Chapter 69: Chapter 69

DEVAS

So Evangeline knew the whole time... Not only did she know that I was her soulmate, but she also knew that our bond was weakening because she was refusing me.

I could feel her emotions, this strange tingling in my veins that ate through my body like poison. She was staying away on purpose.

But why was she doing that? Was she ashamed? Was it that... Was it just because... I was a demon?

The forest I’d lived in for so long gave me no comfort as I walked through it.

But I could still feel her, as if she were standing right behind me.

And it hurt. My chest was so heavy I could barely breathe.

Centuries. That’s how long I lived without her—without my mate.

Why did losing her hit me so much harder now?

Why did this wound suddenly burn like a freshly struck one?

I shouldn’t think about her, not about that kiss in the Cursed Forest that burned into my flesh like a curse.

My boots sank into the boggy forest floor, every step a struggle against the invisible threads that still bound me to her.

Was it really nothing? Just a random moment between the withering trees?

My love had healed her wounds... while her indifference slowly killed me.

A raven’s cry cut the stuffy air as my fist crashed against the rough bark of an old oak.

The pain in my knuckles was a welcome distraction.

But when I reached the familiar path leading to my house, I stopped.

“I need some rest,” I remembered my words to Evangeline earlier.

But I didn’t need any rest.

What I needed was silence, loneliness, this merciless nothingness that at least didn’t lie. Not like her.

The war was coming. It would engulf us and I... I couldn’t care less what happened to me.

But I had made a promise to Avery and Iris’ fathers.

If I died, it would be with only their names on my lips, only with their protection as the last act of my doomed existence.

Because what was left for me? Life without my mate? Half a being, maimed, condemned to eternal emptiness?

Evangeline had rejected me.

She, who should be my counterpart, my anchor.

Instead she was the dagger that was slowly tearing me apart.

The doorknob felt cold under my fingers.

But it boiled in my chest... anger, despair, this weakness that I couldn’t get rid of.

How could she throw me off track like that?

How could I ever forget what she was to me?

Her face. Her smile, so soft, as if it were woven from starlight.

Her voice, which touched me more deeply than any music, any pain, any dream.

She was perfect.

And I... I was just supposed to let go?

No. I’d rather have the sword. Rather the fight.

Better an honorable death than a life in this painful emptiness.

“Stop that.” Evangeline’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

I didn’t dare turn around.

Was I already completely insane? Could I hear her in my head even though she wasn’t there?

As I stepped into my house and forced the door shut, I only felt a gentle breeze before it closed softly and carefully.

I turned around—and froze.

Evangeline stood there. In the center of my living room, as if she belonged here.

Her slender fingers fiddled restlessly with the sleeves of her dress, her eyes fixed on the floor as if she didn’t dare look at me.

Her wings embraced her like a cloak, bright white and shining.

They closed gently around her shoulders, this dazzling white so pure that it shone like its own light source in the darkness of my living room.

The air between us was heavy with unspoken words.

She shouldn’t have come here.

This was my retreat, my last refuge from her, and now she’d taken it from me.

Then, finally, she lifted her head.

Her cheeks glowed like the evening sun, her teeth pressed into her full bottom lip until the tender flesh turned white.

My body reacted before I could stop it—a hot sting of desire that I cursed immediately.

What did she want? Was I not humiliated enough?

The demon who imagined an angel could ever want him.

The fool who thought his soulmate wouldn’t despise him.

But then... her gaze met me. Gentle... hesitant. Unbearably sad.

Her eyes read me like an open book, registering every scar, every pain, every night I’d suffered without her.

There was something reflected in their depths that made me shudder—something that looked like regret.

My heart pounded against my will.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered.

The words were scratchy in my throat as I forced them out.

My gaze remained stubbornly fixed on the dark wooden floor of my living room—on the cracks between the floorboards, where I’d like to disappear.

“I’m sorry that I’m not... different. That I’m only a demon,” I said, much louder.

My hands trembled.

I clenched them into fists, until the cranes cut into my palms.

The familiar smell of my home suddenly became overwhelming.

“I understand if you’re rejecting me. You have every right to,” I added, while she just stared at me.

She had every right. Every reason.

Evangeline was only a few steps away, her delicate scent of jasmine and sunlight filling the room.

And me? I was polluting this room with my very existence.

“I’m not worth your attention. Not worth being your soulmate. Not even worth standing in your presence,” I said.

These words burned like coals on my tongue.

I wished they would burn me from the inside until there was nothing left of me.

Silence. Silence that lasted too long.

My breath hitched as I lifted my head against all instinct.

Her eyes—those incredible eyes—struck me with a force that took my breath away.

“It’s alright... if you reject me,” I repeated.

I said it again, louder this time, while my heart pounded against my ribs.

The walls of my own living room suddenly seemed to close in, as if to protect me from this agony.

