How to Love a Blue Demon (39 page)

“On Earth, women and men very often wear ga
rments of more than one hue,” Eyoen offered. “It’s quite normal.”

“Really,”
said his mother.

Eyoen nodded.

“You should try one in this orange and white, momma,” Cass suggested holding up one of the pattern books.

His mother adored the Earth version of
Gegi
, and she immediately had a gown made according to Cass’ recommendations.

“Tell no one,” she ordered the seamstress. “Work on it alone. I want no one to wear t
his two toned garment before me.”

“Of course, your highness.”

“Once you set the fashion with two colors, you can knock their eyes out with three,” Cass told his mother, wiggling her eye brows.

His mother had actually swooned she was so excited.

“She is quite clever isn’t she?” she whispered to him when Cass was being measured for the soft low heeled shoes Cyani females traditionally wore.

“Wait until
you get to know her better,” he promised.

All knew she was being groomed to be his bride, a supposition he would cement by announcing their engagement at
the party his father was throwing to introduce her to the Cyani court. It was to be a special treat, and she was going to do a show performing original songs. Cass still had trouble with the lack of music on the star though she understood why it was so.

The only problem was, he had yet to ask her to marry him
. Eyoen hadn’t even spoken of marriage, nor explained exactly what that concept meant on the star. It was similar to the Earth version, but there were several key differences he didn’t know how she’d react to.

“What do you think of marriage?”

No time like the present. The party was in three days time, and he felt the need to tie her to him in every way there was even more keenly now that his father had alluded to a pending war.

“In general or for me?”

He laughed. “Is there a difference of opinion between the two?”

She grinned. “I suppose not. Why? You wanna marry me?”

“Yes.”

She blinked, offered up a short, startled laugh.
“Well, that’s succinct.”

“I very much want to marry you, my dear. Would you marry me?”

For a long moment she was silent.

“We haven’t known each other very long.”

“Is time a factor?”

She shrugged. “Some might say so.”

“Do you?”

“No,” she laughed softly. “
These days I don’t place much store in conventional thinking when it comes to matters of the heart.”

Eyoen thought that was a good sign.

“Have you ever felt for another man what you feel for me?”

“No,” she said wryly. Her demon certainly didn’t suffer from any insecurity.

“Then what obstacles would prevent you from marrying me, my dear?” If he knew what potential problems stood in their way, he could fix them.

“How do we know we’ll be compatible long term? That what we feel is real and lasting?”

Eyoen scoffed. “No one ever knows such things. It’s a gamble anytime two demons join together.”

“I agree, to an extent, but I’m not a demon, and that’s another thing. We’re two different species. Can we have children? I don’t see the point of marriage without children.”

“Are you ready to have them?”

She nodded.
“Sure. I’m no spring chicken after all. I’ve been thinking about kids for awhile now.”

“Could you see me as their father?”

She nodded again.

“Then you and I will
have beautiful children.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that. Now, what other feeble excuses have you drummed up?”

Cass burst out laughing. “You act like
you didn’t just spring this on me right now. Like we’re any other couple. Shit, if we were on Earth, and we were both of Earth, we’d still have problems because we’re different races. Instead that’s the least of our worries because we’re different species. And there’s another thing. What will your parents say? I’m quite sure they’re hoping you’ll grow out of this human phase.”

“They’ve already given me their blessing.”

Eyoen barely restrained a smile when he saw how that surprised her. “Really?”

He nodded. “My family has known this was my intention since before I left Cyanus to come to you on Earth.
I never made any secret of the fact that I wanted you for my mate, and my father knew it was my intention to court you.”

“Where would we live?”

“Here and on Earth. Time passes differently in both places. You could stay here with me and my family for weeks, and go back to find only a few hours had passed. Then we could come back here, and no one would even know we’d been gone.”

“I’ll still want my career.”

He looked angry. “Of course! You must play music. That’s a given.”

She stared at him.

“What?” He asked. “Surely you’re not finished objecting already? I’d anticipated more of a fight to win your hand, my dear. You’re making this way too easy for me.

“Ha ha.” Cass sat down heavily on the nearest chair. “You’re royalty.
”

“So will you be.”

“What about your constituents or subjects or whatever. Will they accept me?”

“I’m not going to be K
ing, darling. I’m the youngest of my litter. I have many brothers ahead of me who will inherit the throne.”

“You don’t believe that.”

For the first time Eyoen looked uncomfortable.

“Wondering how the Earth
girl knew that, hey? Perhaps you thought the secret well kept, particularly from someone so new to the star? Well. I’m no little miss, my dear,” she said, gently mocking his favorite endearment for her. “I have it on very good authority that you may be next in line for fathers’ crown.”

“Who told you that?”

She smiled. “I may as well have heard it from the King himself.” She paused for dramatic emphasis. “Your mother told me.”

“Ah. Of course. She was doubtless warning you what will be expected.”

Cass nodded. “Exactly.

“It doesn’t matter. There’s nothing wrong with my father. He’s got
hundreds of years left to rule.”

“Reall
y?” Cass asked incredulously. She looked appalled. “You age more slowly than humans?”

