“That thing tried to kill me in my apartment hallway!”
His jaw tightened again before his eyes settled on the ash still scattered across the floor.
Then quietly, he said, “They’re escalating faster than I expected.”
Something cold settled heavily in my stomach. And I already knew what he was about to say next.
My demon's gaze lingered down the empty hallway for a second while black ash continued drifting across the floor tiles aroundus. The fluorescent lights overhead flickered weakly again before finally stabilizing.
Then quietly, without looking at me, he said, “You are no longer safe near me.” Anger hits me faster than fear. I stepped toward him. “That is NOT how this works.”
His expression tightened slightly. “Eva.”
“No. Absolutely not. You do not get to say devastating things and then vanish dramatically like some tortured fantasy character.”
“That is strangely specific.”
“You know what I mean.”
My demon finally met my gaze then, and the calm expression he usually wore around me had started cracking at the edges. Whatever had happened had shaken him more than he wanted me to see.
Not for himself. For me, and I hated how much that realization affected me.
Behind us, somebody opened an apartment door farther down the hallway before closing it again after seeing the scorch marks.
Honestly, it was a very fair reaction at this moment.
My demon stepped closer. “They will continue coming.”
“Then let them.”
“That is not bravery. That is human recklessness.”
“You literally fought nightmare smoke in a hallway wearing a hoodie I bought at Target.”
“That is unrelated.”
“It feels EXTREMELY related.”
For one brief second he almost smiled again, and that made my chest ache even worse because in that moment I finally understood he had already made the decision.
“You’re leaving,” I whispered.
He stayed silent, and that alone gave me the answer.
I stared at him while cold hallway air curled around us both. The grocery bags still sat abandoned near the apartment door, and one of the oranges had rolled halfway down the hallway during the attack.
The stupid normality of it hit me so hard I almost didn’t know what to do with myself.
“You promised you were handling it.”
“I was trying to.”
“That is not the same thing.”
“No.”
His voice softened slightly then. “It was selfish.”
