Page 83 of Realm of the Wicked

‘You’d protect me though, wouldn’t you?’ I felt it, buried in the marrow of my bones, he would.

‘I’d do anything for you, Stella.’ He gripped my face between his hands, staring into my eyes. ‘But if I’m going to spend an eternity with you, I’d rather not be on the run the whole time.’

I tried to smile. ‘I thought you didn’t want an eternity.’

‘An eternity. A year. A day. A moment. The length of time I have with you will never be enough, and I don’t want her to ruin it.’

‘Okay,’ I breathed, held captive by Damien’s gaze. ‘So what do we do?’

‘We do nothing.’ He frowned at me. ‘I got you into this mess and I’ll get you out of it. Your job is to not piss Clarissa off any more than necessary.’

He wanted me to put my life, my soul, in his hands and wait. I’d spent a lifetime being in control, and he was asking me to do the complete opposite. ‘I don’t know if I can do that. Wait, I mean.’

He smiled down at me, brushing a kiss against my forehead. ‘Do you trust me?’

‘Yes.’ Without hesitation.

‘Then you need to trust me when I tell you this. The wrath of Hell is no match for my determination to save you.’

My heart thumped in my chest, calling out to him. The truth bubbled to the surface, unbidden, but not necessarily unwanted. ‘I love you.’

The smile Damien offered me was more delicate than the first blossom of spring. A tiny, fragile thing. For the first time, I thought maybe I’d spoken out of line.

‘I mean, uh, well, I’m not sure what I mean, but you don’t have to say it back or anything I⁠—’

My babbling was cut off by Damien kissing me, hard and fierce.

I could’ve drowned in the kiss, giving in to everything that it offered, but eventually, he pulled back, speaking against our still-connected lips. ‘My feelings for you are not so easily defined by love.’

‘Then what are they?’ Terrified to hear the answer and hungry for the truth.

‘Love and hate are far too similar, don’t you think? The finest thread separates the two. For me to say I love you would be a disservice.’

Was he trying to say he hated me?

‘I’ve struggled for a long time to understand the nuances between good and evil. Light and dark. And I’ve come to realize everything is a spectrum. Love is so close to hate on that spectrum, it feels wrong to say that’s all my feelings are. What I feel for you is so much greater than love, it could never exist in the same realm as hate. I’m not sure if a word even exists for it. All I know is that the thoughts of the color of your hair at midnight keep me awake for far more than all the sins I’ve committed trying to save your soul.’

His words sank into me, one by one.

‘So, yes, in simple words, Stella, I love you. But you deserve far more than simple words.’

This time, when he kissed me, I kissed him back. When he pulled away, he brushed my hair away from my face. ‘She’ll make me leave soon, and if we have any chance of catching her off guard, we have to play by her rules.’

I clutched onto his broad shoulders, a lifeline. ‘I don’t want you to go.’

‘I won’t be far,’ he promised. ‘Only the tiniest sliver of space and time separates us.’

‘Am I supposed to play nice with her, too?’

He nodded solemnly. ‘Please. Right now, you’re valuable collateral. She won’t hurt you or try and destroy your soul, not while there’s a chance she can get more out of me. But she might try and punish you in other ways. And if it gets too much, call my name. I’ll hear you, and be there as fast as I can.’

‘You’ll hear me?’

‘Every time, Bambi. In every universe.’

I nodded, tucking that knowledge away. ‘Okay. But only because you asked.’

‘There’s my girl.’ He pressed another kiss to my forehead.