The old woman crumpled to the wooden dock with a wet, thudding sound. She didn't move. The world went silent, the ringing in my ears the only sound I could hear. Then, a slow, ragged cough. A second. She was alive.
The demon king was still on one knee, his head bowed, his body trembling. The golden light from the necklace had faded to a dull, angry pulse. He was breathing heavily, each breath a ragged, tearing sound. He looked up at me, and his eyes were burning with a cold, terrible fire. A fire that promised retribution.
I tried to stand, to say something, to do something. But I had nothing left. The searing heat in my chest was gone, replaced by a cold, empty void. A hollow ache that was deeper and more profound than anything I had ever felt. My strength was gone. My magic was gone. I was just an empty shell.
I couldn't even lift my head.
Against my will, my eyes slipped shut.
My only comfort was the heavy sound of the king collapsing. Not from my command, but from sheer exhaustion. I hadn't even wanted him to fall over. I wanted him to...
I wasn't sure what I wanted. I just wanted him to not kill that woman. And he hadn't. I think. Probably. My memory of the last few minutes was a blur of terror and light and raw power.
The last thing I heard before the darkness took me was the distant, mournful cry of a swamp bird, a lonely, haunting sound in the night.
***
I woke up in my bed.
The inn's bed. Not a prison or worse. That's a start.
My head throbbed with a dull, persistent ache, and my body felt heavy, a dead weight sinking into the scratchy mattress. I tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness washed over me, forcing me back against the pillows. I closed my eyes, waiting for the world to stop spinning. The memories of the night before came flooding back—the dock, the old woman, the searing pain in my chest, the demon king's face twisted in a mask of agony.
I shivered. Then I remembered I was not alone.
The other bed was empty, the blankets a tangled mess. Angus was gone. A small, fluttering of panic started in my chest. Where was he? Had the demon king...? No. I couldn't let my mind go there. Angus was a celestial being. He was 'impervious to damage'. Mostly.
The door to my room was open a crack. I could hear voices from the hallway, muffled by the wood. I pushed myself up again, more slowly this time, my muscles screaming in protest. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood up, my bare feet sinking into the rough, wooden floor. I was still wearing the borrowed, ill-fitting clothes, now wrinkled and damp with sweat.
I crept to the door and peered out into the hallway.
The demon king was standing outside my door, a silent, brooding statue. He looked... tired. It was a subtle change, a new weariness in the set of his shoulders, a new darkness in the circles under his eyes. But he was still the Demon King. Still arrogant, still dangerous, still a smoldering monument of contempt.
When he noticed me, he shifted his gaze toward me.
My hands shake. I hide it with fists, staring back at him "You..." I manage to force my throat to form words.
"Cease your pointless attempts at speech before you damage what little remains of my sanity." His gaze was a flat line. He pointed back into my room. "You will remain in that bed until you are capable of standing without swaying. And you will not run off again."
I take a breath. "And what if I do?" I'm pushing. I know I'm pushing.
"I do not enjoy repeating lessons. It wastes my valuable energy." He turns to walk back to the inn, and stops mid-step. "If you wish to tug this leash, consider well the cost of it before you do." He didn't look back. He just walked away, leaving me standing in the doorway, my heart a frantic, trapped bird in my chest.
Angus flew in from the hallway. "You're awake! Thank the Goddess! You gave me such a scare!" [You slept for almost a whole day! (°□°)]
"I'm... okay," I lied, leaning against the doorframe for support. "What happened? After...?"
"The innkeeper's husband found you! And the woman! She was just... confused! Said a bright light spooked her and she fell! She doesn't remember anything else. Her neck is bruised. But that's it! He carried you both back here!"
The relief that washed over me was so intense it almost brought me to my knees. She was alive. She didn't remember. I hadn't failed completely.
"Commanding him is....was..." I swallowed, my throat suddenly tight. "I thought... I thought I was going to die."
"He is...very powerful." Angus nodded. The usual cheerful, bubbly demeanor was gone. He looked serious. Worried. "The Goddess' Bindings...aren't really meant for active compulsion so...they don't supply a lot of power. Forcing an SSS-Rank being like him to do something he's actively resisting..."
[You probably only succeeded because...you were so close to exhaustion that his own pool was forcibly restricted to keep you from dying. A kind of feedback loop! I think! (;￣Д￣）] His text box appeared, the little angel icon scratching its head in confusion.
My hand shakes when I press it to my forehead. "A feedback loop."
"Yes! A magical safety net! See? Everything worked out!" Angus tried for a smile, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "You saved that woman, and you learned a valuable lesson about not antagonizing terrifyingly powerful demon kings! Win-win!"
A lesson. He called it a lesson. I saw the look in the demon king's eyes as he held that woman's throat. He wasn't teaching me anything. He was enjoying it. He was testing the limits of his cage, and he had found them. The limits were me. My fragile, pathetic, mortal body.
And he was right. I had been arrogant. I had thought the necklace made me safe. I had thought I was in control. I was an idiot.
My knees pull up to my chest, my hands to my hair.
I'm not safe.
The people here are not safe.
I-
I knew it. I've not been in denial that he's dangerous...
I...
Was I? In denial...? I've been making jokes about how handsome he is. I've been ogling him. I've been...
The realization hit me like a physical blow, a wave of nausea that made me gag. I had been treating this like a game. A weird, terrifying, but ultimately manageable game. I was the protagonist, the hero with the secret weapon. I had the SSS-Rank demon. I was special.
But I wasn't the hero. I was the key to his cage. And he was the monster.
Angus must have seen the change in my face, because his own cheerful facade crumbled completely. "Violet..."
He reached out and touched my shoulder.
"I...." I could see him out of the corner of my eye.
His expression was unlike anything I've ever seen from him before. Serious. Worried. He looked down at the ground for a few moments.
Finally, he spoke again. "I'll protect you, Violet. I promise." The words were firm, but he was still a five-eleven, hapless angel who got scared of the demon king and poofed at the drop of a hat. A promise from him was worthless.
But it was also the kindest thing anyone had said to me since I got here.
The sincerity in his eyes was a fresh kind of pain.
I forced a smile, a weak, wobbly thing that felt like it might crack my face. "Thanks," I said, my voice a rough whisper. "Just... maybe don't offer to fight him for me, okay?"
He crossed his arms and huffed. Loudly. "Angels have a few tricks, you know. Don't give up just yet." [The Goddess is counting on you! And so am I! (｀・ω・´) ♡]
"Alright, alright. Enough of this sentiment." A new, weary and very, very annoyed voice came from the hallway.
Demon King. Again. And he had not gone back to bed, it seemed. He leaned against the doorframe opposite my own, looking between the two of us with an expression that was a perfect mask of disgust.
"Your pet is making a racket." The Demon King said, a flat, cutting tone. "And the sight of your pathetic mutual encouragement is nauseating."
I didn't flinch away this time. "You don't get to have an opinion on what happens in my room."
"...You are an astonishingly poor learner-"
"I'll. End you." I snapped. "If you ever....if you hurt anyone like you did that old lady...I'll find a way."
He was silent for a long moment, staring at me. Then, he did something that was, by far, more unnerving than any threat he'd made. He laughed.
It wasn't a sneer or a cruel chuckle, but a genuine, deep-throated laugh. The sheer force of his amusement sent a shiver down my spine. For a long moment, his head was thrown back, the muscles in his throat working with the sound.
"...Very well then, little insect." He finally managed to say, wiping at the corner of one eye. "Very well."
Before I could say anything else...he simply walked away.