Chapter 34

CHAPTER 34

I wander, lost and confused. The coven is asleep at this time, so the streets are empty, which suits me just fine. For some reason, I find myself back at the tree where my demon and I sat recently. I guess deep down, I always knew there was a reason he was here, but I didn't expect it to hurt so much.

I never even knew my parents. They were killed trying to keep me safe for simply being born this way, and the demon . . . he was supposed to protect me.

Hilarious.

I should know by now that everyone lies, everyone cheats, and everyone has a motive. I stare up at the tree, wondering why I get to live.

Was the necromancer right? Why am I alive when everyone else is dead? What right do I have to live when his son did not? I am not special. I might not be Phrixius's hope like he wants. I am just one of many. I got lucky.

I am just . . . this.

It shouldn't surprise me when he finds me. I knew he wouldn't let me go—he can't.

"Little witch," he begins.

I turn. "Do not call me that and pretend like you care."

"Care?" His brows furrow, fire crawling up his horns. "Of course I care."

"I am just a deal to you!" I scream as everything catches up to me. "Stop lying to me. Stop toying with me, please."

"I am not toying with you, little witch?—"

"Stop! Just . . . Just go," I beg, my shoulders slumping. "Please, just leave me alone."

"No," he snaps, stepping closer despite my wrath. "Because you will convince yourself of things that are not true. You do not get to stand there and tell me I do not care. I have been by your side for your entire life, protecting you, sharing in your highs and lows, and holding you when you cried. I have been right there. I did not have to be. The deal brought me to you, yes, but I could have fulfilled it from a distance and never even been near you. I wanted to be in your life. I wanted your smiles for me alone. I wanted your darkness and your nights. I wanted to walk with you and share your life."

"And yet you lied to me. I do not even know your name," I snap, my heart pounding at his words.

Snarling, he gets in my face. "I have told you my real name every single night since I have been at your side, hoping you would hear it. You are the only person in this world who knows my true name." He drops to his knees. "Think back, think hard, you know it. I gave it to you just like I gave you power over me. Use it. Use me. I am yours, and I have always been."

"Because of the deal," I retort, feeling hurt.

"Because I love you," he corrects, his eyes wide with truth. "Because you made me love you—a creature that should not love or grow attached. My entire life is you, Freya. I was born as a demon, but you made me yours. You are my universe. Where you go, I go—not because of anything as easy as a deal, but because you are my fate. You are my everything. You are the heart I didn't even know I had. Do not dare tell me it's because of a deal. Look at everything I have done by your side, Freya, and if you can still look me in my eyes and tell me that I don't care, then I will leave like you ask. "

My heart races. He will leave now if I ask him to. I will lose him, and something about that . . . hurts. No, it rips me to pieces. Despite how this began between us, this demon has become my home, my safety, and my happiness. He keeps me from falling into darkness with his mischievous attitude. He protects me, and he's there every night, just like he said.

Phrixius once said demons are capable of love. Did he know? Was I blind to it?

As I stare into his eyes, I realise yes, I was because I was terrified of the truth and what that means, but I'm done being scared. I am done worrying about what others will think and what that says about me as a person.

I am a necromancer.

I love a demon.

My whole life is crumbling, but as I stare into his hopeful eyes, I start to wonder if I could live like that.

Maybe that makes me a heathen.

"Adder," I croak, voicing the word in my head, the one that has chased me into dreams for as long as I can remember. "Your name is Adder."

He jerks, seeming to shiver as I speak it. "Yes," he hisses, his forked tongue darting out to wet his lips. "And I am yours."

Looking into his eyes, I give into the darkness. I pull him to his feet and crush him against me, my lips seeking his.

Deal or no deal, I am his, and he is mine.

Tomorrow might not come, I might be killed, but tonight I am alive and I am his.

His Freya.

His little witch.