Page 51 of Demon Monster's Little Human

Her face is lost to me, blurred at the edges, but the sensation remains. The way she felt beneath my hands, the way her magic thrummed through the air like a song meant only for me. The way she gazed at me as she betrayed me.

The woman who sealed me away.

The woman I should have killed.

I should kill Liora now. This is the only way. I can’t make the same mistakes.

Ending her is the best choice.

Destroy the link between past and present.

My hand curls around the hilt of my blade.

She stirs, lashes fluttering, breath catching.

I hesitate.

Something inside me snaps, recoils, resists.

What is wrong with me?

I shove away from the fire, dragging a hand through my hair, trying to breathe, trying to stop this madness before it consumes me. I need space. I need distraction.

I need the water.

Steam rises from the spring, curling through the air like whispering ghosts. The heat is nothing to me, I am always burning.

I sink into the depths, letting the warmth soak into my muscles, letting it ease the tension coiled too tightly beneath my skin.

My mind is a battlefield.

I do not understand what is happening to me.

The memories are too fractured, the past a jagged mess of instincts and fragmented truths.

But one thing is certain.

Liora is tangled in it. I do not like it.

I drag a hand over my face, exhaling roughly, trying to purge her from my thoughts. Trying to forget how she stared at me when she begged for answers, the way her hands trembled when she touched me in her fevered state.

The way she feels like something I’ve lost.

A sound shatters my thoughts.

A breath.

Soft. Close.

I freeze.

Slowly, I turn my head.

She is standing at the entrance of the chamber, her hair damp, tangled, her bare feet silent against the rough ground.

She is watching me.

Her lips part slightly, wanting to speak, but she does not.

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