“Maybe part of the time.”
“I never have to look any different from this if I don’t want to.”
“Show me,” she said firmly.
He shook his head. “I don’t want to scare you.”
“Way too freaking late for that.”
“You’re afraid of me.”
That much would be obvious even if she was trying to hide it. And she wasn’t. “You’re a demon. How can I not be afraid of you?”
The very next moment he stormed toward her and knocked the salt out of her hand. It skittered across the kitchen counter. She gasped as he pressed up against her and held her wrists firmly against the counter on either side of the stove.
“If I wanted to harm you,” he breathed against the side of her face, “I would have already done it. I don’t want you hurt because of me. Ever.”
Her heart slammed against her chest. “Let me go.”
He brought her hands up to touch his face. “I’m the same man you knew yesterday. The one you said you trusted. Nothing’s changed.”
“You’re not a man.”
But he did feel like one. The rasp of his slight growth of beard, the hard edge of his jaw, his full lips. The silk of his hair slipping through her fingers. His skin against her skin. So real. So human.
“I’d do anything to prove myself to you.” His mouth was very close to hers and she didn’t turn her head or pull away from him. “What can I do?”
“Tell me your true name,” she replied without missing a beat. It was a chance for him to be completely truthful with her.
He tensed. “Eden… you don’t know what you’re asking me.”
“Sure I do. If I knew your true name I could make you tell me everything. I could make you show me what you really look like when you’re a demon, right?”
“You could also make me eviscerate someone you didn’t like. Or… juggle. Or sing karaoke. Or throw myself off a cliff. If you knew my true name you could make me your puppet.”
Karaoke? Normally, that might sound like fun. “But what if I promised not to do any of that?”
His jaw tensed. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”
“How does someone find out your true name?”
He finally let go of her and stepped backward. “They have to be very determined. And very deceitful, and willing to face the consequences when I’m finished doing what they’ve forced me to do.”
She studied him. “Is that really why Selina tried to destroy you? Because you were pissed off that she summoned you and forced you to make her into a black witch?”
His expression closed off. “What did she tell you about that specifically?”
She crossed her arms again. “Not much, actually. She used some sort of a spell to have you give power to her instead of you taking power from her. That was around the same time my head blew up.”
“I can imagine.” He walked to the other side of the kitchenette, which was only a few feet away, and clutched the side of the laminate countertop over the dishwasher. “Selina received too much power from me on multiple occasions because of that little spell of hers. It nearly destroyed her. She had to learn how to curb it so the black magic didn’t corrupt her soul completely.” He raised his troubled gaze to hers. “So what’s next, Eden?”
Where were they supposed to go from here? She was torn. He’d admitted that he was a liar, an archdemon, a total nightmarepalooza, and yet she still wasn’t running away from him while screaming her head off. She couldn’t get away even if she wanted to. Evil or not, he was still supernaturally super-glued to her at the moment.
And there was more than that. A deep sense of wanting to trust him again, despite everything she now knew to be the truth.
Before she could say anything else, there was a knock on the door and Eden’s shoulders tensed.
“Expecting somebody?” Darrak asked.
Eden shook her head. He didn’t look as if he believed her. He walked toward the door and glanced out through the peephole. After a moment, he surprised her by unlocking the door.
“What is it?” he asked unpleasantly.
“You’re still here?” It was Ben. A breath caught in her throat.
“Obviously.”
“Is Eden in?”
“She is.” Darrak turned with a frozen smile on his face. “Great timing, by the way. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were psychic.”
Ben entered the apartment. “I called the office and Andy said you weren’t in yet. I was in the area anyhow, so I thought I’d try my luck and see if you were still at home.”
“Oh,” she said. “Uh… great. Here I am.”
He grinned at her. “Somebody let me in the door downstairs so I came right up.”
There was a long moment of uncomfortable silence.
“Listen, Darrak,” Ben said. “Do you think I can talk to your sister alone for a moment?”
Darrak laughed hollowly. “My sister, huh?”
“That’s right.”
He cocked his head to the side. “And what would you say if I told you that I’m not really her brother?”
Eden looked at the demon sharply but his full attention was on the cop.
Ben frowned. “I’d probably wonder why you would have told me that in the first place. And why you’re staying with her.”
“That’s very complicated, actually.”
“Can you go somewhere else so I can talk to her in private?”
“Afraid not. I need to stay close to her.”