"Magpie?" she repeated, more breath than voice, as if saying it aloud might make it less… personal. "Why are you calling me that?"
Aamon settled back into the chair like he owned the air in the room, but his eyes stayed sharp on her face. "Because you can't leave anything alone," he said simply. "You see something strange, something dangerous, something that should be avoided, and you lean closer."
Jade's brows pinched. "That's just called being curious."
"Call it whatever you like." His tone returned to that maddening calm. "It keeps getting you nearly killed."
Jade swallowed the retort that wanted to jump out of her throat. Her hands still trembled from the Reaperling's visit, from the way the child's voice had peeled back the world like rotten wallpaper. She needed answers, not another argument.
She turned toward the kitchenette instead, because she didn't know what else to do with herself. The apartment still smelled faintly like soap and yesterday's panic. "You said you'd explain," she muttered, more to the cabinets than to him.
"I did," Aamon answered. A pause. Then, quieter: "Make your coffee. Sit. Ask."
Jade's jaw tightened at the order disguised as permission. But she filled the kettle anyway. The small routine gave her something solid to hold onto. Two mugs. Grounds. Water. The familiar hiss and drip.
When she finally sat across from him, the heat in her face had cooled into something steadier. Aamon watched the dark liquid swirl as if it might confess first.
"So," he said at last, lifting his gaze to hers, "what do you want to know first, Magpie?"
The name hit like a pebble tossed into still water. Small. Casual. Somehow deliberate. Jade ignored the flutter it caused and latched onto the bigger problem.
"He called you a Sovereign."
Aamon sighed as if the word itself was an inconvenience. "Yes."
"What does that even mean?" Jade asked, forcing steadiness into her voice.
"It means I am a king," he said, flat and unadorned. "The ruler of the Dark Realm."
Jade froze. Her brain ran through several options and rejected all of them as absurd.
"You're… a king," she repeated slowly. "A demon king. And I'm just… human."
Aamon shrugged like she'd told him the weather. "And?"
Jade stared at him. "And that's okay? You didn't think I should know that before I started talking to you like you were just… some guy?"
"No mortal has ever tried to befriend me," Aamon replied. "So you can stop treating it like an offense. We have no contract. You're free to do as you like." His eyes lowered to the mug again. "I intended to tell you. Eventually. I simply gave you time to adjust."
Silence stretched between them.
Then Jade spoke again, quieter. "The Reaper made it sound like I would be punished for befriending you."
Aamon shook his head once. "Precaution. The fact they sent a Reaperling tells me they don't yet know what to do with the situation."
Jade frowned. "What situation?"
Aamon's gaze sharpened. "Not our friendship."
Something about that answer made her stomach twist. "Then what?"
"This is between you, Zeth, and Levi."
Jade blinked. "Levi… as in the snake man?"
"The gate," Aamon corrected. "Yes."
Jade held her mug tighter. "Okay. Explain."
Aamon leaned back slightly, choosing his words with irritating care. "Demon laws exist to maintain balance across realms. A demon can bargain with a mortal, but only through an even exchange. A contract."
Jade nodded slowly. That part tracked.
"If an exchange becomes uneven," Aamon continued, "a Reaper may intervene. They can cast one or both parties into exile."
Jade's brows pulled together. "Did I do something wrong?"
"Not exactly," Aamon said. "But you acted outside the structure. You freed Zeth. And you freed Levi. No deal. No contract. No exchange. That has consequences."
Jade's grip tightened. "Because I helped them."
"Because you helped them without being owed," Aamon corrected, and his voice turned colder. "According to law, they now owe you a favor of equal value. Balance must be restored."
Jade stared at him, the words sinking in one sharp layer at a time. "So if they don't repay me… the Reapers exile them."
Aamon nodded once.
"That's ridiculous." Jade's voice rose before she could stop it. "I don't expect a reward for helping someone I thought was in trouble."
Aamon studied her like she was an unusual specimen he couldn't decide whether to admire or dismantle. "That is precisely why they do not know how to handle it," he said. "No mortal has ever helped a demon out of… simple decency."
Jade's jaw clenched. She hated how calm he was about something that could ruin two people.
"To be safe," Aamon added, "we resolve the imbalance quickly. If the scales are leveled before the Reapers decide otherwise, the matter ends."
"How long do we have?" Jade asked.
Aamon shrugged. "An hour. A year. A decade. It depends on what they believe your action changed."
