Demon and the Mage (Jeongcheol)

Jeonghan

I'd half expected Blaise to be in bed when I showed up at his place the following morning. He hadn't had the stamina to be up for more than a few hours at a time. Our hours had been spent bingeing the latest seasons of Umbrella Academy and battling it out on Call of Duty. To my surprise, not only was he up, but he was lifting weights in his home gym.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Blaise grunted, his muscles straining as he did one more repetition before lifting the bar back into the frame. Sweat slicked his chestnut-brown hair to his head, showing he'd been at this for a while. "You're going to have to be more specific because that list is several miles long."

Shaking my head, I went to the tiny fridge in the corner and grabbed a bottle of water. Blaise had swung himself into a sitting position, his head hanging low between his shoulders. "Here. Drink this."

I waited until half the bottle was drained before crossing my arms and glaring down my nose at him. "You were almost dead a week ago. What made you think this was a good idea?"

Blaise shot me a crooked smile, but there was no hiding the exhaustion. His limbs were shaking, his muscles having wasted away from months of inactivity. "The key word being almost."

"And you'll be right back there if you keep pushing yourself like this."

Blaise shrugged, his face darkening. "It's what I deserve."

This wasn't the first time he'd said something similar to this. I sighed, crouching so we were face to face. "You made a mistake. Yes, it was a pretty fucking major mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. Did you mean to kill him?"

Blaise's hollow gaze met mine. "You know I didn't. I'd never hurt anyone, not unless they deserved it."

"Exactly. Although, why you thought about even threatening the mate of the son of Lucifer is beyond me."

Blaise squeezed his eyes shut as he mumbled something.

"What?" I barked. Oh, he didn't just say what I think he did.

"Because of you."

Yep, that's what he said. I stared at him in disbelief. "What kind of twisted logic made you come to that conclusion?"

Blaise huffed. "You've always been, you know....the useful one. You're the one they sent to track them down, the one everyone looks to for advice and guidance. Me? I'm just the spare. Jeonghan's stupid twin."

"Don't call yourself stupid," I snapped. "So it's not really about me at all. It's about your ego."

"No," Blaise countered hotly. I raised an eyebrow at him, and a sheepish look crossed his face. "Okay, well, maybe a bit. But that wasn't the main thing."

"Then what was it?" I threw up my hands. "Because, to me, it looks like you went looking for trouble for no other reason than to make yourself feel important."

"Next to Willow and Anya, you're the most powerful mage in our clan. Possibly the most powerful in Europe."

I rubbed the back of my neck uncomfortably. "I wouldn't say the most..."

"Bullshit," Blaise said flatly, cutting me off. "Once they took Willow, I knew it'd only be a matter of time before they came after you. Even I'd noticed how it was the most powerful mages being taken. I had to do something...anything to stop that from happening." He blew out a breath. "I wasn't thinking straight. It's not an excuse, but it's what happened."

I grabbed the back of his neck and squeezed it lightly. "I can't say what you did is okay because it isn't. But I get it. I'd do anything if it meant protecting you." I thought about the way I'd used and manipulated Seungcheol. All right, it hadn't led to anyone dying...but now I had a fated mate who didn't want anything to do with me. "But you can't let this define who you are from now on. You can't punish yourself endlessly."