Eva POV #12
Not betrayal exactly but something worse in a different way, a distance between us that felt impossible to ignore, like no matter how close we became there would always be parts of him that belonged entirely to this terrifying world instead of me, and my demon noticed the exact second my expression changed because his own tightened afterward.
“Eva.”
The softer tone only made it worse.
I looked at him directly. “Do YOU even want me to know it?”
The entire room went still again. One council member actually leaned forward slightly like this conversation had become significantly more dangerous. My demon held my gaze for a long second before answering carefully.
“In demonic royalty, true names are not spoken casually.”
The ruler smiled again. “Because names are power.”
Another council member added coldly, “A royal name given freely becomes a vulnerability.”
Nina blinked once. “Oh my God. Hell turned trust into classified information.”
“That is actually an excellent summary,” Anderson admitted.
My attention drifted back to my demon as my thoughts tangled together painfully again.
“So all this time,” I said quietly, “I didn’t even know the real you.”
Finally his expression cracked slightly after that, and for the first time all night he seemed genuinely afraid of losing me again, which affected me far more than it should have considering I was still actively trying to stay angry at him.
The throne room remained painfully silent around us while silver fire crackled softly against the palace walls. Every demon in the chamber watched us with open fascination now like this had stopped being politics and become something far more dangerous.
My demon stepped toward me with the same careful hesitation again, like he genuinely thought I might move away from him this time, and the worst part was that some stubborn part of me still wanted to.
“You know me,” he said quietly.
I snorted softly once before I could stop myself. “That feels statistically questionable right now.”
A few demons nearby were deeply offended that I was joking in front of demonic rulers. The sight of their horrified faces improved my mood slightly. But my demon didn’t smile though.
“You know the parts of me that matter.”
The words landed harder than I expected.
Because my brain betrayed me with memories again.
Him making coffee barefoot in my kitchen.
Him silently fixing things around my apartment without asking.
Him wrapping blankets around my shoulders while pretending it meant nothing.
Him kissing me like leaving physically hurt him.
Those parts were real. That was the problem.
I glanced down briefly at the glowing mark on my wrist before asking quietly, “Then why does it feel like everybody in this room knows you better than I do?”
The rulers exchanged brief looks across the throne room while my demon visibly struggled for an answer that wouldn’t hurt me further.
That hurt too. Finally, he admitted quietly, “Because they know what I am,” and the honesty in his voice pulled something painfully tight inside my chest.
I turned back up at him. “And what exactly are you afraid I’ll do if I know your real name?”
The entire throne room went quiet again. Not the normal kind either. The kind where every person in the room realized something had gone very, very wrong. Even Anderson went still beside us.
The younger brother muttered, “Oh this conversation is becoming illegal.”
One older council member answered before my demon could.
“A true royal name gives power over the one who speaks it.”
Nina blinked. “Oh absolutely not. That is terrible system design.”
Another ruler spoke coldly from farther up the throne platform. “Names are sacred among demonic royalty. They are revealed only during the mating ceremony.”
My stomach dropped instantly at the word ceremony because of course Hell had ceremonies. That felt exactly like the kind of terrifyingly formal problem this situation would turn into.
Nina stared at him in horror. “I'm sorry, the WHAT ceremony?”
The younger brother let out a weary sigh. “There are unfortunately several ceremonies.”
“That sentence ruined my evening.”
Meanwhile my attention stayed fixed completely on my demon. Because he still hadn’t answered my question.
“You think I’d use it against you.”
“No.”
His answer came fast this time.
I frowned. “Then what.”
For one long second, he said nothing. Then finally, quietly enough that only I could really hear it:
“If I give you my true name willingly,” he said, “there is no part of me I can ever hide from you again.”
Everything inside me went still after that because all at once I finally understood what this really was, not power or possession but trust, the kind that left someone completely vulnerable if the wrong person decided to destroy it.
And that terrified the Prince of Hell more than war did.
The throne room remained completely silent around us while silver flames crackled softly against the walls. Even the rulers had stopped interrupting now.
Then my demon spoke again in a quieter, far more careful voice.
“And if the mating bond is completed,” he admitted, “you would stop remaining fully human.”
The words hit so hard my brain genuinely failed for a second.
“…What.”
Nobody in the room moved. My demon still hadn’t looked away from me once.
“The bond changes both people involved,” he continued softly. “A human tied permanently to demonic royalty cannot remain entirely mortal.”
Cold shock crawled through my chest.
Nina was instantly horrified. “EXCUSE ME?”
The younger brother closed his eyes briefly like he’d been hoping that part wouldn’t come up yet. “Okay in fairness, we probably should’ve explained the transformation issue earlier.”
“The TRANSFORMATION issue?”
Anderson muttered tiredly, “There were many emergencies happening simultaneously.”
I barely heard the rest of the room anymore because everything finally made terrible sense, why he kept trying to leave, why guilt flashed across his face every time he touched me, why he kept offering me ways out even when it obviously hurt him to do it.
Because this entire time, loving him came with losing part of myself. I stared at him while my heartbeat spiraled somewhere between anger and heartbreak again.
“You knew that too.”
“Yes.”
The answer came immediately.
Painfully honest now.
“And you still stayed.”
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.