That Time I Got Drunk and Saved a Demon

Chapter 10 shows Cinnamon learning more about demon culture, as well as the poor treatment they have endured. In doing so, Cinnamon sees how power can obscure the truth. In the centuries humans have been tricked into supporting Myva, demons have suffered simply because humans didn’t ask questions or investigate their history. They accepted what Myva taught them because she made demons sound like the enemy, and her power and influence allowed her to spread this disinformation, making humans worship her. The novel suggests that belief, once manipulated by a powerful source, becomes an efficient weapon of oppression—one that requires deep unlearning and moral courage to disarm, which Cinnamon embodies. Felix’s information about female demons also shows how power influences the evolution of culture. Since female demons are scarce due to the effects of the curse, male demons have become highly competitive about mating, seen through the jealousy the demons have for Ambros’s closeness to Usha. Similarly, the male demons show interest in Cinnamon until Fallon makes it clear that they are a couple, which shows the hierarchy among demons. As a dragon, Fallon is more powerful than the others, and this allows his love for Cinnamon to carry more weight than Ambros’s affection toward Usha. Felix’s lack of jealousy, however, reveals that all demons are not the same. While some compete for strong mates and others, like Fallon, use their power to publicly profess their love for their partners, werewolves imprint on the mate that calls to them. Like humans, demons are all the same species, but within that species, there are vast differences. This multiplicity among demon customs provides a subtle critique of the human tendency to essentialize the “other,” inviting readers to reconsider assumptions about race, species, and cultural norms.

Cinnamon’s feelings expand in these chapters as she realizes her love for Fallon and expands her found family. Her interaction with the “fun” orcs in Chapter 10 reminds her of her brothers, supporting The Power of Family and showing that people do not need to be related by blood, or even in the same species, to find common ground. This widening circle of kinship also parallels Cinnamon’s shifting definition of home, which becomes less about place and more about emotional belonging. Further, Cinnamon trusting Usha and the others with the truth of her feelings for Fallon means that Cinnamon can’t fight her emotions any longer, even though she still fears what a relationship with Fallon would mean. Despite him showing her that he wants to try living in a family alongside her, Cinnamon still worries they are too different to be together. Her inability to tell Fallon how she feels at the end of Chapter 10 symbolizes the risks of love and how she isn’t ready to take them. However, Fallon is able to assuage her fears in Chapter 11 when he cures her hangover and proves that he wants to care for her no matter what. The rapturous feeling of joining her soul with Fallon’s shows Cinnamon that they can work together despite their differences and proves to her, once and for all, that they are meant to be. This is reinforced in Chapter 12 when she cares for Fallon as he recovers from fighting the other dragon. Together, these chapters depict intimacy not only as romantic fulfillment but also as a site of emotional growth, where mutual trust and vulnerability redefine what strength means.

Further, the relationship between Cinnamon and Fallon prompts Fallon’s magic to work differently, suggesting that love has an influence on magic because love becomes a part of the person. In Chapter 8, Cinnamon is able to reach Fallon while he’s in his dragon form and consumed with rage. Combined with earlier displays of Fallon’s rage, this shows that Cinnamon has a level of control over his emotions because he will both grow angry and calm depending on her influence. In Chapter 12, Fallon recovers faster than he expected, which he attributes to his bond with Cinnamon. This suggests the strength of their love influences the strength of the bond and that Cinnamon’s strength of mind transfers to Fallon, much like how Fallon’s magic transfers to her. These chapters also see Fallon and Cinnamon getting physically intimate as a result of their draw—physical and magical—to one another. Fallon reveals he loved Cinnamon from the moment he saw her, introducing the fated-mates trope—a common trope in fantasy romance where mythical creatures are fated to a specific person and can only love them. In the novel, this fated love means Fallon is dedicated to Cinnamon in all ways, including physically, which he shows by “claiming” her when they make love and concerning himself with her pleasure over his own. Rather than presenting this trope as inevitable or reductive, the novel uses it to explore consent, compatibility, and the negotiation of power in relationships—adding nuance to a fantasy convention often accepted without question.

Taken together, Chapters 9 through 12 deepen both the romantic and political stakes of the novel. The evolution of Cinnamon’s feelings, the complexities of demon society, and the increasing interdependence between love and magic build a world where personal transformation becomes inseparable from collective change. Emotional intimacy—just like the act of freeing a demon—can ripple outward, shifting alliances, dismantling old systems, and rewriting what power looks like.