Page 24 of The Demon God's Desire

“You make me sound like a magician,” she mumbles, cheeks going pink again.

“You are,” I tell her. “Your healing is a kind of magic all its own.”

“Thanks,” she says with a little half shrug. “I try. When my mother got sick when we were fleeing after the rebellion, I did everything I could to save her. But it wasn’t enough. I didn’t want anyone else to suffer like that.”

This is the first time she’s told me about her family, I realize. “What happened?”

“My parents were slaves. I was born into slavery,” Bridget tells me. “My father helped plan a rebellion against our overlords.”

I don’t have to ask to know who she means. Elves. My kind. We enslaved her and her family. “And then what?”

“It went off successfully until it didn’t,” Bridget says. “They didn’t manage to kill every one of the overseers. One of the zagfer guards didn’t ingest the poison and when my father left to join us, he was stopped by the guard. The man demanded to know where we went but my father wouldn’t budge and saved us by giving his life.”

There are tears in her eyes and I resist the urge to wipe them away. “That’s incredible. Your father protected you until the end.”

“Mother got sick while we were struggling to survive in the desert. I don’t think she ever fully recovered from what happened to my father either. She ended up passing a few years later.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell her, reaching out to give her fingers a squeeze. “You should know that even though you couldn’t save your mom, you have saved so many others. Your healing and kindness and compassion have saved countless lives.”

I’ve changed so much since being here. The old me would have looked down on and scoffed at the words I’m saying. He would have seen this version of me as weak and pathetic for engaging with a human, let alone for developing feelings for her.

But that was the old me. The new me has found that humans aren’t so different from elves after all. We love the same, we laugh the same, we cry the same...the only difference is that elves see themselves as better than everyone while the humans seem to see everyone as equal.

It’s a lot to go through but I’m glad I did. I don’t know why but I feel like I was always meant to be here. If I had listened to the goddess, I wouldn’t have found Bridget.

Bridget has changed me. She’s shown me that there is more to life than being a mindless killing machine, that I could have more if I wanted.

And I think maybe I do want more. I think I don’t know that I want to go back to being a soldier, a miou when my time here is up.

I’m not sure what I’ll do yet, or if I’ll stay but I know that for now, I’m eternally grateful to have met Bridget.

“You changed my view on things,” I tell her. “You forced me to stay here and that set me on the path to see things in a new light.”

“Don’t blame me,” she says, trying to appear joking but I can tell from the slight tremble in her voice that she’s nervous about our proximity.

“I don’t,” I reassure her. “In fact, I feel like I was destined to end up here and meet you.”

Bridget blushes again and I can’t help but be entranced by the color on her cheeks. It’s such a lovely shade of pink. It makes me want to reach out and touch it.

I can’t help it when my fingers move and I brush them across her cheeks lightly, just barely grazing the skin. I want to feel the warmth under my hands.

12

BRIDGET

As I stare into his eyes, Guilri’s words wash over me. I feel heat rising in my belly and there’s a tension in the air between us that’s almost thick enough to taste on my tongue.

I don’t know how to react right now. I don’t know what to do. I haven’t ever felt this way about anyone before. When his fingers caress my cheek, the heat in my belly sinks lower almost immediately, flooding my veins.

Part of me wants to run away though. I don’t know how to feel with his intense gaze on me, feeling the rush of sensation from where he touches me, or hear his kind, heartfelt words.

But I don’t want him to stop, either. It’s altogether too much and not enough at the same time. He’s right here, all but showing me the signals I need to know that he’s interested but I know he’s leaving in a few days time.

I want to believe the things he’s saying are true—that he has changed and his views have changed but I’m just so uncertain. If I make a move...will I regret it?

Then again if I don’t do anything I might also regret it. He’s going to leave soon and I might never see him again. It sends a pang through my heart and it lends me a boldness I never thought I’d have in me.

I don’t know exactly how but one minute I’m sitting there with Guilri’s hand on my cheek, the next I’m leaning forward and softly kissing him on the lips.