Page 95 of Demon Monster's Little Human

His jaw tenses. He doesn’t answer.

I try again, pushing myself up further. “Dain.”

Nothing.

The silence stretches thick between us, pressing down on my chest like a weight I can’t shake off. I don’t understand. Why is he acting like this? He saved me. He stopped me from falling. He fought for me.

Now, he gazes at me like he wishes he hadn’t.

I push through the soreness to stand, gritting my teeth. My legs tremble beneath me, but I force them to hold steady. There’s a humming, a strange warmth curling inside me. My magic. It feels wrong. Stronger. Pulsing like a living thing beneath my veins.

I stretch out my hand and let it flicker to life, a faint glow of blue-white energy, curling like mist around my fingers.

The moment it appears, Dain moves.

Faster than I can react, he slams my wrist against the wall. His grip is iron, pressing against my bones, forcing my magic to flicker out. His breathing is uneven, but his eyes, those golden, fire-lit eyes, burn with something cold.

“What the hell are you doing?” he growls, his voice low and razor-sharp.

I flinch but glare up at him, my breath shaky. “I was just?—"

“You were being reckless. Stupid.” His fingers tighten for a moment before he releases me like I burned him. “You think you can just use that magic freely? It’s evil. It will consume you.”

I stare at him, stunned. The words cut deeper than I expect. “You—” I shake my head. “You don’t understand.”

“No. You don’t.” His voice hardens, his eyes blazing with fury. “You don’t get to play with magic you don’t comprehend. That thing inside you, it’s not yours. It never was.”

A sharp sting settles in my chest. “Is that what you think?” My voice wavers despite my attempt to sound strong. “That I’m just some… some thing?”

Dain exhales sharply, stepping back, raking a hand through his damp hair. He won’t meet my eyes. And that tells me everything.

My throat tightens. I step away from him before the ache in my chest worsens. “I need air.”

I don’t wait for his response. I turn on my heel and walk out of the cave, the cold night air hitting me like a slap.

The rain has stopped, but the sky is still heavy, the clouds casting everything in an eerie gray glow. The forest around me is too still. No birds. No insects. Just silence.

I close my eyes, trying to breathe through the chaos inside me.

The bond. The magic. Dain’s hatred.

None of it makes sense. I feel wrong. Like I don’t belong in my own skin.

A whisper.

Soft. Familiar.

I open my eyes and she’s there.

A woman stands a few feet ahead, bathed in silver light. She is beautiful, her dark curls cascading down her back, her eyes endless pools of blue. She looks like me. No, I look like her.

Amara.

The name sits on my tongue like a foreign thing. I don’t want to say it.

She smiles, soft, sad. “You’re afraid.”

I step back. “You’re not real.”

---