Demon Moon by Meljean Brook Read Free Book Online

needed to step away from the door, put some distance between them, but it was difficult not to stare. That golden hair, artistically messy. His sculpted cheekbones and angular jaw. The lean, elegant length of him in his tailored trousers and soft, clinging sweater. How did he manage it when he couldn’t even see himself in a—
    There, a reason for escape. She swallowed and nodded. “Alright, but give me a second?”
    His smile widened. “Of course, sweet Savitri.”
    She felt his gaze follow her as she walked across the living room to the cheval mirror that stood in the corner. Nani rose to her feet and narrowed her eyes disapprovingly. “You cannot leave him at the door, naatin ,” she said in Hindi. Then added in English, “Mr. Ames-Beaumont, please come in.”
    “It’s okay, Nani.” Savi turned the mirror to face the wall, and looked around for any that she’d missed. “I’m just making sure he’ll be good company, instead of ignoring us in favor of admiring himself.”
    “Savitri!”
    “Don’t scold her, Auntie,” Colin said, laughing. “She has the right of it. There is another by the kitchen, Savi. Sailor Moon?”
    She shot him a surprised glance as she flipped over the small frame depicting anime characters in schoolgirl uniforms.
    “A short obsession…with their equally short skirts,” he added as if in explanation, then turned his attention to her grandmother. “Mrs. Jayakar, you are as beautiful as ever.”
    She blushed and patted her hair. “And you are too kind to an old woman.”
    His brows rose. “Hardly old.” He bent and kissed her cheek. “If it weren’t akin to cradle-robbing, I’d steal you away and ravish you so completely you’d never leave my arms.”
    Savi couldn’t stop her grin as her grandmother swatted his arm and protested his audacity, laughing. Even Nani was not immune to his looks and charm. After the tension and fear of their flight, this was exactly what she needed.
    But unfortunately, they couldn’t stay there. “I’m going to get ready,” Savi said. “Where are you taking me? Any dress code I should follow?”
    His assessing gaze swept from her bare feet to the tips of her hair. “Not a tattered housecoat.”
    And that easily, he declared her inadequate. Her mouth flattened, and she bit off her automatic reply. Nani did not approve of gaalis .
    “You’re going out?” Dismay filled her grandmother’s voice, and Savi sighed.
    “I have to be seen, Nani, so that no one can say I was on that plane. No suitable boy is going to marry a girl who’s a terrorist.”
    She ignored the sharpening of Colin’s expression and waited for Nani’s reluctant nod before she headed for the bathroom.
    “Savi,” Colin said, and she glanced back over her shoulder. “Anything you put on will be appropriate.”
    “Only because they won’t be looking at me anyway.”
    His delighted grin warmed the room—or her blood. It just wasn’t right for a man to be that beautiful. Even Guardians and demons who could shape-shift into ideal forms couldn’t equal Colin when he smiled.
    “They will,” he said, “…after a while.”

    Colin angled the lamp, shining the light more fully onto the painting. His masterpiece, if he’d ever had one. But it had not been his brushstrokes, the color, nor the composition that made it beautiful: it was the subject.
    Caelum. The realm the Guardians made their home.
    Seven months before, only Guardians and their angel predecessors had ever seen Caelum. But when Lucifer had threatened Savitri’s life, Michael had teleported her to his temple in that realm, out of the demon’s reach. Several days later, the Doyen had taken Colin so that Lucifer would not discover Colin’s link to Chaos.
    Lilith had not been able to escape as easily: a symbol on her chest anchored her to Hell and prevented her being teleported to Caelum. Moments before Michael had taken Colin to Caelum, before she and Castleford had left to face Lucifer, Castleford had