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Penelope flamed. “I am certainly not jealous!”

Azriel shrugged a shoulder. “Okay.”

“I am not, my Lord.”

“And I said okay.”

He watched as her skin turned beetroot red. Where there should be fear for such a temper, Azriel found only amusement. Perhaps that was always what had drawn him to Penelope, that pride of hers.

“I have to go, my Lord,” She said at last. “And please do not take this the wrong way, but I hope I never see your face again as I work.”

“You don’t mean that,” Azriel said, closing the space between them. “And you can try, but you can’t resist this pull between us.”

“But I can,” Came her set reply. “The day I don’t resist it, feed me raw cactus.”

.....

“Is cactus ever cooked in the first place?”

Penelope’s glare was all the answer he got, and the more she tried to frown, the more her face looked comical, and Azriel burst out into fits of laughter.

“Pen, you might be no demon, but you have the power to create fights out of thin air,” his eyes twinkled as he spoke. “Challenge accepted, because I know I would win, and when I do, I would find you that cactus, and I don’t promise to have it cooked.”

He was sure if he wasn’t her Master, and she wasn’t her maid, her hands would have given him a hard shove in his chest. But she maintained that same glare, and with stomps for steps, she exited the chamber, and Azriel’s smile never dwindled.

….

Neera stared hard at the demon asleep next to her.

Zavian ‘s golden hair spread across the pillow, and his breath was evened, clearly not one plagued by nightmares or suddenly waking up to disastrous coughs.

She was certain he knew of her ploy to take his blood, maybe one of those witches might have put some spell in her that made him aware of her every move. She did have his blood in her, and she didn’t know the extent of how they were connected beyond that.

Neera rose from the bed, the sun already yawning with life in the sky. She looked into the mirror and practiced the smile for that morning. It seemed to work on getting him more to trust she was some fool falling in love with him.

Smiling was hard, pretending was hard, waiting as time passed to get his blood was hard, but she needed to keep up with the ruse.

“Up already?” Zavian said in a thick voice from the bed. Neera pinned a smile to her lips and turned to look at him. Sure enough, he returned it with one of his own.

“Good morning,” she greeted in the softest way.

“Good morning,” he patted the space next to him. Neera obeyed the gesture, and he stared at her face in scrutiny.

“You look good,” he said. “You aren’t pale, and I haven’t seen you cough in a while.”

“Well, I told you I would be fine.”

“We should still have the Doctor check up on you,” Zavian held her chin as he examined her face, taking closer looks at her eyes. “I have to be sure it is all gone.”

“Thank you,” she said like a sweet normal wife would when shown concern. If she’s being her real self, she would have scoffed.

Thinking about her real self, she slid into her plan. “We should wash up and have breakfast soon. Maybe just the two of us here?”

Zavian pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “I would love that.”

The morning was off to a good start. Nothing could certainly go wrong with just the two of them again.

The maids were up to prepare their baths. Neera insisted Zavian went in first, that she wanted to catch a nap due to being awake late into the night. He didn’t question it, and when she was sure he was away and out of earshot, Neera hurried to her vanity mirror.

“Lydia,” she called to her reflection. The other demon’s face didn’t appear even as Neera called it over and over again.

“I don’t know if you can hear me, and I know it has been days since we last saw, but I would get you that blood unfailingly today.” She promised her reflection. “I know you have given me enough time, but I decided to update you.”

No face showed on the mirror, and Neera left it to prepare one of her old dresses to wear for the breakfast. Something that would draw Zavian’s eyes to her all through the meal so he would eat every bite without realizing it.

Even if he didn’t, Neera would triple the dosage of the drug. The faster he was knocked out, the better.

After Zavian finished his bath, Neera swept past him with the same sugary smile. It didn’t take her too long to have a bath, and she decided to don the gown there, the low-cut neck spilling with enough distraction.

When she stepped out, Zavian had a bird sitting on his hand. The blue creature fluttered its wings, and he smiled at it.

“Remember your little bird?” Zavian asked.

“Is it the one that makes a ton of noise by our window?”

“The one that sings, yes,” Zavian’s eyes filled with mirth at Neera. “It has been long it’s come in here. Come hold it, it must have missed you.”

Neera didn’t complain, even though she would rather just stab the creature born with the sound of the town’s bell for a voice. Her world would be a lot quieter without its usual twittering.

But as she stepped closer, the bird’s pitch rose. As her hand reached to touch it, it bolted away so fast out the window.

“That’s strange,” Zavian said.

“It must have forgotten me,” Neera offered as an explanation.