When he finally met my eyes again, his expression had softened into something quieter. The distance I'd grown used to was gone. All that remained was quiet, painful certainty. Then he held one hand out to me again.
I stared at his hand for one brief second before taking it. They were warm and familiar. And together, we walked back toward the palace chaos waiting outside the bedroom doors.
Chapter 27
Eva POV
The second the doors opened, the entire hallway went dead silent. Every servant outside froze where they stood. One nearly dropped a silver tray before it crashed loudly onto the floor anyway. Another turned too quickly, panicked, and walked straight into the wall beside them.
I barely made it three steps into the hallway before Nina appeared from the opposite corridor carrying a glass of something glowing silver. Then she stopped dead.
Her eyes moved from my flushed face, to my wrinkled dress, to my demon standing way too close beside me with one hand resting casually against my lower back.
Silence. Then, dramatically: “...Should we pretend we didn’t see that?” someone whispered from the far end of the hall.
“Oh my God.”
“That reaction feels judgmental,” I informed her.
“You disappeared into a bedroom with the Prince of Hell looking barely functional.”
“That narrows nothing down.”
Nina pointed aggressively at both of us. “You two look like you just survived a natural disaster.”
Behind her, the younger brother appeared carrying what were suspiciously like stolen pastries before freezing too. Then a slow grin spread across his face.
“Oh this is catastrophic.”
My demon remained deeply unimpressed. “You are all dramatic.”
“That,” the younger brother informed him calmly, “is the face of a man who absolutely ruined a girl against a wardrobe.”
The entire hallway went completely silent. One servant choked so hard it sounded painful. I covered my face while somewhere behind us, someone muttered, “We are all getting fired.”
Meanwhile my demon didn’t even deny it.
Nina screamed loud enough to echo through the palace. “HE DIDN’T DENY IT.”
“Please lower your voice,” Anderson said tiredly while appearing from farther down the hallway. Then his attention settled on us properly.
“…Oh no.”
“YOU TOO?” I demanded.
Anderson pinched the bridge of his nose. “The palace can already sense mood shifts through the bond.”
I blinked once.
“…The palace WHAT.”
Nobody answered fast enough. To be honest their silence told me enough already. Then all the lanterns lining the hallway burst brighter silver at the exact same moment. The servants collectively gasped.
One whispered dramatically, “The palace approves.”
“I need to leave this dimension,” I muttered.
My demon’s hand tightened slightly against my waist automatically.
