She grabbed his arm and pulled him along with her to the bedroom. He didn’t argue again as she put him back into bed and sat on the edge with her hand on his forehead.
“It’s okay,” he said. “It doesn’t hurt that much.”
“And here I thought you were a good liar.”
“It’s over, Eden. I can feel it.”
“No it’s not. Not even close.”
She didn’t need to be a rocket scientist to get what Lucas had told her. She’d made this mess, she’d done something, shifted something, messed with something that shouldn’t have been messed with when she’d tried to remove the curse. Nothing else had changed in order for him to feel this lousy.
This wasn’t his inner angel and demon doing battle inside him. This was merely a glitch.
She looked down at his pale face as he looked up at her uncertainly.
“I’m going to fix you,” she said. “So get ready.”
ELEVEN
“Not that I don’t have every confidence,” Darrak began, “but are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
“Do you trust me?”
He eyed her. “Should I?”
“Do you?” Eden asked again.
“I don’t want you to use your magic again for this.”
“Tough. It’s the only way. I need to go back in and shift things back to the way they were before. When I tried to remove the curse, I rearranged the furniture in there. I know what I did wrong — I shifted the light and dark sides of you when they were already in perfect feng shui position.”
“So you’re trying to say you did an Extreme Home Makeover on me?”
She snorted. “Pretty much.”
He leaned back against the pillow. “Fine. Do your worst.”
“I think I already did that.”
“Andy’s got less than three hours before sunset.”
“I know. Now, shhh.”
Eden pressed her hands against his chest and closed her eyes so she could concentrate. This time it didn’t take long at all to sink down to the metaphysical level. She wouldn’t be able to explain it to somebody else, only to say that it felt very natural. Very right. If it didn’t do damage to her soul while she was down here fiddling around, it would prove to be a very useful talent.
She scanned Darrak’s being, and yes, the light and the dark were bumping up against each other violently now. Of course. How couldn’t she have noticed that before? It was like two lions infringing on each other’s territory, both equally powerful but very, very different.
A turf war was going on in Darrak’s body between who he was and the new part of himself he refused to accept.
Something else caught her attention. She hadn’t noticed it before. She’d been too distracted thinking the pure darkness was the curse, when really it was his demonic side. But now she saw it hiding at the edges, staring out at her. His curse. It was slimy and evasive, and one look at it told her it would devour her if she even attempted to reach toward it.
If the spell from before had been like a puppy returning to its master at its first opportunity, this was a snake, winding around everything, both light and dark, until it was too tangled to untie.
One day, she might try again. But not today. She instinctively knew that grabbing hold of it now would only do more damage.
Darrak gasped out loud as she shifted the light and dark parts of him back into their comfortable positions. The raging jutting turf war stopped immediately.
Putting Darrak back together was a lot like putting IKEA furniture together. Only this didn’t come with instructions.
Eden opened her eyes to see Darrak was staring up at her.
“Done,” she said. “How do you feel?”
“Better.”
Relief flooded her. “Thank God.”
“If you say so.” He grinned and slid his fingers into her hair. “Yeah, I feel way better now.”
“Things don’t seem as bleak?”
“Oh, things still reek of bleak. Just without the bonus prize of sheer agony.”
She pulled back. “I should have told you. I’m sorry.”
He sat up. “Yeah, well, I’m sorry for not taking the news like a champ.”
Her guilt from before prodded at her again. “You had a right to know earlier than today.”
“How about we renew our agreement to be honest with each other? Or I might start borrowing your body again to do my errands at night.”
“Blackmail. I can respect that.” She hadn’t told him about her meeting with Lucas, but she’d been returned so quickly that she honestly didn’t see a reason she needed to share that with him. She didn’t want to spoil his improved mood by mentioning his ex-boss.
Eden looked down at her amulet. “Not much damage done.”
“Anything is too much.”
“It was worth it. I’m so glad you’re feeling better.”
“Angel.” He blinked. “I’m half-angel. Maybe if I keep saying it out loud it won’t feel so utterly insane. Which half is angel, though? That’s the question.”
She almost smiled. “I think it’s your right half.”
He snorted. “It was a rhetorical question.”
“I could see it, you know. Two separate pieces that aren’t too thrilled about taking up the same space. The right”—she took his right hand and brought it to her lips, kissing it—“and the left.” Then she did the same to the left.
Darrak watched her carefully. “Well, I can tell you that both sides like that a lot.”
He was wrong. This wouldn’t be the end of him. She’d fixed the pain and she could fix everything else if given enough time. “You’re going to be okay.”
“You know that for a fact?”
She nodded. “Yup.”
“Beauty, brains, and the ability to soothsay. I’m very impressed.” He frowned. “You’re looking at me strangely right now.”
Desire had replaced the concern she’d felt before. She slid her hands over his shoulders. “Am I?”
“You are.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Better, like I said.”
She leaned forward and brushed her lips against his. “How much better?”
His gaze darkened with passion. “One hundred percent.”
Then, as if a well had broken, he pulled her against him and kissed her hard and deep on her lips.
She grinned. “So you are feeling frisky now.”
“Never friskier.”
His mouth covered hers again, his tongue sliding against her own. She couldn’t remember him ever kissing her with this kind of abandon before, not even the time they’d been given a lust elixir. There had always been something to stop them — worries about her black magic, Darrak’s spell that might make it worse, or not admitting her true feelings about the demon in the first place. They’d always fought against what felt so right.