“Or shall I do it for you? Shall I refuse you... I hereby reject...” My voice broke as I forced out the words.

But before I could finish the sentence, I suddenly felt her fingers on my lips.

Gently but firmly, they pressed against my mouth and stopped me in mid-sentence.

I froze in place.

Evangeline was now so close to me that I could smell the delicate scent of her skin.

Her wide eyes were slightly dilated, as if she was surprised by her own action.

Her fingers trembled slightly against my lips.

My hands hung paralyzed at my sides, my fingers tense as if they didn’t know where to go.

Every muscle in my body was cramped, ready to flee or finally touch her—I didn’t even know what I wanted anymore.

She didn’t say a word.

And I didn’t dare breathe.

The seconds stretched into an eternity, in which nothing existed except this touch.

The spot where her skin touched mine burned like fire.

And then… she slowly pulled her hand back.

“Stop it…” she whispered.

“I will if you can’t…” I replied.

She shook her head before cupping my face in her palms. She was a head shorter than me as I looked down at her beautiful face, and an unspeakable pain tightened my heart.

How could a woman be so incredibly beautiful? The thought that she would never really be mine broke me in this moment more than any curse ever could.

Her fingers slid slowly down my face, over my neck, until they finally found a hold in my robe over my chest. Her small hands clawed into the fabric, as if she needed to hold on.

Then she raised her gaze and our eyes met. A shaky smile appeared on her lips.

Her brows were slightly drawn together, and tears glistened in her eyes, cutting me to the quick.

“Please… don’t reject me,” she whispered.

Her voice was barely more than a breath, and for a moment, I thought I’d misheard her.

“What?” I said, confused.

“I want you as my mate,” Evangeline said louder.

It felt like someone had knocked the air from my lungs. I staggered back, and my body only found its footing as I fell unsteadily into the armchair behind me.

Then I felt it—the soul tie between us. She reached for it, and I felt her thoughts wrap themselves around my feelings.

How it slowly spread inside me until I felt her breathing within me. Her heartbeat throbbed in my ears, louder than my own.

And before I could even realize what was happening, she was suddenly in front of me. She sat on my lap.

Her knees pressed next to my thighs, and then I felt her weight as she gently lowered herself onto me. She was here.

She was really here.

“Let me explain… before you reject me,” she said desperately.

Reject her? The thought alone was absurd. Did she really believe I could ever reject her?

All this time, all this anguish, just because I thought she didn’t want me.

“How can I reject you when you know that soulmates can’t live without each other? How can I reject you when I didn’t even know what I was missing…until I met you?” she said.

My gaze was fixed on her face, and against my will, a smile twitched across my lips. Relief. Burning and sweet.

“You have been my destiny since I breathed. I don’t care if you are a demon. You’re mine. My Devas,” she added.

“You…don’t want to reject me?” I asked, disturbed.

“No! I want you… But if I give myself to our bond completely…” Her voice cracked. “…I’ll lose my immortality. I may no longer be able to protect you. And we’ll lose everything,” she explained.

This was her fear. Not her own end, but mine.

“And what if I die… And you live on?” I asked harshly.

She shook her head as if I’d hit her. Her wings unfolded—a protective screen around us both as she leaned forward.

Suddenly, I saw a ring of pink light around her pupils, strange words on her lips. Magic tingled in the air.

Then her whisper shook me to the core.

“I’d rather have a life with you…than all eternity without you.”

My heart stopped.

“What have you done?” I forced out as the pink light enveloped her completely.

“I’ve given up the immortality of my people,” Evangeline said.

She’d sacrificed her immortality for me. All the air was escaping my lungs.

“Iris opened my eyes,” she said gently. “…Please accept me as your mate.”

Her fear was a live thing between us. Not fear of loneliness…but destruction.

The thought of losing me would devastate her. I felt it now. Her emotions flowed through me as clearly as my own blood.

“I accepted you as a mate…when I first saw you, Evangeline,” I admitted.

Her lips found mine, a kiss that set my insides on fire.

It was more than a touch; it was a silent vow, a language of desire and devotion that replaced a thousand words.

I returned it with a greed that frightened me, my hands clawing into her hips as if she might otherwise be torn from me.

Her soft moans vibrated against my mouth as I held her tighter against me. Dark fog, formed from my own power, wrapped around us, a living mist that tugged greedily at our robes.

But she didn’t fight back, no hesitation, no resistance. Instead, her hands followed my example, tearing, pulling, until the fabric gave way under our fingers.

Suddenly, she was naked on my lap, her skin glowing against mine. Her fingers dug into my hair, pulling me even deeper into the kiss, as if she wanted to devour me.

The scent of her desire, both sweet and wild, filled my lungs and I felt my pupils dilate until nothing but blackness remained.

“You’ll beg for it, angel… So fucking much,” I growled against her mouth, my voice raw with suppressed lust.