Lillia didn’t respond for several seconds. Arwin held her gaze while Reya looked from one of them to the other, then pulled her steak closer and very pointedly avoided looking up from it. “Fine,” Lillia said curtly. She turned on her heel and strode into the kitchen. Arwin followed after her, assuming that she was giving him an unspoken invitation to follow. A part of him wanted to summon his armor and sword, but he’d already eaten the sword and summoning his armor would only make it look like he was planning on fighting. Arwin stepped past the dim light of the lantern and entered the kitchen. It was more of a long hallway with some cooking utensils and an old cooktop on one side. Lillia stood at the far end of the hall, leaning against the wall in a patch of shadow with her arms crossed. He could tell that her guard was up. Her eyes traced his movements and, despite her casual pose, the muscles in her body were tensed. She was ready to spring into motion the instant he did anything aggressive. For a moment, it felt like it had so many times before. Arwin had lost count of the number of times they’d stood before each other just before launching into a fight. A fight that inevitably always ended the same way. The back of Arwin’s neck tingled as his mind screamed at him to be wary of the shadows. He was within the Demon Queen’s domain – unarmed and unable to properly fight back if she tried to attack. “Well?” Lillia asked, her lips thin. Her words were curt, but there was fear in them. Not fear of him; Arwin was certain of that much. They’d never been scared of each other. He was pretty sure he knew exactly what the fear was. It was fear of losing what she’d been building. Her tavern – and his smithy – both sat suspended on a thin cord. The moment either he or Lillia pulled just a little too hard, it would snap. And yet, ignoring the problem could only solve things for so long. There were too many questions. He had enemies, and he didn’t even know who they were. At one point, the Demon Queen had been one of them. Arwin grunted. “I’d say so. I just didn’t think you’d agree. Isn’t it… concerning? What if someone catches on?” “Who would?” Lillia snorted. “Let’s be real. What would either of us ever be doing here? It’s so ludicrous that it’s impossible to comprehend. The worst that could happen would be some idiot would think I’m a lower ranked demon, but I don’t think I’m anywhere near popular enough to draw attention that could make that a problem.” “That’s true enough,” Arwin allowed. “Did you really come here just to have small talk?” Her voice was guarded – she was waiting for him to try something. Arwin didn’t blame her, since he half expected Lillia to do the same. “Do you really get to talk to that many people?” Arwin raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps I thought you just needed some company.” To his surprised, Lillia winced. “You aren’t wrong. It’s… a nice change of pace. I’ve started to get a little too used to the voice in my own head.” “Hopefully only one.” Lillia glared at him. “I’m not insane. There’s only one. Usually. An inn isn’t meant to be quiet, you know.” Arwin started to nod, then paused. “Wait. I thought you wanted to cook. Did you want to have beds and such as well?” “Both. One day, at least.” Lillia sighed, then looked up at the ceiling, letting a small smile flit across her features. “I can picture it. Maybe I’m delusional, but I can’t shake the thought of a full room. It would be so noisy. I’d have to yell over people so they’d be able to hear what I’m saying.” Arwin was surprised to find that he did understand what she meant. He wasn’t so sure he wanted his smithy to be so popular he couldn’t hear himself think, but the idea of lines stretching out the door just to buy his work did strike a hungry spark deep within him. Even though he was well aware that selling magical items to the general populace was a bad idea at the moment, it was nothing more than an idle daydream where logic had no place. “I don’t think it’s delusional,” Arwin said. “It’s better than what we were doing.” The smile fell away from Lillia’s lips. “Yeah. It is.” “Why were you doing it in the first place?” Arwin asked, turning to look at her front on for the first time since they’d sat down. “I don’t understand. You aren’t the person I thought you were.” “The fact that you’re referring to me as a person rather than a demon seems a bit off as well,” Lillia said with a snort, shifting and crossing her legs beneath her so she could match Arwin’s gaze. “I was about to ask you the same thing.” “Ask me what? Why I was defending my people?” “Defending?” Lillia scoffed. “More like hunting.” Arwin’s brow furrowed in confusion. “Hunting? All I ever did was keep your army from advancing. The only time I struck first was when your forces were pushed so deeply into human territory that I had to attack before you could torch villages. I just don’t see how the person that’s so eager to have a joyous tavern was slaughtering entire families without leaving a single survivor.” Lillia nearly choked on her indignation as she thrust a finger into Arwin’s chest. “The absolute gall to claim that when you’re the one that murdered countless innocents and torched their villages to the ground. Your hands are stained with more blood than you can ever wash off.” “Murder?” Arwin’s eyes narrowed. “The only things I killed were the ones trying to rip my throat out.” “Children were trying to kill you?” Lillia crossed her arms. “Bullshit.” “Children?” Arwin blinked. “I never killed any children.” “Just because you don’t see monsters as rational beings doesn’t mean–” “Did they look like actual children?” “What?” Lillia blinked. “What kind of question is that?” “Was it obvious they were children? They resembled human children?” “With monster traits, but yes. Many of them did.” Arwin stared at Lillia, but he couldn’t find any deception in her face. She seemed to be telling the truth, but that made absolutely no sense. Arwin didn’t remember the face of everyone he’d killed, but he’d never killed a child.