“Yes, and if you marry me, so will you.”

“But –”

He waited but Cass just stared at him.

“How old are you?”

“Ah!
” He should have known this was going too smoothly. “We’ve never talked about this, have we?”

“No.
” Her brown wrinkled in confusion. “I suppose I just assumed –”

“I’m a little older than you, my dear.”

“How much is a little, Eyoen?”

“Oh, a few hundred years little actually.”

She stared at him. The pause drew out so long he wondered if she planned to say anything more. Perhaps he’d shocked her silent. Now that would be something. His Cass was never without something to say.

“You’re centuries old?”
She whispered.

He nodded.

“And you have centuries more life left to live.”

He nodded again.

“And,” she paused. “If I marry you I’ll age at the same rate?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “Well, as long as we have sex, yes.”

Her brow wrinkled as she thought that over. “So, if I marry you, everyone I know and who knows me will die before I do,” she said slowly.

“Yes,” he said sadly.
“Unfortunately, that’s true.”

“
It sounds horrible,” she whispered.

He nodded. It was. But it was also
the truth. It was best she faced it now. There was nothing worse in a situation like this, than being horribly surprised because no one told you what was in store.

He would never lie to Cass. One did not deceive one’s mate.
He could recall being a pup and hearing his father say that, “love thrived on not having restrictions. There could be no fence on the heart. Only a gate that swung open and shut both ways.”

It was one thing he’d noticed during his research on love
between interspecies couples. Despite their differences, some subtle, some painfully obvious, the couples who made it together were unfailingly lenient with one another. Accepting. They knew on a cellular level that if they were not, rifts brought on by country-rooted conflicts – let alone the tiny, inconsequential things that irritated and sometimes broke up the heartiest, most compatible couples – would destroy their love as certainly as they destroyed lives during planetary wars.

People in love who desired a life together had to be willing to embrace everything about their mate wi
th open arms. Not that openness and acceptance were a cure all, or that love was the solution to every problem. But knowing and believing and seeing and existing in relative harmony with even the silliest, the most nerve wracking quality could and often did help to surmount other obstacles for one very important reason: No matter what, those two people knew they were loved for who they were. They’d made that commitment. Come what may, whether it was another person bent on mischief, an illness, a sudden bout of poorness, anything, as long as those two people loved and accepted and wanted with their whole hearts, as long as they believed that other person would always be there, gladly, gratefully, gleefully, they could make it. They could be happy.

“There are many things that will be stran
ge to you about our lives on Cyanus, my dear. Just as there were many odd things that I embraced about Earth. Watching you these past days, I assumed you’ve come to like life here on the star?”

She nodded.

“Then you just have to ask yourself one thing. Do you love me?”

Cass scowled and rolled her eyes. “Come on. You know I do.”

“Do you love me enough to be uncomfortable or scared?”

She nodded slowly.

“Do you love me enough to deal with court life, and my many siblings, my silly mother, my stern-faced father and the curiosity of my kinsman? Do you love me enough to accept that you will age more slowly than a regular human, and that all manner of physical, mental and spiritual changes are bound to occur that will shape who you become and who we are together?”

She smiled slightly, and his heart lightened to see understanding bloom behind her warm brown eyes. “Yes, I love you more than enough for all of that. I love you more than I ever knew was possible,”
she said. “I don’t have a choice.”

“
No?”

“
No,” she said simply, reaching up to stroke his cheek.

He leaned contentedly into her touch
, as always soothed by her scent, her nearness.

“
I used to think this kind of love was reserved for my lyrics, my videos, the movies, hell, even my fantasies.” She traced his lips with a finger, and he took a playful nip before he kissed it better. “I didn’t think it would happen for me, honestly.” She moved into his arms, and he gladly pulled her close as she pressed her cheek over his heart. She listened to it thump for several beats.

“I thought I was too practical. Too focused on my career, and managing my
money and my image. I thought at most I might find a companion. Someone to laugh with other than Priti or the other members of my team, and I did.”

They both thought of poor Lee. Whose bad luck had led to their being together.

She leaned back and looked into his golden eyes. “But you’re something else,” she said thoughtfully. “Something I didn’t bargain for, but I’m going to keep you. I have no choice. I love you more than I love my music. But it’s real.”

His brows shot toward his hair line. “My dear,” he whispered, shocked.

“It’s a close tie,” she assured him. “But if I had to chose, and I pray to God I never do, I’d choose you.” She sighed deeply. “I can’t imagine life without you. I can barely remember life before you,” she laughed thoughtfully.

He leaned down to gently kiss her lips, to rub his cheek against hers before he pulled her back into his arms. “I’m humbled, my darling.
Your words mean the stars to me.”

She smiled
at the familiar sentiment but unfamiliar phrasing.

“
If that is truly how you feel, then I have no doubt that we can make it, my dear. If you feel even a tenth of that I feel for you, we can make it.”

L
ooking down at her with serious golden eyes, he asked again, “Will you marry me?”

She nodded. “Yes. I will marry you.”

He swung her into his arms, laughing, his happiness inspiring her own ecstatic laughter.