Jade rubbed the back of her neck, suddenly uncomfortable in her own skin. "No one has ever owed me anything before. I don't like it."
Aamon arched a brow. "Tragic. Most mortals would feel empowered having demons in their debt."
"It's not empowering," Jade snapped. "It's disgusting."
Aamon's mouth twitched, almost amused. "Either way, it becomes complicated if we allow it to linger."
Jade stood abruptly, energy sparking into her limbs like she'd found the solution to a math problem. "Then it's an easy fix."
Aamon's expression turned openly skeptical. "Is it?"
"Yes. They just do something nice for me. Even exchange. Done."
Aamon stared at her for a long moment, then laughed. Not a polite laugh. A real one. It startled her.
"Magpie," he said, wiping the corner of one eye with a knuckle, "you think it is simple because you still believe demons do 'nice.'"
Jade crossed her arms. "You've all been nice to me so far."
Aamon's smile faded into something flatter. "Demons do not harass mortals without reason. That is true. But without something to gain, we generally do not involve ourselves."
Jade's chest tightened. "Then what do you gain from me?"
Aamon looked at her with unnerving honesty. "Nothing."
Jade opened her mouth, then closed it again.
Aamon continued, almost reluctantly. "Which is… unusual. Even to me." His gaze held hers. "I cannot deny I've grown rather fond of your company."
Her heartbeat kicked hard against her ribs. She hated that her body reacted before her brain could file it away as irrelevant.
Jade cleared her throat. "Did you ask me to come with you to repay the favor?"
Aamon shook his head. "No. They must settle it themselves. I cannot repay it for them."
Jade's confidence cracked. "So once the favors are settled…" Her voice dropped. "You'll leave."
Aamon stared at her, and for a moment he looked genuinely tired. "A demon cannot lie outright to a mortal," he said calmly. "But we are not required to answer every question."
Jade's eyes stung. "So that's it?"
Aamon's voice softened, just slightly. "Magpie… do you truly believe our friendship is based on circumstances?"
Jade tried to answer. Tried to find proof in everything that had happened. Tried to force logic where her fear had already set up camp.
She failed.
Tears gathered anyway, traitorous and humiliating.
Aamon stood. She felt his presence beside her before she fully registered it. A warm fingertip brushed her cheek, wiping away a tear as if it offended him to see it there.
Jade froze.
Aamon paused too, staring at his own hand like it had betrayed him. His jaw tightened. "I can't give you that answer," he said quietly. "But when you decide what you believe, tell me."
Jade nodded, breath shallow. Her skin prickled where he'd touched her. She couldn't tell if it was warmth or shock.
"This," Aamon murmured, looking at the tear on his finger as if it were evidence, "is going to take adjustment."
Jade swallowed. "Is there anything else I should know?"
Aamon's gaze lifted to her face. "Not right now."
He moved to the door as if the conversation had ended simply because he decided it had. Then he reached for her luggage like it weighed nothing.
"Ready?"
Jade nodded, because she didn't trust her voice.
They walked in silence for a while. The world was still half asleep, the sky pale and undecided. Jade's mind spun through everything he'd said and everything he'd avoided saying.
Finally, she spoke. "We were friends first."
Aamon glanced down at her, faint surprise flickering in his eyes.
"We were," Jade repeated, more firmly. "Before you knew I had anything to do with Zeth or Levi." She exhaled, embarrassed by her own doubt. "I shouldn't have assumed it was circumstantial."
Aamon's expression softened, and it made something in her chest ache. "Are you unhappy knowing it won't end so easily?"
Jade shook her head quickly. "No. It's not that."
She hesitated as the new house rose into view ahead of them, darker against the trees, too large and too unfamiliar.
"I feel uncertain," Jade admitted. "I didn't realize how much being alone bothered me until you all showed up." She swallowed, forcing herself to say the ugly part out loud. "I've never had anyone to lose. And now the thought of losing you… bothers me."
Aamon's chest tightened so sharply it felt like anger. He didn't understand why her sadness hit him like an insult to his own body. He wanted to fix it. To erase it. To crush whatever had put it there.
Without thinking, he stepped closer, arms shifting as if the instinct were ancient.
Jade recoiled.
Time slowed.
She stared at him with wide, wet eyes, caught between wanting safety and fearing what safety would cost her.
"All good things end eventually," she whispered. "Right?"
Aamon exhaled, slow and controlled, forcing his hands back to his sides.
"Jade," he began, voice low.
But before he could say anything else, a voice called from the porch.