Saints (SAINTS #1) | ✓

33

THOUGH SHE KNEW HE was the devil, in the saturated orange of the dying sun he looked innocent for a second, like someone made out of dreams and honey instead of nightmares and screams. The shadows clung to him, his hair, his black suit, but his eyes were so sharply red that there was no mistaking him for something else. She offered him a wide smile, the effect of whatever it had been Daichi had given her sipping through her carefully crafted mask. It wasn't often she showed any semblance of real emotion and she hadn't been planning on doing so with the sins either. Still, apparently there was no escaping her husband-to-be. As he leaned forward from his position on the windowsill though, she wondered for a moment if she even wanted to escape him.

"I thought you were going?" she drawled.

"I was," he said," but I sensed something was going on with you, so I returned to check up on you."

"How kind," she said softly," the great and mighty devil has a heart after all."

She had expected that to get a reaction out of him, but all he did was slip off the windowsill and walk over to her, the light seeming to be sucked out of the room everywhere he passed. When he crouched down in front of her, she couldn't help but stare at him.

"You are so intriguing," he murmured," I haven't felt any excitement these past decennia, but you, you make my heart beat."

"I do tend to have that effect on people," she said.

"You do indeed," he said, taking her hand in his and placing it against his lips," which is why I think you'll be a great queen."

The place his lips touched was set aflame, but in a way so soft it reminded her of warm summer days. She closed her eyes for a moment, the buzz of alcohol through her veins somehow seeming to become stronger in his presence, instead of fading away. When she opened them again, all she saw in his eyes was herself.

"What has caused you to be this cheesy?" she said, taking her hand out of his to graze it against his cheek.

He leaned in to her touch, the red in his eyes dimming to something softer, and flashed her a charming smile.

"Don't call me cheesy now," he said," I still have a reputation to maintain."

"So do I," she said, tipping her head back to lean it against the door behind her," it's why I'm up here right now."

"I see it in everything you do, Jasmina," the devil said, eyes lingering on her bared neck before they settled on her face," we are cut from the same cloth, you and I."

"That better be expensive cloth you're talking about," she said, stars dancing before her eyes.

"It is," he chuckled," divine, even. I already was hoping you'd be different when I chose you out of all the other souls, with your past and your parents. I'm just glad I was right."

"What about my parents?" she said," because if you're looking for a girl with daddy issues, I have to refuse. I'm not into that."

He placed his hand on the back of her head then, thumb brushing against her neck as he pushed her forward gently, so she was forced to look back at him.

"No worries," he grinned," I have enough daddy issues for the two of us. God really isn't the best father, believe me or not."

"God?" she frowned, before parting her lips," ah, right." She sat upright then, eyes curious. "Does that mean you're a fallen angel as well? Not sure what to think of as myth or truth anymore."

Something flickered in his eyes, but it was gone before she could place it, his charming smile and smooth words back into place as he nodded his head.