Page 39 of The Demon God's Desire
“The Deceiver may be a tricky one. He is chaos incarnate and is known to be very unpredictable. Even if we did manage to gain an audience with him, it may not be in our best interests.”
I cross his name off. “The Gatherer?”
“She may be a good fit… she is the goddess of ending after all.”
I lift my head to look at him. “I sense a ‘but’ in there.”
He sighs softly. “Us dark elves have a tendency to be wary of her, mostly because she deals in death and destruction. She isn’t cruel but she also isn’t one to shy away from carrying out her duties.”
“So… probably a no-go, then.”
“I would think not.”
I cross her off. “The Hunter?”
“How do you feel about monsters?”
I shudder. “Worse than those snakes?”
“Oh, much worse. He likes to create his own machinations and set them loose into the world sometimes. It’s said that if you hear a cry at night, not to go out and follow it, for you may walk upon an untimely end by a waira.”
My eyes widen. “A… waira…?”
“Horrible creatures that suck the souls from anything in their path and then eat their flesh. No one quite knows where they came from. They simply appeared one day and left complete wreckage in their wake. It’s a rumor among the dark elves that the Hunter created them out of his own twisted imagination and set them loose just to see what they could do. Now they roam with no natural predators to take them down.”
“That’s… actually terrifying.”
“Makes you not want to cross him.”
“Definitely.” I stare down at the list. “I… think we should cross him off.”
“Probably wise.”
“So, the Guide and the Hedonist. Which one is more likely to grant us favor?”
Guilri traces a hand along his jawline. “We may have better luck with the Guide, but the Hedonist’s temple is closer to where we are now.”
“Where is it?”
“In Jurtil.”
A deep pit forms in my stomach. It’s strange hearing him mention the place I grew up in so many years ago and the same place I fled after my father had been brutally killed. I’d never thought of going back there, even after the passing of my mother.
Yet now that I’m here with Guilri, I realize that I would do anything to help protect him. Even if that means going back to the one place I never wanted to step foot in again.
It’s not until that thought crosses my mind that I’m hit with the sudden revelation that I’m in love with Guilri.
Of course, how could I not see it until now?
I guess it only took a goddess trying to kill him for me to realize my own feelings. The one’s I’d been fighting with myself over for weeks, trying to ignore the way my body has been reacting to him every time he’s around me.
I never thought I’d find someone I wanted to settle down with. I’d been content with living my life alone because no one had come along to change my mind yet and I didn’t think ever would.
Not until I found a dark elf wandering around in the desert, practically on the brink of death and struggling to find shelter before he succumbed to his wounds.
Guilri has changed my mind about so many things, that it’s both terrifying as much as it is thrilling. I want to build a life with Guilri, as long as he’ll have me. I want someone to call my own, a family to raise and build and I hope Guilri does too.
“Bridget?” his fingers graze over my cheek. “You alright?”