“You felt it,” he replies.
The truth of that statement cuts through my denial with brutal precision. I had felt it. The connection. The answering heat beneath my ribs. I look up at him, anger rising to push back the helplessness.
“Then stop it.”
His brows draw together slightly.
“Stop answering it,” I insist. “People could have died.”
“They did not.”
“That wasn’t my point.”
The words leave me sharper than intended.
For a moment the demon simply watches me, his expression unreadable. Then he inclines his head slightly.
“Restraint is possible,” he says. “But it is not simple.”
Something in his tone suggests the effort costs him more than he admits.
“You managed it today,” I say.
“Yes.”
“Then keep doing that.”
His gaze studies me again, something slow and measuring moving beneath the surface of those golden eyes.
“You ask much of a wrath demon.”
“I’m not asking,” I reply, my voice firmer now. “I’m telling you.”
The words leave my mouth before I can reconsider them. Silence fills the cottage. The fire snaps softly between us, its light dancing across the dark planes of his face. For a long moment he simply looks at me. Then, slowly, the corner of his mouth curves. It is not a warm smile. It is the faintest suggestion of one, sharp, amused, and entirely unbothered. As though the idea of me issuing commands to a creature like him is not insulting. Just… entertaining.
“You would place limits on me,” he says at last, his voice thoughtful.
“Yes.”
“And if I refuse?”
The question carries no threat. Only curiosity. I straighten despite the tremor in my hands.
“Then I suppose we will both find out what happens.”
Something flashes in his eyes then—something brighter than the fire. Approval. The bond pulses sharply between us. A flare of heat ripples through my chest, sudden and undeniable. His gaze drops briefly to the center of my heart, as though he can see the invisible connection tightening there.
“Interesting,” he murmurs.
I swallow.
“You will not kill anyone,” I say firmly. “Not unless they truly deserve it.”
The fire in the hearth flares suddenly higher. The bond tightens like a drawn wire. Then the pressure eases. Something ancient settles between us, quiet but absolute. He lifts his gaze to mine again, that faint, knowing smile still ghosting across his mouth.
“As you wish, princess,” the demon says softly.
The pet name lands strangely in my chest. For a moment, I simply stare at him, heat creeping up the back of my neck. The title is absurd, infuriating even, and yet something about the way he says it sends an unwelcome ripple through the bond between us.
