[h2]Esme Stirling[/h2]

As Esme spilled her guts to Duke, she had leaned into his hand when he wrapped his fingers around her jaw and was also aware of his change in emotion as well as his heartbeat picking up. When the news didn’t affect him right off, she had a feeling he thought she was pranking him. If someone had told her what she was telling him, she would have thought the same. She figured it was her body language and the tone of her voice that told him she wasn’t lying to him. Although she had no reason to lie to him about anything other than to keep him from being afraid of her, it was clear her news scared him by the way he held his breath and by his heart beating faster. It was the last thing she wanted, but he deserved to know if he was going to be sticking around for a while, and he needed to know before it happened again. If it just happened without him being aware, it would affect him far worse than it was now and possibly have him see her differently. 

His sudden mutter almost startled her as she watched him, and it surprised her he hadn’t pulled away from her, then again, he was still working through what she told him. She gave a small nod to his words, letting him know he was right. As far as she knew, the blast wouldn’t harm anyone that was human. She continued to watch him as he rationalized and looked around the room before finally looking down at her. As she listened to him, her eyes and face held a mixture of emotions, not really knowing how to answer him or if she should at all. But he was right in what he said and she gave a silent nod before her eyes softened at him telling her he loved her. When he broke off, her eyes dropped then closed as he leaned forward and kissed her forehead and released the breath he was holding. “I understand. I know this is a lot to process, take the time you need.” she whispered before he pulled his lips from her forehead and spoke once more before she could say anything else.

Duke’s next words caused Esme to bite her bottom lip and close her eyes tighter, but she still nodded her head when he told her he wasn’t leaving and not to get it into her head. She slowly opened her eyes as he continued, and she nodded once again silently. “I’ll answer what I can.” she breathed. She let him go without a fight as he pulled himself away from her and left the bed, her gaze barely lifting to watch him grab his phone and step into the bathroom. “I love you too.” she said faintly when the bathroom door closed. She then slid down the headboard and sunk into the pillows with a heavy sigh as she felt most of his emotions leave with him, but were still heavy in the surrounding air. Running a hand down her face, then through her hair, she gently rolled onto her uninjured side, curled up slightly, and buried half her face into the pillow. Her eyes landed on Sarah, who had her head propped up on the side of the bed, staring at her with her ears down. 

“Was I right in telling him so soon?” she asked faintly, questioning herself. “Should I have waited longer after telling him I was an Empath?” Sarah then lifted her head from the bed and stood, carefully jumped up on the bed, and gently curled herself around Esme with a soft whine as she rested her head on the pillow above Esme’s head. She relaxed into Sarah almost immediately as her closeness shielded her from the weight of the lingering emotions, leaving her to process her own and breathe. Sarah slid her head down closer to Esme’s, so it was slightly resting on hers and gave a soft whine that made Esme release a sigh through her nose. “I know, but it was a lot to put on him at once and it scared him.” Her voice was still faint as she spoke to Sarah before she reached down and pulled the blankets up to her neck. “I should have waited longer before telling him I was a demon nuke.” she continued. “It was too much at once.”

When Esme fell silent, Sarah gave a low growl to which Esme shook her head and brought a hand up, resting it on Sarah’s side and petting her. Sarah heaved a sigh as she curled more around Esme and she ran her hand down her side. As she laid there with Sarah, she could feel herself relaxing more and more even though she felt horrible for putting so much on Duke at once and scaring him. Her free hand came up and fiddled with the pendant of her necklace, out of habit. It wasn’t long before she felt the tiredness hit her and she realized just how much she had been pushing herself to keep going after everything that had happened, but she had to stay awake so she could answer Duke’s questions and eat. If she fell asleep now, she’d be out for hours and in a deep sleep that would be hard to wake her from. She would rest but fight sleep until he was ready to come out of the bathroom and ask the questions he needed answers to.