Chapter 1104: Men are Stupid

Runa's face warmed. "That is because men are stupid!"

"I did not do anything."

"You looked."

"I have eyes."

"Too many."

"Only two."

"Too effective."

Aela coughed into her tea.

Lux leaned back, one arm resting along the back of his chair. The movement pulled at the muscles of his chest, and Runa immediately regretted the existence of vision.

His scratches from last night still marked him faintly. Bite marks too. Fading, but visible. Proof of other women's mouths, nails, hunger. He looked less like a respectable host and more like a battlefield where desire had won an unreasonably successful campaign.

Runa looked at her milk.

Milk was safer and did not have abdomen lines.

Lux said, "I mean, this seems to be the only case where Kaelmor didn't siphon his victim."

The humor thinned.

Runa's ears lowered a little.

Lux's voice remained calm, but his gaze sharpened again, not with hunger this time, but with something far more dangerous.

"It might mean…" He paused, choosing his words carefully. "He did have a grudge and feelings for you, Runa."

Runa went silent.

Aela looked at Lux, then at Runa.

The room became still.

Runa stared at the milk.

Her reflection trembled in the pale surface.

Feelings.

What an ugly word when placed beside Kaelmor.

Once, perhaps, she would have believed he had feelings. He laughed with her. Helped her. Stole fruit. Carried books he pretended were too heavy for her just to annoy her. Sat in the window while she worked late and told ridiculous stories about demon world that sounded too absurd to be true.

She had liked him.

As a friend.

That should have been enough.

But he had turned liking into debt. Turned closeness into entitlement. Turned refusal into humiliation and humiliation into prison.

Runa's fingers tightened around the cup until Aela gently touched her wrist.

Runa looked down.

The cup had nearly cracked.

She loosened her grip.

"But I don't like him," she said quietly.

Lux's expression softened.

Runa swallowed. "I said it clearly. I told him no. I told him again. I told him gently first. Then directly. Then cruelly. I made the tower condition because I wanted him to stop. I wanted him to understand there was no door hidden behind my refusal."

Her ears flattened completely. "I did not invite him to prove himself. I did not set a romance trial. I told him to fail."

Aela's eyes softened with sorrow.

Lux said nothing. If he said pity, she might bite him.

Runa continued, voice lower. "But he heard what he wanted. He always did. He heard no as not yet. He heard leave me alone as try harder. He heard impossible as challenge accepted."

Her lips curled bitterly.

"And when I made sure he lost, he decided I was the cruel one."

Lux's jaw tightened.

Aela's hand remained on Runa's wrist, warm and grounding.

Runa looked up at Lux. "You are a demon too."

Lux met her gaze.

Runa narrowed her eyes. "What makes you different?"

Aela looked sharply at Lux.

Lux did not flinch. He took a slow sip of coffee, placed the cup down, and answered simply. "I believe no means no."

Runa's breath caught.

The room became painfully quiet.

Lux leaned forward slightly, elbows on the table, gaze steady. "And I believe yes means nothing if the person is scared, indebted, confused, cornered, or trying to pay for kindness with their body."

Runa froze.

Lux noticed but did not smirk. "That is the difference," he said. "Desire is easy. Restraint is where character shows."

Runa looked away first.

Why did he say things like that?

Why did he have to sit there half naked, marked by women, smelling faintly of coffee and sin, and then say something morally decent?

That was cheating.

Aela's expression softened too, though she tried to hide it behind tea.

Runa cleared her throat, desperate to recover dignity. "So you are saying you are noble?"

Lux smiled faintly. "No. I am saying I have standards."

"Low standards, judging from the state of your bedroom."

Aela choked softly.

Lux's smile widened. "You have not seen my bedroom."

"I smelled enough."

Lux chuckled and took another sip of coffee. The sound was too warm. Too casual. Too… comfortable.

Runa hated that her ears relaxed at it.

Traitors.

She forced herself to bite the bread again, chewing with exaggerated dignity.

Lux watched her for a moment.

Runa narrowed her eyes immediately. "What now?"

Lux rested his cup down. "So what are you going to do after this?"

Runa blinked.

The question landed harder than she expected.

What was she going to do?

The bread in her hand suddenly felt dry.

For centuries, the answer had been simple.

Break free.

Survive.

Kill Kaelmor.

Burn the world if necessary.

But now she was free.

Mostly.

She was alive.

Technically.

In a body that was not hers, sharing space with a dormant cat soul, wearing an incubus's shirt.

The world had moved.

Her enemies had evolved.

Runa looked down at her cup. "I don't know."

The honesty tasted worse than milk.

She disliked it immediately.

Lux did not speak.

Aela's gaze softened, but she also remained quiet.

Runa's fingers tightened around the bread. "I want revenge," she said. Her voice came out low. "I deserve it."

Lux's eyes darkened slightly. "Yes."

The answer was immediate.

No hesitation.

Runa looked up.

Lux's face was calm, almost cold. "You do."

Runa swallowed.

She had expected caution. A lecture. Perhaps something about revenge consuming the soul. But Lux only agreed.

It made the tightness in her chest shift.

"But…" Runa looked away. "A king?"

She huffed, the sound bitter and helpless.

"A king, Lux. Not a wandering demon I can drag into a circle and set on fire. Not some fool trespassing in my tower grounds. A king. Of the Underworld."

Her tail curled around the chair leg beneath the table.

"I do not even have my old body. My magic is unstable. My vessel is borrowed. I don't know this era. I don't know his power now. I don't know his court. I don't know what he became."

Her ears lowered.

The confession humiliated her more than nakedness had.

"I don't even know how to wear half the clothes in this age."

Lux smiled faintly, but it faded before it became teasing. "Then join me."