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When Asuriel stirred awake, she found she was resting in someone's lap, with a large hand resting atop her head. She blinked the sleep from her eyes and took a deep breath. Vaerion's scent enveloped her, filling her head with fog again.

After her shower last night, she had fallen asleep as soon as she got in bed. She didn't remember getting so close to him.

Golden eyes looked down at her curiously. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, "Good morning."

"Uh, good morning…" Asuriel trailed off, moving to sit up herself.

Vaerion lifted his hand, let her get up, and said, "Your hair…"

"It's always messy in the morning," Asuriel sighed. "Downside to having curls."

"No, not that – it changed color," he elaborated. "The tips are white."

Asuriel's eyes widened when she looked down and found he was right. She grabbed a few locks of her long hair and examined them; it was a gradient of pure white at the bottom to the natural black of her hair at the roots. There was no sign of damage, bleaching, or toning – which only left her puzzled.

All she could say was, "Oh."

"'Oh,' indeed," Vaerion inspected her, intrigued. "You become more interesting by the hour."

"What the hell is happening?" she muttered. "Maybe my mom will have answers about this, too."

"Hopefully," the devil said, pursing his lips. "It happened while you were sleeping; I watched it change. You kept shaking and were fighting a fever, so I tried to keep you still and cool with a few spells… then, a soft golden light wrapped around your hair, and the color changed."

"I had no idea something was wrong… I didn't feel anything. Is that why I was resting in your lap?" Asuriel asked, feeling a bit awkward. She was surprised to know that she underwent so much physical strife in the night without noticing. "Were you able to sleep at all?"

Vaerion hummed in affirmation. "Much to my dismay, it was why your head was in my lap – and not for a fun reason. And don't worry, I'm rested. I don't need much sleep – another perk of being a devil."

"If you say so," Asuriel yawned. "What time is it?"

"Around nine in the morning," Vaerion answered. "I let you sleep in a little. We've got a busy afternoon ahead of us."

"Oh? What's on the agenda, boss?" she asked, stretching her arms over her head.

"In around an hour, we'll eat, and you'll meet your new pet, Kaine," the devil replied. He was looking at her with an indecipherable expression between pity and excitement. "Once we're done, we will head to the office to collect paperwork. The documents are for an acquisition I'm making that is pivotal for ELH's profits for the last half of the year."

Asuriel nodded in understanding, "and then?"

Vaerion was hesitant but answered, "We will attend a meeting in the southside of town with a few… criminal organizations to discuss a couple of things."

"You do business with gangs?" she asked incredulously.

"Not as the CEO of ELH, no," he explained. "I'm also the head of the Ashen Crown. The meeting's content will involve a few territorial disputes we've been having recently. It shouldn't take too long, they're all idiots."

"Oh, of course, you are the leader of the Ashen Crown," Asuriel laughed. "I guess it makes sense. You're a man of many talents with all the time in the world."

"I'm the only reason Veridion's economy hasn't collapsed. If it were up to the feather-brained celestials that own most of the hospitals and the pharmaceutical research companies, everything would have fallen apart by now," Vaerion spoke bitterly and sighed. "Their black-and-white morals will be the death of humanity if they don't figure their shit out."

Asuriel was intrigued. "Celestials own a lot of those types of businesses?"

"Unfortunately," he said. "That's how so many 'miracles' come from modern medicine, not human's natural advancement."

Asuriel wondered how much of what he said was true and how much came from his personal bias against the celestials. Whatever the case, it was a piece of information she hadn't known before.

"Makes sense," Asuriel leaned toward him and rested her head on his shoulder. "Thinking about it all makes me tired. Maybe I should go back to sleep for a while."

Vaerion scoffed and brought one of his hands up to her face. He pinched her chin, then ran his thumb along her bottom lip – an action he had done several times before but still sent electricity down Asuriel's spine. She looked up at him, their gazes meeting.

As they stared silently at each other, Asuriel felt her tattoos warm up, and she noticed Vaerion's arm begin to glow faintly.

"You can sleep if you want," Vaerion said quietly, a devious smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. He parted her mouth with his thumb and dipped it between her teeth to touch her tongue; then, as quickly as he had done it, he pulled his hand away. "I won't stop you."

Excitement pooled in Asuriel's stomach, and she was disappointed when he retrieved his hand.

"Well, now I don't want to," she replied honestly. "You're such a tease."

"Am I?" he feigned innocence, looking at her like he hadn't done anything.

"You are." Asuriel placed her hand on his chest and slowly moved it down his stomach.

Once she reached the hem of his t-shirt, she slipped her hand beneath the fabric and used her fingers to trace circles against his hot skin. She smiled as she felt his muscles individually, moving slowly and purposefully.

Vaerion let her continue, looking at her with a challenge in his eyes. He raised a brow, curious if she would go any further.

"Do you like to do it in the morning?" Asuriel asked casually. She let her hand slide back down to rest on his lap, serving him a sweet smile. His muscles became taut.

"Dove," Vaerion leaned close enough that she felt his hot breath against her skin, obviously aware of what she meant. "I'd love to play with you right now… but my idiot vassals will arrive soon, and I want to take you over and over – without having to worry about a time restraint. So, let's wait."