Meanwhile my demon had gone suspiciously quiet beside me. I turned slightly toward him. Big mistake. Because the second our eyes met, his attention dropped briefly toward my mouth before returning upward again. Still enough to make heat rush through me.
And apparently enough for the council member to notice too. The older ruler closed the stack of parchments in his hands before muttering:
“…The city is never recovering from this.”
The older ruler disappeared down the corridor afterward still muttering to himself while palace servants continued openly staring at me and my demon like we’d personally invented romance.
My demon’s hand was still resting against my waist, like he’d finally stopped pretending he wanted distance between us. And I was already getting used to it far too quickly.
Nina noticed my blushing.
“Oh this is getting worse by the second.”
“What is.”
“You’re leaning into him.”
I looked down automatically.Traitorously, she was right. At some point during the hallway chaos I’d shifted closer against my demon without realizing it, and now his arm rested around me like the position belonged there naturally.
The younger brother was deeply entertained beside Nina. “The bond settled.”
“That sounds medically dangerous.”
“It usually is.”
Meanwhile palace servants had started pretending to reorganize nearby lanterns while very obviously eavesdropping on us.
One whispered dramatically, “They look mated already.”
“I am going to start throwing people off balconies,” my demon informed the hallway calmly.
Nobody even flinched. If anything, several servants seemed delighted by the possessiveness. What was wrong with this dimension?
Nina crossed her arms while staring at me suspiciously. “Okay no. I need details.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely not.”
“You disappeared into a bedroom looking mentally unstable and came back glowing.”
I blinked once. “…Glowing?”
The younger brother nodded thoughtfully. “Slightly.”
My demon remained unfazed. “You were touching her.”
“That sentence sounded illegal.”
“It was observational.”
Nina grabbed my arm dramatically. “Eva. Did the scary demon prince finally stop acting emotionally constipated.”
Nobody answered. Then my demon spoke before anyone else could.
“Yes.”
