Page 123 of Demon Food

She gave the rope one last tug.

“Because he forced himself to stop.”

I could almost swear that was hesitation.

“That’s right,” I said, my whisper frantic. “He’s a virgin, he’s starving to death, and he forced himself to stop feeding before he hurt me.”

Her gaze lifted.

“He won’t hurt me, Amara,” I said. “You will still fulfill his wishes by letting me stay. I will be safe here with him. I know I will.”

Her gaze flitted from me to Alek.

“I can do it. I can save him. This whole fucking kingdom needs him, and you know it.” I squeezed my hands into fists. “Please. Please, you have to let me try.”

A long moment passed as she blinked at the bed where Alek slept. So long that I wanted to scream at all the time we were wasting. She wasn’t going to let me go, was she? She was going to force sleep upon me, and force me to go with her, and Alek was going to⁠—

“Do you swear it?” she asked, her stare cold on Alek.

My eyes shot open.

“Do you swear that what you said is true? That he was able to stop himself?”

“Yes.” I nodded. “I swear on my brother’s life.”

Relief was waiting to wash over me. Hope was waiting to grow.

Then she tipped her chin down to the ground and asked, “What do I tell him?”

But relief and hope both withered when I felt the weight of my decision. The other piece of my heart was down there now, and I was about to break his.

“Tell him he was right.” I nodded. “About everything, and that I was wrong. About everything.”

Her face remained a hard-edged mask. “Anything else?”

I didn’t have the right words. I was never good at them like he was. There was nothing I could say anyway that would make him understand, so I stole the words from him.

“Yes,” I said, wiping my face. “Please also tell him this. Tell him that until our paths cross again, may we both carry fondness in our hearts for when they were one and the same.”

She nodded, and for a moment, I could see a fracture in her sound exterior. “May luck and the gods be with you, human.”

With that, she was gone. Stepping through the window, climbing down the wall as her long braids whipped around her. I could barely hear Landry screaming my name. Screaming, Why isn’t he coming? No. No!

But his protests were swallowed by the wind, and he didn’t stand a chance against her as she slung him over her shoulder, fighting the whole time they vanished into the darkness.

I turned to my prince once more. He slept so soundly that he didn’t even wake when I rushed to the bed, hurrying onto it.

“Alek,” I said, rising to my knees, peeling my shirt overhead. “Wake up. I don’t fucking care what you have to say. I’m staying, and you cannot stop me.”

But he didn’t flinch.

“Prince,” I said, shaking him. “Wake up⁠—”

That was when I saw it—it stole the words from my mouth.

It was the single trickle of blood spilling from his ear.

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