Happily Ever Afterlives by Olivia Waite

Author:Olivia Waite
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: paranormal, paranormal romance, romance, erotic romance
Publisher: Olivia Waite
Published: 2016-07-24T16:00:00+00:00

* * * * *

Nights passed, a full week of pleasure unlike any James had ever known. It was neither the surrender of virtue nor the celebration of vice that he’d experienced so often before. With Virginia he felt both bolder and more careful—a paradox he had yet to resolve in his own mind.

Fortunately he had plenty of time to spend pondering this novelty, while Virginia caught a few scanty hours sleep beside him. It had been a very long time since James had spent so much time just curled up with a woman. He was surprised to find that he’d missed it.

It wasn’t simply the warmth of her body in the bed—Virginia’s bedroom was a very pleasant place on its own merits. Her window faced east, so James was able to watch the first pallid rays of London sunlight make their drowsy way in and creep along the walls in a slow morning ballet. After an hour or so it was bright enough to see the sage green and gray paper on the walls, a note somewhat out of harmony with the furnishings—dark, old-fashioned pieces in heavy wood that had clearly been inherited from prior generations.

The bed they lay in was ancient, carved all over with dancing classical figures. James twisted around to look as much as he could—there was Apollo pursuing Daphne as she was transformed into a tree, Orpheus losing Eurydice to the underworld a second time, and—to his delight—a Bacchanalian revel populated by nymphs and satyrs. Some of the satyrs looked noticeably demonic, crowned with curling horns and lecherous expressions.

His movements had woken Virginia, who stretched languorously. James smiled and reached for her as she opened her eyes—and yelped in alarm, flinching away from his green hands.

James froze.

“Oh,” Virginia gasped, her breathing still rushed. She clutched part of the sheet to her chest, knuckles as white as the bedclothes. “I’m sorry about that. I was dreaming, and I thought...” She reddened. “I was dreaming of Hell.”

This was not the first time she’d done so, but it was the first time it had fully occurred to him that perhaps sleeping with a demon was not helping her to avoid the nightmares. James carefully lowered his hands, keeping his movements slow and steady. Virginia managed a tentative smile but couldn’t quite meet his eyes. Another satyr on the headboard leered at James over her shoulder, reminding him of the way the other demons had stared at them during the waltz that first night.

Predator.

And he remembered some of what she’d said then, in the ballroom. He felt heartless for letting it slip from his memory for even a moment, when it was clearly still tormenting her. “You know the demons are all afraid of you, don’t you?” he said.

“Are they?” She shrugged. Her gaze was distant, her expression shuttered. “I can’t imagine why.”

“Well, for one thing, the Lord of Hell singled you out,” James answered. “That’s not something we demons can lightly overlook.” Not if they valued their lives, he refrained from adding.

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