Eva POV #10
Something in his expression faltered after that because he knew I was right.
The younger brother looked between us carefully before whispering toward Nina, “Should we leave.”
Nina shook her head. “Absolutely not. This is a historic moment .”
“I respect that answer.”
“Thank you.”
I pressed one hand hard against my forehead while trying very hard not to have a breakdown in the middle of Hell.
“This is insane.”
“Yes,” my demon admitted softly.
I searched his face for a moment. “And the worst part is you still seem genuinely sorry.”
“I am sorry.”
That hurt too. Because he really meant it this time.
Chapter 18
Eva POV
For a few seconds nobody on the street spoke at all. Silver flames flickered quietly around us while the crowds nearby continued pretending not to stare directly at the disaster unfolding in public.
Nina finally broke the silence first.
“At this point,” she announced tiredly, “they both need psychological help.”
The younger brother sighed dramatically beside her. “Unfortunately Hell does not believe in therapy.”
“That explains literally everything.”
I still couldn’t stop looking at my demon. The anger hadn’t disappeared. But now there was something heavier sitting underneath it too.
Hurt.
Worse, now I understood why every moment between us had always been so intense. Why leaving him was unbearable. Why he looked at me like I mattered before I even realized what was happening myself.
And that only made the entire situation more complicated.
Finally, I asked quietly, “So if I rejected the bond… you’d really leave?”
My demon answered deliberately . “If that is what you wanted.” The answer should have made me feel better. Instead it just made me angry again. “That is such a stupid answer.”
The younger brother whispered toward Anderson, “Oh she’s furious furious.”
Anderson was barely holding himself. “I noticed.”
I dragged one hand across my face before looking back at my demon again.
“I crossed dimensions for you.”
“I noticed.”
“I literally fell into Hell for you.”
“Very dramatically too,” the younger brother added helpfully.
Nina pointed at me. “She screamed the entire way down.”
“That is not the point.”
My eyes locked back onto my demon’s again while the demonic crowd around us went strangely quiet.
“You don’t get to act like this means nothing to me and then offer to disappear.”
Around us, nearby demons became very interested in literally anything except our conversation while still listening aggressively.
My demon watched me for one long second before answering quietly,
“…Humans usually fear the bond.”
“Well maybe those humans are boring.”
That actually caught him off guard. Something in his expression softened then with a flicker of genuine surprise instead of pain, but my own anger refused to fade.
I was still hurt, still furious, still standing in Hell realizing the terrifying demon prince I trusted had known the truth about us from the very beginning.
My gaze dropped briefly to the glowing mark on my wrist before I spoke again, quieter this time.
“You stayed in my apartment acting like we were building a life together while hiding something this huge from me.”
That landed harder than I expected, hard enough that I watched his expression tighten right in front of me.
“I know.”
“You let me think all of that was accidental.”
“It was never accidental for me.”
The honesty in his voice made my chest ache badly enough that holding onto my anger started becoming a lot more difficult than I wanted it to be.
The younger brother turned away muttering, “Oh this is painful.”
Nina nodded completely invested in the drama now . “I feel like I’m watching a supernatural divorce court.”
Anderson pinched the bridge of his nose like he regretted every life decision leading to this street corner. Meanwhile my demon still hadn’t looked away from me once. Not once. And for the first time since the reveal, he finally stopped trying to defend himself.
“I should have told you,” he admitted quietly.
The words settled heavily between us, simple and honest without a single excuse attached to them, and that hurt in a completely different way because there was nothing left for me to push against except my own feelings, except the fact that despite everything, despite how angry and hurt I still was, part of me still wanted him standing this close to me, and that was deeply unfair.
Before I could say anything else, a loud horn echoed across the city. The sound rolled through Hell like thunder. Every demon nearby stopped moving instantly. Conversations died. The silver flames lining the streets flickered violently once before burning brighter.
Even the younger brother’s expression changed.
“…Oh no.”
he atmosphere around us shifted so fast it made my stomach tighten instinctively. I scanned the crowded street as nearby demons began backing away from us with visible unease. Others lowered their heads completely.
“What was that?”
