His expression cracked at that.
“I tried to leave.”
“You told me to come get you.”
Pain flickered briefly across his expression after that.
“I know.”
“You left a ring in your hoodie.”
“I know.”
“You literally wrote on my wall.”
“That was a mistake.”
“ You knew exactly what you were doing.”
“I was not thinking clearly.”
The honesty in his voice settled heavily between us because it made this harder .
He had wanted me there. Wanted me beside him badly enough to ask me to follow him into Hell even while fully understanding what that choice could eventually turn me into, and judging from the exhausted look on his face now, he’d been punishing himself for wanting it ever since.
And, for the first time since the bond reveal, I finally saw how exhausted he really was. Not physically but emotionally like he’d been fighting himself for weeks. Trying to stay away from me while simultaneously wanting me close enough to destroy his self-control completely.
The realization hurt in a completely different way.
“You thought if I knew,” I whispered to myself, “I would leave.”
He remained silent . But the silence answered enough. The Prince of Hell, feared by literally everyone in this room, looked at me now with the expression of someone who had spent weeks waiting for rejection.
And all the tiny moments replayed differently again. Him pretending the hoodie meant something. Him acting casual about the bond. Him constantly giving me exits.Him looking genuinely relieved every single time I stayed anyway.
The younger brother quietly elbowed Anderson. “I think this became worse to the core.”
“I noticed.”
I still couldn’t stop staring at my demon.
“You should have told me.”
“I know.”
“And I’m still angry at you.”
“I know.”
“And this is still deeply insane.”
“Yes.”
The corner of his mouth lifted slightly for the first time since we entered the throne room, small and careful, not hopeful exactly but more like he was genuinely surprised I was still standing here talking to him at all, and the realization of that hurt far more than I wanted it to.
Chapter 21
Eva POV
