Page 9 of Demon's Dark Love

"Maybe," I reply as the corridor around us empties. "Or maybe I’m just bored."

"I can't imagine a mere human being that interesting."

She finally meets my gaze, her green eyes piercing through my defenses, defiant.

"Your kind sees us as nothing more than tools," she says. "But you? What do you see?"

I feel a surge of warmth. She has set me apart from my kind. She sees me as different.

"I don’t know," I admit finally. “That’s what I’m trying to find out.”

“So you’re a scholar? This is research?”

I laugh. “Sure. We can call it that.”

Her expression softens slightly, but there's still a fire in her eyes. "Well, whatever you have going on, it's dangerous."

"Dangerous for you or for me?" I ask.

"I assume both," she says without hesitation.

The air between us thickens with unspoken words and unacknowledged feelings. The scent of roses wafts in from the open window, and for a moment, I allow myself to indulge in the fantasy once more. Walking side by side with Lily through the garden, free from the chains of expectation and duty.

"Lily," I say softly.

She looks up at me again, and this time there’s something different in her gaze.

"Yes?"

Electricity fills the air between us. It grips my heart.

I realize that Lily is dismantling everything I've been led to believe about humans before this.

I want to reach for her. Instead, I turn away, but as I do I snap my fingers and I hear her gasp.

I smile to myself as I walk away knowing I've left a single red rose on the floor at her feet.

Walking through the castle, I see it now as Lily must, a monument to cruelty and oppression. The grandeur of the stone walls, the ornate tapestries, the meticulously maintained rose garden—all of it feels bleak, dark, and hollow.

Lily's resilience has a way of gnawing at my convictions. I watch her toil, her slender form bending under the weight of endless chores. Each bruise and cut on her body mirrors the cracks forming in my own beliefs.

Later I find her in the kitchen, struggling with a pot too heavy for her to lift alone.I step forward and lift it before she can refuse.

She glances at me, wary but grateful. "I suppose you’re here to watch me struggle?"

"Actually, no," I say, setting the pot down on the blue flames of the burner. "I’m here to help."

"Has a demon ever said the word 'help' before?" she asks.

I look over and am surprised to see humor in her eyes, a slight smile on her lips.

It makes my heart soar.

"I think once a century ago when they were being boiled in oil."

"Makes sense," Lily says.

She glances over at me.

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