his gaze on me, lips tight, eyes tighter. “Good. I need you to answer one last thing. Are you doing this to control me?”
“No. Had that been my intention, I could have taken advantage of your naivety long ago and locked you with ease. As I said, I’ve only ever tried to help you. Right now, I’m trying to protect you from yourself. You are—and will be—destruction. You need absolute control, and you need to be all demon if you’re going to survive what is to come.”
“What is to come?”
“That, I cannot tell you.” His smiled softened. “To know one’s future is a curse. You would not thank me for it.”
“So you really do know?” He blinked back at me. “All of it? Everything?”
“Don’t ask this of me.”
“Do I survive?”
His gaze dropped.
“Does Stefan?” He flinched. “Does he?”
“Muse, I have only the knowledge which Asmodeus permits, and Stefan isn’t part of that.”
“Not part of my future, you mean?”
He lifted his eyes. “That is not what I said.”
Oh, God. I couldn’t go through this without Stefan. I needed him, the immovable ice to my liquid fire. Just the thought of him not being there crushed my heart inside my chest and strangled the hope right out of my existence.
“Muse.” Akil said my name with enough force behind it to bring my rapidly deteriorating thoughts to a halt. “We do not have time for you to second-guess a future you cannot change.”
“Then I suppose we’d better get on with it.” I worried my lip between my teeth and swallowed deeply.
He stalked forward, fingers flicking open his shirt buttons. The fabric teased open, revealing a glimpse of bronze skin. I bumped back against the wall beside the window, unaware until that moment that I’d been backing up. Irrational panic dumped ice water in my veins. By the time he’d stopped in front of me, head bowed, shirt open, I was having a hard time trying to convince myself not to run.
He caught my hand—the one clutched on the belt of my robe—and turned it over, peeling open my fingers. Lifting my hand to his lips, he met my wide-eyed gaze and teased the tip of my index finger between his lips. A shudder tumbled through me, not entirely pleasurable—more like fear and terrible anticipation. He turned my hand over and trailed hot kisses over my knuckles. Lifting my wrist, he planted a heavier kiss over my racing pulse. When his flicked his gaze up this time, a golden burn haloed his dark irises. He wanted this, but I—
“Touch me.”
I moistened dry lips, uncertainty stalling me. He planted my hand on his chest, and a wave of heat spilled down my arm. His ethereal touch, a trait all demons shared. An extra sense. It was that touch that would need to dive inside me and dig out Damien. I shuddered and stilled when Akil’s lips brushed mine. He teased with his tongue, trying to convince me to open to him. This was going to be more difficult than I could have imagined.
“Muse…” He sighed, “You must relax.”
“I don’t think I can.”
“You must be willing.”
“It’s just...” I was afraid, not of Akil, but of the horrible memories bubbling below my thoughts, waiting to resurface. I thought I’d dealt with it. I thought I’d moved on. But I hadn’t at all. “It still hurts.” I was afraid of who I was, afraid of what was to come… So terribly afraid of everything.
“That will pass. Once I have him out of you, you’ll be your own being again.”
I nodded, not trusting my voice. Akil’s gaze searched mine, but what he saw there didn’t please him. He clenched his teeth, twitching a muscle in his cheek, and then pushed off me, strode to the nearest framed anti-elemental symbol, tore it off its hook, and threw it to the floor. The sound of glass breaking accompanied the blast of heat from my demon as she came roaring out of the dark. I opened my mouth to cry out, only to find Akil’s heat against mine. His kiss was a savage invasion. To call it a kiss belittled the attack. His lips burned, his tongue licked and teased, and I fell into him, starved for him. Concerns and fears were shoved aside. I needed this. Fire bloomed inside me. My element unfurled, opening, embracing. Yes, I’d wanted this for years—to take all of him into me, drink him down until he filled me up. The demon in me, the fire, the