Chapter 93 Chapter 93
Valerie saw Maxwell stiffen slightly at the mention of divine magic and wondered if it was dangerous to demons. “Does it hurt?” she asked Yosef, who was about to answer, but Maxwell interrupted him rudely.
“It doesn’t,” he said and sent Yosef a smoldering glare that shut him up. “What kind of compensation do you want for helping us?”
“None,” Yosef grinned adorably.
“Typical angel,” Maxwell said, rolling his eyes. “Great, then let’s do it right away.”
Valerie’s blood turned to ice. She looked at the demon in shock and didn’t know what to say. Her tongue was tied. Was he so keen on being rid of her that he couldn’t even wait one more day? Or a week?
Did it really have to be right away? Stabbing pain invaded her heart and made it ache. It broke in her chest, shattering into pieces. Tears formed in her eyes. Drawing in a shaky breath, she gazed at the demon and felt crushing disappointment seeing his vacant expression—all this didn’t faze him at all, but why? She didn’t understand.
His eyes were red, but his face was blank, mouth set in a straight line as he waited impatiently for Yosef’s answer. He didn’t look at her at all, as if she wasn’t even in the room. Valerie knew that he was well aware of the emotional pain this caused her, but even so, he didn’t react to it. She felt betrayed, and didn't understand why he was behaving this way now when they had been joking around with each other only fifteen minutes prior. He hadn’t acted this coldly around her in a very long time.
Yosef hesitated and regarded both Maxwell and Valerie for a while without saying anything. His light blue eyes took in the young woman’s distraught frown and the sadness in her eyes, as well as her slumped posture. Other than the demon, she wasn’t ready for this step, so Yosef decided to reason with him.
“Are you sure that you want to do this? What happened to you was an accident, and I understand that you want to reverse it, but you should think about this carefully. Breaking a bond isn’t something to be taken lightly,” the angel said gravely. “You will always feel like something is missing for the rest of your lives.”
A heavy and tense silence fell over the room. Hearing this, Valerie wanted to break it even less than before, but she was the only one who thought so.
“Doesn’t matter. I want you to do it,” Maxwell said decidedly.
Yosef sighed quietly, not liking the demon’s rash way of thinking and acting, especially not seeing Valerie’s sad frown. When Ashton had told him about their problem, he had assumed that both of them were unhappy with the bond, but it seemed that this wasn’t true.
“Maybe you should leave it be. Fate has interesting ways to bring people together, and your story sounds too unusual for it to be a simple coincidence. A spell can’t go out of control in such a way. A bond between a high-class demon and a human doesn’t just happen by accident. Perhaps it was your destiny to meet,” he said. The demon rolled his eyes at him, but Yosef wasn’t deterred by his attitude. “Perhaps Heaven showed mercy and granted you a second chance, Maxwell.”
Maxwell flinched. His body tensed, and the reddish tint in his iris turned scarlet. “How do you…?” he started, but he never ended his sentence, letting his voice go silent. She wouldn’t have thought it possible, but she saw pain flicker through his gaze, followed by devastating guilt. He lowered his head, letting white strands of hair fall over his eyes.
“It’s an angel’s power. We can see a person’s greatest regret and their most painful memory. It makes it easier for us to help,” he answered calmly. “I know what happened to you and…”
“Shut up.” Maxwell hissed. “Shut up. How dare you bring that up now! I don’t want to be reminded of it.”
Valerie stared at him in shock and disbelief. She hadn’t witnessed him act like this before. He appeared very restless, fists curling and uncurling, but what chilled her to the core was the expression on his face. It was murderous. Filled with a demonic rage she had rarely seen in him. He usually didn’t show this kind of emotion in front of her, but now he doesn't seem to care anymore.
“If you don’t want to help us, just say it,” Maxwell hissed. “I’ll find another angel who’s going to do it.”
“I only tried to make you see reason, I didn’t mean to anger you,” Yosef said, frowning worriedly when he noticed tears burning in Valerie’s eyes. “However, before I remove your bond, I want to make clear that you both have to agree to it. Otherwise, I won’t do it.” He looked at Valerie when he spoke, knowing that she wasn’t ready to take this step.
“Yeah, fine. We both agree,” the demon snapped impatiently, eager to get it over with.
“No, we don’t,” Valerie chimed in.
“What?”
“I don’t want to break it.”
His eyes widened, and he took her by the shoulders, staring into her eyes. “Why not? Valerie! We have waited so long for this! It has to be done now.”
“I don’t want to,” she said, her heart clenching painfully at the thought of it.
Frustration and a sense of desperation flickered through his eyes, dyeing them dark red. His face hardened, and his magic flared dangerously. “You are going to agree,” he demanded coldly. “Do you remember the deal we made? Do you remember that I saved your friends’ lives weeks ago? They would have died had I not gotten rid of the evil spirit and the demons in the mansion. You never paid me back.”
Dread washed over her. She couldn’t believe that he wanted to use the old favor she owed him for something so cruel. She had forgotten about their deal because it had happened many weeks ago.