Page 103 of The Succubi's Choice

“I...told her you wanted to talk,” she says, and he stills, the stillness of him waiting for more information before he reacts. “I let her know. She’s thinking about it.”

“That’s all I asked,” he says, smooth still, and she wishes for some animation or some indication on his emotions after that. “I assume you know of her misgivings?”

“She’s still convinced you’re gonna kill me,” Miri jokes, but can’t bring herself to look at him, instead smoothing her hands over the shining orange-red fabric of the dress. “She’s very skeptical, just as a person, it’s nothing personal.”

“I’m not going to kill you,” he says, and it may be the most offended she’s heard him. “Why would I even do that?”

“She thinks everyone is out to kill her. Or her friends. It’s a survival instinct,” Miri again tries to joke, but he honest to god looks like he’s pouting. “It’s really nothing against you.”

It’s a little against him.

His lips thin for a brief second, before he visibly shakes it off. “I don’t just...kill people without reason,” he says, as if unable to let that go. “That’d be a horrible waste of resources.”

She stares at him, and he sighs again. “Not sure that’s what reason you want to go for,” she says, and somewhere along the line she’s lost the fear she used to have in speaking to an all-powerful Archdemon. “Generally people look down on it for any reason, not just resource management.”

“I know that,” he all but mutters, before offering her his arm.

---