Free How to Seduce an Angel in 10 Days by Saranna DeWylde Page B

jerked her down under the water. She opened her mouth to scream and saltwater poured down her throat.
    She flailed, seeking purchase on something solid, but there was only the water. Only the pressure on her chest and the burn in her lungs. Tally could see the surface, the bright blue sky overhead, the sun. Her fingertips broke the surface of the water, but she couldn’t get free of the seaweed.
    And Ethelred stood over her, watching her drown.
    Just as the pressure in her chest splintered, Ethelred hauled her up out of the water and carried her to shore. She spluttered and coughed, not caring if the water she’d started to swallow sprayed over his broad shoulders.
    “You’re a bastard,” she wheezed.
    He laid her down in the sand with a cocky grin, his demon magick healing her. “I know. Now you do, too.”
    “What was the point of that? Besides to terrify me?” If there’d been anything within reach, she would have thrown it at him.
    “You did exactly what I told you to do.”
    “You’re my fucking parole officer.”
    “I am. Now, why did you do what I told you to do, even though your gut told you not to?”
    “Because you told me to!” she cried. What a stupid fucking question. How was she supposed to learn anything with a demon who used circular reasoning?
    “You don’t understand. Maybe it’s too complex a comparison.”
    “I’m not stupid,” she growled.
    “Well, that could be argued given your recent choices.” He smiled at her and she couldn’t help but be warmed by it, as much as that pissed her off. “No, Drusilla,” Ethelred said kindly, “you’re not stupid. So it’s beyond me why you let the men in your life dictate your actions and your happiness.”
    Tally didn’t speak.
    “You knew exactly when Martin Vargill began to deviate from the path and yet you followed him. Why?”
    “I thought he loved me.” Tally didn’t like saying that out loud. She knew it in her own head, but the sound of it was pathetic and it disgusted her.
    “How could he love you, Tally?” the demon asked, his voice still kind and soft, but his words like razor blades.
    “Yeah. We all know I’m not that witch, okay? I’m not the one who gets the white knight and Happily Ever After. I’ve always known that’s not me.” Tally hated how brittle her voice sounded. How vulnerable.
    “Why have you always known that? Did someone tell you?”
    “Are you my parole officer or my fucking therapist?” she snapped.
    “I’m whatever I need to be. Answer the question,” Ethelred prompted in a stern, but not unkind voice.
    “No, no one told me. I know from experience.”
    “Again, I ask why you’d think anyone would love you?”
    “Fuck you.” She flailed at him, her open palm flying through the air with one stinging slap with his name on it, but he caught her wrist easily.
    “No one will ever love you, sweetheart. Not until you learn to love yourself.”
    Tears threatened and Tally would have rather gone back under the water than let the demon see her cry.
    He pulled her against him and hugged her. “There, there, darling. Time for that later. We have to move on to part two of today’s lesson.”
    “How does this help your cause?” She tried not to sniff.
    “That’s for me to know and you to maybe find out. Although, I like that you’re looking for the angle. Everyone has one, you know. No matter what they tell you.” He straightened, suddenly dressed in a perfectly tailored, white pinstriped suit—Al Capone Chic. “Now, we’re going to Piccadilly. I am in need of tea.”
    “So you almost drown me, rip me to shreds, and make me cry and you want me to go with you to buy tea?” Her voice cracked.
    “Now, now. Watch that inner bitch kitty. Settle down. And why not tea? A good pot will fix you right up. Come along.” He held out his arm and her swimsuit morphed into a long, white summer dress reminiscent of the Victorian era.
    There was nothing for it but to go where he led—previous lesson