The Devil's obsession with the Heiress

[Music recommendation: Fighting for a Lost Cause · Antimatter]

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​Sitting up quickly, Aliana reached out to switch on the bedside lamp and scanned the room.

Once again, there was no sign of Gavriel.

’Where is he?’ she wondered as her gaze drifted towards the window, only to find darkness outside.

’How long was I out?’ The thought hung suspended in her mind as she swung her legs over the side of the mattress, determined to search for the man she had spent the previous night trying to escape.

She padded across the cold floor toward the adjoining bathroom, only to come to a stop to find it empty.

Releasing a slow, shaky breath, she turned toward the vanity mirror, her eyes widening as her reflection caught the light.

There was not a single speck of dirt left on her skin, nor any trace of the cuts or dried blood that had marred her body yesterday.

"How?" she whispered, stepping closer to inspect her reflection.

She clearly remembered the cuts on her arms and legs, the throbbing pain in her head from the near crash, and the deep cut on her palm from the blood offering.

"Did he... do this?" she asked herself, turning her hands over in pure astonishment.

Confused, she walked back into the bedroom and sank onto the edge of the mattress, her voice barely a breath in the silent room. "Wait... how much time has actually passed?"

Her gaze drifted to the digital clock resting on the nightstand, her eyes widening at the red numbers.

It was already the next day, and the time was well past dinner.

She couldn’t believe she had slept for so long.

Her mind returned to the last thing she remembered: sitting on the bed before Gavriel with her forehead resting against his chest, finally ready to listen to him.

She rested her elbows on her knees and bent forward, burying her face in her hands as her own voice echoed through her mind and the events of the previous night came rushing back....

"I’ll listen..." she had murmured softly before lifting her head to look at him. "Will you be honest with me now?" she had asked as she leaned back.

Gavriel had given her a silent nod, and she had released a soft breath.

He didn’t begin right away.

Instead, he picked up the damp towel he had set aside earlier. "Lean back and ask me anything."

Although Aliana’s eyes had already been heavy with exhaustion, sheer will had kept her awake. She slowly leaned against the headboard and finally allowed Gavriel to begin cleaning the blood from her face.

"Are you... really the Devil?" she mustered the courage to ask.

Gavriel kept his gaze trained on the small wound near her hairline. "Yes. I am."

Aliana went quiet for a moment.

Gavriel dipped the cloth into the water bowl, wrung it out, and brought it to her injured palm.

As he began cleaning it with gentle care, his features darkened, clearly displeased by the sight of such a deep mark on her skin.

"Why... did you do this?" he asked quietly.

Aliana replied softly, "You... don’t know?"

He paused, meeting her eyes.

"My family," she added. "I just found out they were always part of a cult that worshipped... you." Searching his gaze, she asked, "Did you really not know?"

Gavriel’s gaze fell back to her palm as he tenderly cleaned it. "I knew. Countless people make offerings to me, asking for power or favours in return, but I rarely bother with them unless I find a specific reason to pay attention."

Aliana frowned softly at his answer. "But this was my family. Why didn’t you... tell me?"

"I knew you were completely unaware of what they were doing. And since you didn’t know my true identity, I could not have told you without exposing myself, Ana."

He looked up, meeting her gaze, and she asked quietly, "Were you... never planning to tell me?" Pain flickered in her eyes as the thought took root. "Did you... not trust me enough to tell me?"

Gavriel’s hands stilled, his movement halting completely. "At first, I was not going to tell you," he admitted honestly, his throat working slightly.

"I didn’t want you to fear me. Later, I decided I would tell you everything... I couldn’t decide on the right moment. When I finally resolved to tell you... you found out like this."

Aliana saw the raw honesty in his gaze.

Looking back, whenever she had questioned him about his past or the origin of his power, he had always given her vague yet truthful answers. She had simply been the one who couldn’t bring herself to believe them.

So, offering a small nod, she accepted his truth.

Gavriel went back to shift her legs onto his lap and began cleaning the dirt and small cuts on them.

Somehow her brain could not comprehend that this man, who was the actual Devil, was sitting in front of her and cleaning the wounds on her feet as if it were the most natural thing in the world. The image was endearing, absurd, and therapeutic all at once because his gentle fingers against her skin were slowly lulling her to sleep.

Before her mind slipped away entirely, she asked softly, "Gavriel... why did you do it?"

When he looked up at her, she blinked through her heavy, closing eyelids. "Of all the women on this planet... why me? Why did you choose to marry me?"

Her eyes began to close right before she could surrender to unconsciousness, she felt him move closer. Resting his hand against her cheek, he pressed his forehead gently against hers, gazing down into her sleepy eyes.

"Because it is you," he whispered with fierce possessiveness. "And I wanted you to be only mine."

Aliana’s heart gave a wild flutter as she caught a sudden, fleeting glimpse of his icy blue eyes flashing vivid crimson.

Then he leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss against her cheek. At the touch of his lips, a soothing current of dark power washed through her veins, instantly dissolving every sharp throb of pain across her skin, until she finally surrendered to a deep sleep.

Snapping back to the present, Aliana’s heart gave a familiar thud as the vivid memory of his lips pressing against her cheek washed over her.

Slowly, she lifted her head from her knees, her fingers drifting up to trace the exact spot on her skin where his warmth had lingered.

The truth settled deep into her chest. "So it was you..." she whispered into the empty room.

Suddenly, an urge to see him surged through her. There was still so much to talk about, so much left to understand.

Without wasting another second, she grabbed her robe, tied it hastily around her waist, and rushed to the door.

Right as she pulled it open to step out, an invisible force threw her backwards, repelling her back into the room to her absolute shock.

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