Page 104 of Judge of Saints and Sinners

Justine

Arafel was watching Nephesh, one side of his mouth curled in a very familiar smirk. “Mother would be so proud.”

“That my mate is a witch?” Nephesh looked unconvinced.

“No, that you allowed yourself to find someone. That you allowed yourself some peace. That’s all she ever wanted for us.”

Nephesh slowly brought my hand up to his lips, where he brushed the back with a light kiss.

“She is everything. My peace. My chaos. My love. My future.”

My eyes burned, and suddenly I felt like everyone was watching. With a flick of my wrists, I sent flames soaring up around us, leaving us in a flaming all of our own design. When they started to go too high, I could feel the soothing balm of Nephesh’s magic wrap around mine, calming it.

“Are you embarrassed?” I whispered, even though I was sure Arafel and the others were leaving outside of the flames.

Nephesh grinned, full and beautiful and full of trust. “To be yours? Never.”

I stepped into him, ignoring our wet clothes as I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. With a soft noise, Nephesh bent at the knees, scoping me up so that my legs could lock around his waist.

Holding him tight, I kissed him, pouring every bit of myself into it. Letting him feel the way I hoped for our future, the way I wanted to protect his past. His lips captured mine, teasing and pulling away again and again until I sank my hands into his hair and dragged him deeper against me.

When we finally broke away, I was shaking—and not from the cold water. Slowly, Nephesh released me, letting my feet rest against the cool cave floor.

Amber eyes sparkling, he found my hand with his own. “Do you want to see your new home?”

“I’d love that.”

The flames fell and we stepped apart, my lips still tingling from his kiss. Together we walked out of the cave and into the Underworld, where above us, the clouds swirled an ominous black. Nephesh looked up at it, his face worried for a moment.

But then I pressed my hand on his chest, over the bond that burned bright. “Let’s go home.”

He turned me towards a large building overlooking the river Styx.

“You don’t have a bunch of roommates or something, do you?”

“Oh, I do.” Nephesh flashed a grin at me. “Twelve, in fact.”

“Excuse me?”

He spun me around, stealing another kiss as he did. “Don’t worry. You’ll love them.”

Epilogue

Justine

My back cracked as I slowly stood from my chair and then straightened, every muscle screaming as I did.

“I heard that. I can’t believe your human bodies can be so…loud.”

I glared at my mate as he leaned against the doorjamb. “Sorry that we all can’t be…well, whatever the fuck you are.”

He grinned, white fangs glistening. I’d been in the Underworld a few weeks now, and other than the obvious struggles, like getting used to seeing souls floating around on the daily and having to share my breakfast with a variety of strange creatures, I was happier than I had ever been.

Lucia had immediately sought me out as a friend, and I recognized that the bond that tied her to Arafel, and Arafel to Nephesh, somehow looped the two of us in as well. Nephesh said it was a tiresome old demon thing from when demons traveled in packs. But it was nice. Unlike Faye, Lucia and I had a lot in common.

And while she practiced her flying, I had taken to working on my control. My power had grown exponentially since coming here, and while it occasionally scared me, Nephesh assured me that nearly everyone here in the Underworld was at least partially fireproof. A quality I didn’t appreciate until my flames exploded on me a few days ago and I nearly fried Kadmiel as he came by with news from the Court of Hell.

Nephesh’s brother had merely ripped the blackened shirt off his body, given me a glare, and then carried on with his message, ignoring us. Lucia and I had rolled around the ground, laughing hysterically.