Chapter 1105: I Don’t Fall in Love with Demons

Chapter 1105 – I Don’t Fall in Love with Demons

Runa froze. "Huh?"

Lux repeated it as if he had merely offered another cup of milk. "Join me."

Runa stared at him.

Aela’s gaze moved to Lux, sharper now.

Lux lifted his coffee and drank calmly, like he had not just invited an ancient half-cat sorcerer with revenge issues into a political war against the current King of Hell.

Runa placed her bread down very slowly. "Are you insane?"

"Yes," Aela said. "He is insane."

Lux set his coffee aside. "Kaelmor wants to destroy my houses and several of the Sin Houses. He wants to reclaim authority, seize the Upper Realm negotiations, cut me off, weaken allies, and keep everyone dependent on Royal power."

Runa’s expression shifted.

Lux’s voice lowered. "I am in the middle of accumulating people, saving allies, exposing old crimes, and cutting his power sources."

Aela watched him quietly.

Runa’s fingers curled against the table. "Power sources?"

"Ancient prisoners. Old contracts. People like Aela. People like Yue. Maybe people like you."

Runa’s face hardened.

Lux leaned forward, elbows on the table, bare shoulders catching the morning light.

"I don’t know yet why he left you unsiphoned. Maybe obsession. Maybe guilt twisted into ownership. Maybe he wanted your prison untouched because the monument mattered more than the power. But if he kept you, he may have kept others."

The air chilled.

Aela’s eyes darkened with remembered roots and old pain.

Runa’s ears slowly lifted. "He has others?"

"I believe so."

Runa studied him.

Behind the ridiculous beauty, the teasing, the dangerous pheromones, the scandalous breakfast posture, there was something else.

A strategist.

A man who did not charge at kings with only rage.

He looked at ledgers, curses, markets, allies, stories, and old wounds, then found where the empire bled.

That was terrifying.

Runa hated that she noticed.

She extended her hand toward him before she could overthink it andtook his.

Lux’s gaze dropped to her hand.

Then back to her face.

Runa lifted her chin. "Deal."

Aela’s brows lifted slightly.

Lux did not move immediately.

That tiny pause told Runa too much. He was not triumphant. Not satisfied in the ugly way. He looked... relieved. Not openly. Lux Vaelthorn apparently had many talents, and hiding emotional reactions under expensive sarcasm was one of them. But she saw it. A faint softening around his eyes.

He cared.

How irritating.

His palm was warm.

His fingers closed around hers with firm control, not trapping, not squeezing too hard. A business handshake. Proper. Respectful.

And yet Runa’s cat ears twitched violently because her body, traitorous little borrowed vessel that it was, decided this qualified as an Event.

Lux’s thumb brushed lightly over her knuckles. "Great," he said. "We are partners, then."

Runa froze.

The word hit her strangely.

Her throat tightened before she could stab the feeling. "Partner?" she echoed.

Lux nodded, his face calm. "Yes. Business partner."

There it was.

The CFO disease.

Runa blinked at him.

Lux’s mouth curved just enough to become dangerous. "Except you want more than that."

Runa’s entire face heated.

Aela slowly lifted her tea cup with the expression of someone who had chosen not to intervene in a small but promising natural disaster.

Runa yanked her hand back like his touch had burned her. "No."

Lux leaned back, terribly pleased with himself.

"No. No. No. I—" Her tongue betrayed her, tangled, collapsed, and filed resignation. "I don’t fall in love with demons."

Lux winced dramatically, one hand pressing against his bare chest as if she had pierced his heart with a holy spear. "Ouch. That hurts. I offered partnership and was attacked by prejudice."

"You are an incubus."

"I am also a responsible investor." Lux sighed as if deeply wounded by justice. "Poor me."

"Yes, poor Lux."

The voice came from beside him.

Runa jolted.

Aela did not, which meant either she sensed it first or elves were simply unfairly composed.

Lullaby appeared beside Lux as if reality had yawned and dropped her there.

Teleportation, probably.

She wore Lux’s T-shirt.

Oversized, of course. Apparently every woman in this mansion eventually ended up in Lux’s clothes like they were ceremonial robes of membership. The shirt slipped off one shoulder, her hair messy, eyes half-closed, expression still drowned in sleep. She looked soft, shameless, and faintly smug in the way only someone who had just teleported into breakfast because walking was too much effort could manage.

Lux looked at her. "Lullaby."

Lullaby opened one sleepy eye, looked at Runa, then at Aela, then at the food.

Then she climbed onto Lux’s seat.

Not beside him.

Onto him.

Lux had exactly one second to react before Lullaby settled herself onto his lap like a spoiled cat claiming a warm cushion. She curled against his chest, cheek pressing below his collarbone, legs tucked lazily, his oversized shirt bunching around her thighs. Her arms looped around his neck with the confidence of a woman who knew the throne was hers because she was too sleepy to ask permission.

"Pat me," she mumbled.

Lux exhaled.

He should have looked annoyed.

He tried to look annoyed.

He failed.

His hand lifted and settled on her head, fingers moving slowly through her hair.

Lullaby made a pleased sound and relaxed deeper against him.

Lux continued eating with his other hand.

Runa stared. Her chest tightened in a very stupid place.

Lullaby looked comfortable.

Lux’s hand moved with absent gentleness, stroking her hair while he reached for bread.

Runa felt something prick beneath her ribs.

Not jealousy.

No.

Absolutely not.

Jealousy required desire, and desire required interest, and interest required a catastrophic failure of judgment.

She was merely observing.

As a sorcerer. And as a cat.

No.

Not as a cat.

Her fingers tightened around the milk cup.

She wanted that.

The thought arrived so suddenly she almost dropped the cup.

She wanted to climb onto warm skin, steal a lap, demand a hand in her hair, and sleep without watching every shadow. She wanted someone’s palm moving slowly behind her ears.

Her face went hot.

No.

No, that was cat instinct.

It had to be.

The cat vessel wanted petting. Cats were shameless creatures. They rubbed themselves on furniture. They demanded affection from enemies. They slept in boxes despite owning entire houses. This was not Runa. Runa was a respectable sorcerer. Runa did not want to be patted by a shirtless incubus at breakfast while his sleepy woman used him as furniture.

Her ears twitched.

Lux noticed.

His eyes flicked toward her ears, then to her face.