Like he kept catching himself before touching me now. Like every instinct he had was still pulling him closer while he forced himself to hold back anyway, and I hated how much that hurt.
The streets of Hell grew quieter the closer we got to the massive black palace towering above the city bridges. The buildings here were older, dark stone rising upward in impossible twisted shapes while enormous iron braziers burned with silver fire along the roads.
Every demon we passed moved aside the moment they noticed my demon approaching. Some lowered their heads respectfully while others seemed genuinely afraid to even stand too close to him, and judging from the slight shift in his expression, he noticed me noticing all of it.
“You’re staring,” he said quietly without looking at me.
“I’m processing.”
“That sounds dangerous.”
“I just watched armed guards bow to the guy who reorganized my spice cabinet.”
“That shelf was upsetting.”
“That is not the point.”
For one brief second, the corner of his mouth almost lifted again before the expression disappeared completely.
The palace was even worse up close, impossibly massive beneath the crimson-black sky while dark towers climbed endlessly upward and enormous silver flames burned across the walls without consuming a single thing.
Nina stared upward in complete disbelief. “If I die here, somebody please clear my search history.”
“Too late,” the younger brother informed her helpfully. “Hell archives everything.”
“That is deeply violating.”
The enormous palace doors opened before we even reached them. Every demon inside bowed instantly the second my demon stepped through the entrance. Then their attentionshifted toward me. And one by one, several of them straightened again looking deeply confused about the protocol.
“…Okay,” I muttered quietly, “I understand discrimination.”
“You are absolutely about to make this worse,” my demon said without even looking at me.
We walked deeper into the palace through massive hallways lined with black marble and silver fire. The ceilings stretched impossibly high overhead while shadows moved strangely across the walls like the palace itself was alive.
Nobody seemed particularly happy to see me. Actually, that was underselling it. Several demons appeared personally offended by the fact that I existed at all, which felt rude considering the fact that their prince asked me to come get him.
Eventually the hallway opened into an enormous throne room filled with demons wearing dark ceremonial robes. The air itself was heavier here, like the room carried pressure inside it. The second we entered, every conversation stopped.
One council member stood from their seat. “You brought the human into the palace.”
My demon answered calmly, “Yes.”
Another stared directly toward my glowing wrist. “You bonded with her.”
I lowered my gaze. “Right. So we’re still treating me like a dangerous human.”
Nina leaned toward me whispering, “I think the matching soul tattoos are objectively dramatic.”
One older demon rose from the far side of the throne room. Definitely evil looking. Not cartoon evil either. Professional evil.The kind that probably destroyed civilizations and then discuss politics over dinner afterward.
“The human weakens you.”
Tension swept through the throne room after that before my demon laughed, the low dangerous sound echoing sharply across the chamber hard enough that several nearby demons lowered their eyes on instinct.
“You think THIS made me weaker?”
The entire room went still. And for the first time since meeting him, he was actually terrifying. Not the soft apartment version. Not the quiet man making coffee in my kitchen.
