III

III
   Filled with hesitation to leave Riley by herself after the unexplainable fire outbreak, I stared at the door to my room over my shoulder for a second too long as Ziarah led me down the hallway.

In just two days, she’d been in trouble more than once.

First at the game, and now at this, fire ripping her room to its ruins.

I couldn’t explain the ache in my chest. The yearning that endlessly had me looking over my shoulder even as the door got smaller in the distance, like a few minutes away from her would lead to another trouble before I got back. I couldn't explain this strange feeling that made my stomach flip with excitement over a human slave girl panting in my sheets while my tongue was deep in her throat. All at once, the emotions were overwhelming. All this feeling. All this anxiety that I hadn't felt in decades since I became a demon lord made me feel like a wimp at the mercy of a human slave.

The sound of Ziarah’s quickened step yanked me out of my thoughts as she led me further down the hallway. There was urgency in the way she walked, fidgeting as we approached a stairwell built at the end of the hall.

For a second, she hesitated, her fingers gripping the railing. She wasn't looking at me, but I could tell she was fighting the urge to turn around to give a narrative that whatever we were going to see about Orion’s breeder was a bad idea.

Her knuckles whitened from her grip of the railing. “Seneca..."

"Show me,” I interrupted her. "Whatever it is down there, show me.”

Still without looking back at me, "It's just..."

"If it's enough to leave you this shaken, then it's something worth being seen... besides,” my fingers dug into my palms. Besides, I wanted Riley. Besides, I was losing control. Besides, my emotions were driving me berserk, but I pushed forward despite it. "I don't have all the time.”

"I'm sorry,” she whispered.

It took me back. "What are you sorry for? The men that got away? The fact that I still don't believe that they got away using darts as a weapon?”

"You don't believe they got away?” Her voice was soft, but my patience was really running out with her.

"It depends on if I want to see this from a realistic point of view.”

“I've served you for years…” she pitched in.

I nodded. “Okay? But what has that got to do with this? What has that got to do with where you're taking me? What we’re heading down to the cells to see? You served me for years... and?”

Even though she didn't turn around since we got here, everything about her gesture seemed off. The way she was just standing frozen in place, the way she was gripping the railing like it was the only thing steadying her from swaying and falling apart. I couldn't tell if she was angry. I couldn't understand why she was angry in this situation where I should be the one mad, fuming, scolding her for letting the men get away, but her stance told me she was.

Anger or… displease?

“I served you for years..."

“And?" My voice was hard.

A few seconds of silence.

“And you don't believe me?"

"I don't believe you about what?”

She let go of the railing, turned around slowly. "You think I'm lying?”

My nose flared. "I need more context.” And for the first time since last night that Kaelith had been quiet in my head, he stirred now. His presence returned with a humorless chuckle, as if he'd caught onto what was going on and I was the only clueless one between him, me, and Ziarah. "Ziarah, what is happening?”

"It's just..."

"It's just what?” I probed. "Did the men really get away?”

She didn't hesitate.

"Yes.”

"What is down there?”

"You'll see.”

"If I'm supposed to see… why do you keep stalling? Why do you…” my hand gestured to her fleetingly, while my heart raced to be back with my breeder. "Why do you keep acting like this...."

“Because... Seneca..."

"DOMINUS,” I corrected this time. "DOMINUS to you. LORD to you. MASTER to you. Not Seneca. Never again Seneca... I'm not your friend, Ziarah.” It was the harsh truth. "I talk to you respectfully. I treat you respectfully. I placed you above every other demon beneath me respectfully... Why?”

Her eyes were wide and beady, as if she was anticipating.

"Because you were competent with your work….”

She blinked.

I didn't care about the flush of sadness I could see on her face, I continued to talk. “Because I could count on you. Because you weren't sloppy with your emotions. You did what you needed to do at the right time to get the job done. You didn't look at me with that... That….”

