CHAPTER 137: CHAPTER 137: THE DEMON’S VILLA

BY SUNSET, they had settled — or at least, scattered into some form of temporary domestic chaos.

Lucien had immediately commandeered the wine cellar. Oliver was testing how many stairs Shadow could climb before hissing at him to stop following. Elin had disappeared into the gardens, murmuring to the air like she was negotiating with the roses.

Mailah found herself on the terrace, overlooking rolling vineyards. The sky was bruised gold and lilac, and she could almost pretend they weren’t like fugitives.

Almost.

Grayson joined her quietly, two glasses of deep red wine in hand. "You didn’t unpack."

"I don’t unpack until I believe we’re staying longer than a day."

He handed her a glass. "Fair."

The wine was rich, heavy with warmth and memory. It filled her mouth, her chest, her pulse. "This is... incredible," she murmured.

"From the cellar. Vintage 1867."

Her head snapped toward him. "You can’t just steal century-old wine!"

"I didn’t steal it." He took a slow sip, entirely too calm. "I own it."

Mailah blinked. "You own the wine?"

"The villa," he clarified, his lips quirking. "And everything in it."

She gawked at him. "You bought a literal Tuscan villa and forgot about it?"

"I invest," he said simply. "And forget."

Mailah set her glass down, torn between amusement and disbelief. "You are impossible."

"I prefer efficient," he countered smoothly.

"No one forgets a villa, Grayson."

He tilted his head, his gaze softening, voice dipping to something rougher. "I forget everything except what I shouldn’t."

The air between them changed.

He said it like she was part of that exception.

"Grayson—" she began, but whatever she was about to say evaporated when his fingers brushed hers. The spark that leapt between them was sharp and electric—too familiar, too dangerous.

She froze.

He didn’t move.

"Mailah," he said softly, her name caught somewhere between a warning and a confession.

She turned to him, the light shifting across his face, outlining the faint scar at his temple, the shadow of a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

And for one impossible second, it felt like the world had stopped keeping score.

Here, surrounded by silence and sun-warmed stone, they could almost pretend they weren’t fugitives of fate. That the world wasn’t waiting to pull them apart.

By the time darkness crept across the hills, the villa had become their refuge. Candles flickered along the terrace railings, throwing ribbons of light across the marble floors. The air smelled of rosemary, earth, and the faint salt of the nearby sea.

Mailah had changed into one of Lalilah’s dresses, the fabric loose and soft, the neckline uncharacteristically daring. She sat with her legs drawn up beneath her on the stone balustrade, watching the stars bloom one by one.

Behind her, the sound of laughter drifted through the open doors—Oliver trying (and failing) to beat Lucien at some kind of drinking game that involved teleporting wine corks. For once, even Grayson’s quiet hum of control seemed to ease, replaced by something... lighter.

"This place feels unreal," Mailah said, half to herself.

Grayson looked up from the papers he’d been pretending to read. "Because it’s beautiful?"

"Because it’s peaceful," she said, turning to face him. "And I don’t trust peace."

He set the papers aside, his eyes darkening just slightly. "No one can follow us here, Mailah. The wards are ancient—woven into the land itself. This was built before any of our enemies even existed."

She wanted to believe him.

She wanted to let herself relax.

"You really think we’re safe?" she asked quietly.

"I know we are," he said. "For once, this isn’t strategy. It’s sanctuary."

The word sanctuary settled between them like a fragile thing.

Mailah exhaled. "I don’t remember the last time I didn’t feel hunted."

"You’re not prey," Grayson said, his voice sharp but protective. "You’ve survived everything that should have destroyed you."

"Yeah," she said, looking out over the vineyard again. "But sometimes surviving isn’t the same as living."

He studied her for a moment, then stood, crossing the short distance between them. "Then live," he said simply. "Tonight, at least."

The words shouldn’t have hit her the way they did—but they did.

He extended a hand.

And against all better judgment, she took it.

Inside, the others were already well into their second—or possibly fifth—bottle of wine. Lucien was halfway through a dramatic retelling of how he once "accidentally blessed an entire convent into mild chaos," while Oliver looked like he was reconsidering the meaning of existence. Shadow, to no one’s surprise, was quietly sharpening a blade near the fire.

