I nodded, knowing it was pointless to argue. King was more stubborn than even Dagon. One question remained. "What about the object bonded to Dagon?"
King hesitated.
Not for long. Half a second, maybe. Less. The pause of an angel who had spent centuries treating the objects as celestial and was being asked, for the first time, to be fine with one of them bonded to a demon and eventually handled to them.
Half a second. That was all it took.
I felt the heat surface across my cheekbones before I understood what was happening. The gold-red shimmer. The demon inside me rose through the bookworm like a tide.
"You hesitated."
"Di…"
"You hesitated." I was on my feet without remembering standing. "You looked at me five minutes ago and told me it didn't matter what we were. You told both your demon sons that we were yours and yours meant the same thing it always meant.And the second I ask about the object bondedto Dagonyou flinched. You flinched, King."
He had the decency to not deny it.
"Tell me the truth. Not the version you think I want. The truth. Why did you hesitate?"
He looked at his hands.
"Because my instinct is still to protect the objects from demonic hands," he said quietly. "Because a part of me, a part I am trying to dismantle and have not yet finished dismantling, does not know what to do with an object bonded to a Starborn. I told you the truth in the gaming room when I said my beliefs hadn't changed overnight. They haven't. I am sitting with the part of myself that flinched, and I am ashamed of it."
"Ashamed isn't the same as fixed."
"No. It isn't. I won't pretend otherwise."
"He is my mate, King."
"I know."
"He has been your son for fifteen years."
"I know that too."
"And have you forgotten I am a demon now too?"
"I know, but you're not a Starborn."
Fury raged inside me. I didn't give a fuck what he thought of me, but Dagon? Hell no.
"Then do not flinch the next time someone in this room reminds you that he is a demon. Not in front of him. Not in front of me. Not in front of any of his brothers. Do you understand?"
King's eyes were wet again.
"I understand," he said. "I will work on it. I will not promise you it will be fast. I will promise you it will be honest."
That was the answer that kept me from walking out.
Honest beat fast every time. I could work with honest.
I sat back down. Slowly. The shimmer drained out of my face like heat leaving a tile.
"That's the last time you get to flinch and I let it pass with a question. Next time you flinch, I leave the room. I love you. I am still deciding what shape that love takes from here. The flinching is going to determine the shape."
"Understood."
King stiffened, ruffling his hair. "I'll keep the object with the others for now. I won't break its first bond. I hope it never comes down to it. Dagon being a demon won't change anything in our family."