An answer didn’t come right away, which was becoming deeply concerning at this point, and then I noticed the change in my demon’s expression as the softness vanished behind something tighter and far more guarded.
The younger brother finally turned toward the massive black palace towering far beyond the city bridges. “The council knows she's here now.”
Every instinct in my body hated that sentence.
Nina's expression matched my alarm. “Okay, wow. That sounded aggressively political.”
Anderson exhaled deeply beside us. “Because it is.”
I crossed my arms. “Can somebody explain why everyone in Hell keeps talking like we’re one bad decision away from war.”
The younger brother muttered, “Because usually we are.”
“That is not comforting.”
Around us, the crowd had started moving again, but the atmosphere was completely different now as whispers spread rapidly through the streets while more and more demons turned to stare openly at me instead of my demon.
That felt significantly worse. One nearby demon whispered quietly, “That’s the human.” Another answered, “The marked one?”
My stomach dropped.
“Oh I hate this place already.”
Without thinking, I moved slightly closer toward my demon again. Then I got annoyed at myself for doing it.
He noticed both reactions instantly, and his hand shifted slightly at his side like he almost reached for me without thinking before forcing himself to stop at the last second, which hurt far more than I wanted it to. Good. He deserved to suffer a little too.
Anderson faced the palace once more before speaking sharply. “We need to move. Now.”
“No,” one older demon called from the edge of the new crowd.
Everybody turned.
The demon stared directly at me with open disbelief. “You brought a human marked by a prince into the capital?”
“I feel like the wording there was judgmental,” Nina muttered.
The younger brother was deeply offended on my behalf. “In fairness, she arrived voluntarily.”
“That is MORE concerning.”
More demons started talking over each other nearby while the tension in the street climbed rapidly. My demon shifted slightly in front of me again without even seeming to realize he was doing it, the movement instinctive, protective, and painfully familiar by now.
And this time, despite being angry at him, I still noticed that he always did that when things became dangerous. I felt fully manipulated even if he wasn’t doing it on purpose.
The younger brother leaned toward Nina quietly while watching the crowd. “This is going worse than usual.”
“There’s a USUAL version of this?”
“No. That’s the upsetting part.”
Anderson addressed my demon directly. “If the council reaches the city before we do, this situation becomes public.”
Nina blinked once. “This IS public.”
“You have not seen the demonic public yet.”
Chapter 19
Eva POV
And before I could ask what that meant, the entire street cleared with alarming speed as demons moved out of the way so quickly it felt less like a crowd leaving and more like people escaping.
Every instinct in my body hated it. I took in the frightened faces around us. “Why is everybody acting like the apocalypse is coming?”
The younger brother grimaced beside Nina. “Because politically speaking… it kind of is.”
Nina folded both arms. “I knew this relationship needed less destiny and more boundaries.”
My demon already visibly annoyed. Which apparently meant something very bad was happening.
A group of demons wearing black armor emerged from farther down the street and started walking directly toward us. Their armor reflected silver fire sharply beneath the lantern light while dark cloaks dragged behind them across the stone streets.
Nobody nearby even dared to look directly at them. That felt more threatening than weapons.
Nina leaned closer toward me slightly. “Oh I hate authoritative outfits.”
The guards stopped directly in front of my demon before bowing, and the careful precision of the movement made it painfully obvious they understood exactly who they were standing before. Then one of them’s gaze settled on me. The entire street went silent.
The guard stared openly for a second before asking, “…the human is beside him willingly?”
I blinked once. “That sounded weirdly personal.”
The guard hesitated before adding in a much quieter voice, almost like he couldn't fully believe the words himself, “He has never allowed anyone this close to him before.”
My eyes shifted automatically toward my demon. Annoyance had already settled across his face.
“You’re really not a people person, huh.”
The younger brother answered for him. “He once ignored an entire royal banquet because someone tried to hug him.”
Nina nodded seriously. “That is relatable.”
The head guard straightened again after that while the atmosphere around us tightened sharply. “The demonic council demands to see the human.”
Immediate tension snapped through the street. My demon answered instantly.
“No.”
The guard hesitated slightly. “Your Highness….”
“I said no.”