When Grayson and Mailah entered, Lucien raised his glass. "At last! The demon lord and his lovely human anomaly! Come, drink! Sin responsibly!"

Mailah laughed despite herself. "That phrase doesn’t exist."

"Not with that attitude," Lucien said solemnly.

Grayson’s lips twitched. "He’s been worse," he murmured.

Mailah gave him a sidelong glance. "So this is better?"

He smiled faintly. "Marginally."

They joined the others, and for the next few hours, the villa felt alive with sound—music from an old phonograph Lucien had found, Elin’s quiet laughter in the garden, Shadow’s occasional dry comment cutting through the chaos.

It was strange, this sense of temporary belonging.

Mailah caught Grayson’s gaze once or twice across the table—the kind of look that said you feel it too, don’t you?

And he did. She could see it in the way his fingers brushed the rim of his glass, in the faint curve of his mouth when she laughed.

They were both pretending this was just a pause in the war.

But deep down, they both knew it was something they might never get again.

Later, when most of the candles had burned low and the others had drifted to their rooms, Mailah found herself back on the terrace. The night had deepened, the air cool and threaded with the scent of olive trees.

Grayson joined her once more, silent as shadow.

"This place..." she said softly, "...feels too good to be real."

"It’s real," he said. "Just rare."

"Rare doesn’t last."

"Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take it when we can."

She glanced at him. His expression was unreadable, but the edge of weariness in it tugged at her heart.

He looked at her for a long moment, then nodded toward the vineyards. "Come morning, I’ll show you something. There’s a grove down there that catches the sunrise in the vines—it looks like fire in glass."

"Poetic," she teased.

"Practical," he countered. "If you’re going to hide from the world, you might as well do it somewhere worth remembering."

She smiled. "I’ll drink to that."

And they did—silently, side by side, their glasses catching the faint starlight.

For once, no alarms. No calls. No ghosts.

Just quiet.

A fragile, impossible quiet.

The next morning began with sunlight.

Not the pale, half-hearted light of their usual cities, but a gold so rich it seemed alive.

Mailah woke to it spilling through sheer curtains, gilding the sheets and her skin alike. The villa was quiet except for the occasional murmur of birds and the rhythmic hiss of the sea somewhere beyond the hills.

For a while, she just lay there — still, breathing, weightless. It felt wrong to move. Wrong to shatter the peace that had settled over everything like morning mist.

When she finally rose, the air smelled of espresso and lavender. Someone — likely Lucien — was already awake, humming what sounded suspiciously like an old hymn as he clattered around in the kitchen.

Mailah padded barefoot down the hall, drawn by the scent of breakfast.

Lucien looked far too chipper for someone who had drained half the villa’s wine reserves the night before. "Ah! The mortal awakens!" he greeted, tossing her an orange. "We thought you’d eloped with the sunrise."

She caught it easily. "I was tempted."

He smiled knowingly. "The sunrise can be very persuasive."

Oliver shuffled in next, hair sticking up at wild angles, Shadow perched on his shoulder like a judgmental cat-statue. "Please tell me there’s coffee," he muttered.

Lucien gestured grandly to the pot. "Coffee, croissants, fruit, and the illusion of safety. Help yourself."

"The illusion of—" Oliver began, then sighed. "Right. Humor before caffeine. Dangerous choice."

Mailah smiled faintly, pouring herself a cup. The mug was warm, the air cool, and for once, there was no urgency threading through her veins.

Grayson appeared a few minutes later — silent, as always, but with a looseness to his posture she wasn’t used to seeing. He wore no jacket, no layers of armor in fabric or demeanor. Just a simple dark shirt, sleeves rolled, hands unguarded.

"Morning," she said softly.

"Morning." His voice was low, roughened by sleep. "You’re up early."

"Couldn’t sleep," she said. "It’s too quiet."

He nodded once, understanding. "Come with me."

He led her outside, past the terrace and down a winding path that opened into a grove at the edge of the vineyard. Dew clung to the leaves like beads of glass. The world smelled of wet earth and sunlit wood.

When the light finally broke over the horizon, it poured through the vines in streams of molten gold, just as he’d promised. The entire field seemed to catch fire, every grape and leaf illuminated from within.

Mailah drew in a breath.