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His silence lasted just a fraction too long. Aha. "I knew it."

"You know nothing."

"You like her."

"I find her..." He paused. "...acceptable."

I laughed harder. "Oh my gosh."

Heat crept up my neck at how easily that admission had slipped out of him, and I had to look away before he saw exactly how pleased it made me.

"What?"

"You totally like her."

"I do not."

"You do."

"I assure you⁠—"

"You've adopted a fairy godmother."

"I have done no such thing."

"You have."

"I merely object to watching innocent people suffer."

"Especially Mrs. Wilton."

"Especially Mrs. Wilton."

He stopped. Closed his eyes. Muttered something under his breath in Infernal. When he looked at me again, his expression had settled somewhere between exasperated and resigned. "Poppy."

"What?"

"Do not mistake the fact that I like you..." My smile vanished. "...for evidence that I have somehow ceased being a demon." He continued before I could interrupt. "I remain exactly what I have always been." His red eyes held mine. "I do not suddenly enjoy humans."

"Oh."

"I am still perfectly capable of ending lives."

"I know."

"I remain dangerous."

"I know."

"I am not becoming..." He seemed to search for the word as though it physically pained him. "...pleasant."

I bit my lip. It wasn't working. The corners of my mouth kept trying to smile. He noticed. Naturally. "What?"

"You said you like me."

"I did not."

"You absolutely did."