Extraits

I entered my room, closed the door, and turned to face the bed. Zylas sat on it, back against the headboard, a book across his lap.

My heart ached as I crawled onto the bed and sat beside him. The glossy page showing the mountain in Oregon stared back at me, the corner folded down.

I pressed against his side, his smoky scent filling my nose. and rested my head on his shoulder. His warmth soaked into me, his body solid against mine. The thought that in a few hours he would be gone... it didn't compute. It didn't make sense. How could I lose this?

How could I lose him?

"I wish we could've traveled together," I whispered, "and seen all the places in your book, even if it took a lifetime."

Especially if it took a lifetime.

"Hnn." His head turned and I looked up. Our foreheads touched. "Would you have spent your lifetime with me, amavrah?"

His question sank through me, embedding itself in my crumbling heart. "Yes."

"Even though I am not hh'ainun and could not do all the hh'ainun things?"

Tears stung my eyes. "Yes."

"Even though it is more dangerous for you to be a contractor?"

"That doesn't matter." I touched his cheek, then slid my hand up into his hair and pressed my fingertips to his small horns. "Would you have spent my lifetime with me, even though I'm not a payashe and you don't belong in my world?"

Almost exactly four months ago, I'd thrust my hand across the silver line of the summoning circle, piercing the barrier that had separated Zylas and me from the moment we'd met. In the frigid darkness within the circle, he'd held me against his chest, squeezing my sliced arm to slow the bleeding, and asked what I wanted from him.

Protect me, I'd begged.

That day, his eyes had been dark with exhaustion, his life hanging by a thread.

Today, they glowed with power. His fingers tightened over mine, pressing the infernus into my palm. The hard edges bit into my skin, but I squeezed it even tighter, staring up at him.

He stared back. Unblinking. Looking deep inside me in a way no one else could.

That day, we'd made our desperate promises to each other, driven to survive, and begun a partnership that had tested us both. Changed us both. Pushed us apart and brought us closer together. Then we'd lost that bond... only to discover an even stronger one that required no magic.

"Zylas," I whispered.

His gaze drifted over my face. He waited silently.

"Last time you asked for my soul."

Spoiler(cliquez pour révéler)He'd thought it was his only way to escape the human world, unaware that contract magic, and therefore the banishment clause, didn't work on Twelfth House demons. Just as Myrrine's death hadn't freed her demon from Earth, my death couldn't save Zylas.

I wrapped my other hand around his as he held the infernus. "This time, I promise you my heart. We won't be together, but I'll always think of you. I'll never forget you. You'll be in my heart forever."

His head slowly tilted, shadows dimming the glow of his eyes. He lifted his hand and curled it over mine, both our hands wrapped around the infernus.

"You are amavrah and vayanin. I will think of you every time I step into the sun."

A tremor ran through me. He pulled, drawing me closer until our hands were trapped between our bodies.

"Enpedera vish na."

His husky voice whispered across me and I closed my eyes.

"Enpedera vish na," I breathed.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"I just talked to you about things I have never told anyone."

"That-that doesn't mean I have to tell you everything now."

He bared his teeth angrily. I recoiled, my sweater sleeve pulling taut between us. He yanked me back. I wrenched away. and the sound of a seam tearing shocked me.

Panic fired through my veins. "Let me go!"

He released my sleeve so suddenly I staggered. His dark eyes burned like ice as he inhaled through his nose.

"Fear," he snapped. "Fear, again. Why are you afraid?" I stumbled back another step.

"I have not hurt you. I have never hurt you." His tail lashed, the barbs catching the box spring and ripping through the fabric. "How do I make you not fear me? What am I doing wrong?"

I jolted, my breath catching. My back hit the wall.

"I am the one with fear!" Snarling frustration roughened his words. "You break so easily. I am always afraid you will be hurt. I watch you and protect you and you still get hurt and I try and it isn't enough! Why am I this afraid for a payilas who thinks I will hurt her?"

With my back pressed to the wall, I stared at him with my lungs locked. Emotions boiled through me, a tangled mess I couldn't begin to sort through. All I knew was that my heart was hammering and my head was spinning and he was telling me how afraid he was that I would get hurt.

Amalia about Zylas : "There you go again, Robin. He's not a guardian angel who happens to have demon horns."

She huffed. "Okay. Okay, you're right. It's not fair of me to keep painting him with demon stereotypes."

A painful weight in my chest lightened.

"But," she added forcefully, "that doesn't change the fact he's still a demon, and you don't want his demon dick anywhere near you."

I recoiled with a shocked squeak, my face instantly on fire.

"Trust me, Robin," she said with a sage nod. "Virgins see everything with innocent eyes, but it's not all sweetness and roses, especially when—”

"I'm not a virgin."

The words echoed through the bus shelter. Realizing what I'd just blurted, I clapped a hand to my mouth.

Amalia stared for a second, then snorted. "Please. You're the most virginy virgin I've ever seen. I always know when your books get steamy because you blush while you're reading."

"I'm not!" I clenched my teeth, praying that Zylas wasn't picking up on any of this. "I met a guy in my History 202 class and we dated for a semester." My cheeks burned hotter. "We slept together a few times."

"A few," she repeated dubiously. "Was it good?"

"Um... I guess so?"

"That means it wasn't good," she said dryly. "Why'd you stop seeing him?"

"Well, he was a philosophy major."

"Ah. Say no more." She squinted at my beet-red face. "Why are you so prudish, then?"

"I'm not prudish! I'm just "Anyway, I know what s-sex is, okay? You don't need to lecture me." just shy." I folded my arms.

She snickered at my inability to say "sex" without stammering. "Did you try anything besides missionary with your boyfriend?"

"We are not having this conversation."

"Oh, come on. I'm curious. Did he go down on you?"

Losing all sense of dignity, I pressed my hands over my ears.

"Ever had an orgasm?" she asked loudly, grinning at my squirming embarrassment.

I pushed harder on my ears, attempting to block out reality. If she asked one more inappropriate question, I would-

"Am I interrupting?"

Amalia and I whirled around. Ezra stood just outside the bus shelter, a black toque hiding his curly hair. My level of mortification skyrocketed, and I almost cowered behind my taller cousin.