He released my wrist as if it had burned him. The contact, brief as it was, left a lingering warmth on my skin, a faint echo of the static electricity that had crackled between us. I pulled my arm back, hugging it to my chest, and took a step back into my room, putting a safe distance between us. "What are you talking about? Utilize what? I don't have anything! You've seen me. I can't even light a fire with two sticks."
"Fire is a brutish, simplistic application of power," he scoffed, taking a step forward and crowding me again. The doorway was not big enough for the both of us, and he was making sure I knew it. "The fact that you cannot grasp it is not a reflection of your lack of power, but of your lack of imagination."
"So I'm powerful, but also too stupid to know how to use it. Thanks for the pep talk," I shot back, my own irritation starting to bubble up through the exhaustion. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I was trying to sleep."
"Sleep," he repeated, the word dripping with disdain. "You mortals and your incessant need for unconsciousness. A pathetic waste of time."
"It's also a biological necessity," I retorted. "Not all of us are SSS-Rank demons who can apparently survive on pure spite and arrogance."
"Arrogance is a fuel far more potent than the rotting meat and stale water you call 'dinner'," he said, a cruel smirk playing on his lips. "But you are correct. You require rest. And yet, you will not find it."
"What are you talking about?" I asked, a fresh wave of dread washing over me. "In case you couldn't tell I was just about to go to bed until you arrived. Don't you have a room to brood in?"
"Your 'guide'," he said, the word a curse, "has been regaling the locals with tales of our 'heroic' journey." He gestured vaguely toward the tavern below. "His bragging will only cause trouble when some fool with a dream or an ego decides to act on it otherwise. It must be quashed."
I stared at him. I could feel the last vestiges of my sanity starting to fray. "So you want me to… what? Wake up Angus and demand he never do it? I'm not the one with all the power in this relationship."
The demon king stared at me, a muscle in his jaw working as if he were physically chewing on my words. He let out a long, drawn-out sigh, a sound of such profound, soul-crushing weariness it made my teeth ache. Then, before I could react, he pushed past me, his shoulder bumping against mine as he strode into my room.
He stopped in the center of the small space, his presence so large it seemed to suck all the air out of the room. He looked around, his expression a perfect mask of disgust, as if he were inspecting a particularly foul pestilent nest.
"Hey! You can't just come in here!" I protested, my voice a little too high. I was suddenly very aware of my borrowed clothes, my bare feet, and the fact that I was in a room with a half-naked, all-powerful demon who wanted me dead. "This is my room!"
"This entire world is my cage," he said, not even looking at me. "Your room is merely a smaller, more pathetic version of it." He turned, his gaze sweeping over the room before landing on the bed where Angus was hiding. "One that would be greatly improved if you were to leave it." His purple eyes settled on the lump beneath the blanket. "You."
A muffled squeak came from under the covers. The lump trembled. "He's not here!" It called.
Very convincing.
Truly.
"Cease your witless charade," the demon king commanded, his tone leaving no room for argument. He took a step toward the bed, and the lump trembled again. "I require an audience with my summoner's pet. It concerns your survival. Or, more accurately, the lack thereof."
"He's not a pet," I said, stepping between the demon king and the bed. A stupid, instinctive act of protection for the angel who had, so far, been mostly useless. "He's my... guide."
The demon king stopped. He looked down at me, a flicker of something—surprise, maybe—in his purple eyes. "You would acknowledge thus useless creature as 'guide'? What one thing has he successfully managed to teach you?" He gestured towards me. "You still stand in my presence, fully awake, when your body begs for rest."
"He... found the town," I said, my voice a little shaky. "And if you want me to sleep, leave the room! I'm not going to ever feel comfortable enough to sleep in front of you."
"You had no concerns doing so previously."
That...
That was...
An infuriatingly valid point. But there's a difference between passing out from exhaustion after nearly being eaten, and falling asleep in a warm bed with the man who threatened to murder you if you ever freed him.
Knowing this man, I am half afraid I'll wake up and find him somehow tricking my sleeping body into releasing him from the contract.
The lump on the bed rustled again. "I think... she'd like some privacy...?" Angus's disembodied voice offered. It was weak and muffled by the blanket but a brave attempt nonetheless.
"I will decide when you speak." The Demon King was having none of it. "And what you speak of. If I must endure your presence, I will make it bearable."
I sigh and place a hand to my forehead.
He's not.
Listening. And we're not getting anywhere. Of course.
I tap my foot. "You didn't come here just to wake me up and tell me to sleep. So what is it, oh mighty king who is being so inconvenienced by a world with breathable oxygen and gravity?" I ask, my arms crossed.
His jaw tightens. And I see it in his eyes - I'm wearing down his patience. Not in a good way. In a 'he is going to snap' kind of way.
"I am not 'inconvenienced' by this world's physics." He says, the words slow and deliberate. He turns to me. "I am inconvenienced by your idiocy."
And then, he closes the distance between us.