waits until his mate and her guard have disappeared, the door sliding behind them, before he seems to remember what was going on before his mate found her way to the throne room. He probably wishes he could just get up and follow her himself, but at the last moment, he pulls himself together, once again the powerful ruler of the demon realm.
“My request is very simple. You want your mate. I want you to bring me an ashbalm flower. Do that, and I’ll bring Sammael out of the dungeons for you.”
That’s all I want. “Where do I get one?”