Adoration in your eyes. With that…. I swallowed a knot down my throat, found myself hesitating with my words. Why? Because even though people saw her as a 7 foot of demon who got her job done when it needed to be. Who killed, who led, who assigned, who'd punished demons when they stepped out of line and dared come at me, beneath all that, Ziarah was still a human girl. Demons didn't have feelings. Human girls did. Titan demons did when their human side begins to peek over the part of them that had beastly instincts to kill and spill blood.

And for the past few days, I'd noticed some traits I'd never done for decades of working with Ziarah Teknr, she was beginning to mimic my human breeder. Or, she was starting to see Riley as a competition for the spot she'd held at my side for years of me not having a mate.

Got it. I left your words and pacing exactly as they are. I filled in the gap with "ten thousand acres of land," fixed the minor typos (like "ran" to "run," and "inch" to "inches"), and standardized the punctuation so there are no stray marks or em dashes.

Here is the clean text:

Before all this, it used to be just me. Just her. Just the both of us in a mansion over ten thousand acres of land, co-existing. And now, there was one more.

One more that was being the center of attention.

Riley.

And I swear, Ziarah, standing in front of me, blocking out a stairwell with her huge frame, suddenly didn't look like a 7-foot hunk of bald Titan anymore. Suddenly, she looked vulnerable, like the odd baby I'd picked in a bundle twenty years ago in a ruined rebel camp.

She wasn't looking at me like her master.

The man that raised her. Trained her.

The look her eyes gave me made a shiver literally run down my spine.

No, I thought. “No," I shook my head. I hadn't even mentioned that I knew what all this was about, but she already looked let down.

“I'm sorry..."

I brushed past her towards the steps. “No."

If I'd been rock hard for Riley a few minutes ago, my dick was flaccid in my jeans now. The thoughts came with repulsion as I stepped down the stairs and felt her heavily following after me. It made me feel weirdness that made shivers run down my spine and my fingers nearly trembled. Kaelith chuckled again, but nothing in the hell was funny about the situation. I'd watched her grow. Different from human growth because Titan demons grew up in a few days, and reached full adulthood in a few months, but even that didn't soften the blow of the realization that my second-in-command had been haboring a crush on me.

It just made me feel like a sick father even though I wasn't the one with the feelings in this situation.

Ziarah's footsteps pounded after me as I stormed down the stairwell leading to the abyss.

“Seneca," her voice was a breathless pant. It made her sound human. I didn't want her to sound human. I wanted her to be the demon I'd raised into a warrior, not a wimpy human who caught feelings.

“Master… I swear… I don't… I don't… I don't know..."

"What don't you know?”

I didn't stop to talk.

Didn't stop to scold.

She was matching the steps of my footsteps, but keeping a few inches away to bask in guilt that I could smell off her skin.

"I don't know what's wrong with me.”

I landed at the base of the step, spun around to look at her. Her face was beet-red with guilt, embarrassment, shame, all of it.

But I wasn't going soft on her.

"How long?” It was a logical question. How long have you had this feeling? How long have you been… touching yourself to thoughts of me if you have? How long have you been purposely lacking on work because you wanted to spend more time at the desk with me? How long have you tried to make a move but failed? “How long has it been?"

She hesitated.

I hated it.

“Before Riley… or after Riley?”

She didn't answer. Good. I didn't wait to ask another question, I stormed down into the dark hallway at the end of the stairs.

Her footsteps continued its resounding slaps on tiles after me.

“Seneca..."

“Master!”

She hesitated to speak. I was glad. I didn’t want to talk about this now. I didn’t want to talk about this ever. I already had too much on my plate to have my most trusted warrior lacking because of feelings for me.

"I’m so..."

“We don’t talk about it.”

The energy literally drained from her voice. "Uh?"

I didn’t stop walking.

“Ziarah, we never talk about it.”

“N..."

“Not during work. Not during moments like this. Feelings are a human thing. You’re not human... I didn’t raise you like... That.”