Author's Note: Trigger warning. Some of you might not be comfortable reading this kind of relationship so please skip it if you must. Thank you.
Chapter 10 – The Queen Moans
For two more days, Solene slept and slept. Her body was just too weak, too aching for a rest that she couldn’t fight it off. She knew she wasn’t supposed to stay unproductive, unguarded like this, but the memory of the woman—Hope’s words filled her with comfort. Made her feel safe for the first time since she arrived in Gehenna.
When she did briefly wake, she saw blurry pictures of Hope tending to her, giving her a sponge bath, putting ointment on her blisters, and even sometimes sleeping next to her, on the edge of the bed when she could have slept on the couch nearby where it had a larger, comfortable space to sleep in.
In these peaceful times, Solene
Chapter 11 - The Queen Laid BareSolene was sure this was what Hope meant. A kiss. Lilith did it to her to take away her voice, and it was only reasonable to undergo the same in order to retrieve it.But Solene couldn’t deny it was a heavy request. One that weighed far heavier than a boulder, and this made her shoulders slump. Without thinking, she retracted her hands from Hope’s touch and rerouted her eyes on the floor. A deep blush painted her cheeks then, much to the latter’s chagrin.“I’m sorry!” Hope quickly exclaimed; her face a picture of deep concern. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable. What was I thinking...fuck. We are both females, after all. I’ll put that in my head again and again.”Solene didn’t understand her words. It was as if her newfound friend didn’t know which gender orientation she was
Chapter 12 - The Queen’s Admirer‘Dreams…’ Solene muttered in her thoughts. Her dreams with him… Would it ever be possible to experience them again?And then, whatever caused it, the room they were in darkened. She couldn’t see Hope anymore or the steam that surrounded them, but she could feel every brush of mist on her skin, the heat around the room, and her sweat trickling down her forehead.“Solene…”Without warning, a man’s voice filled her ears. Warm fingers touched her nipples then. It pinched and rolled them in a sensuous way that Solene let out a sharp but quiet gasp.‘Ah!’She threw her hands forward expecting to feel a man’s body, but she found no one. Yet, the fingers were solid and daring against her pink tips.“I missed you
Lilith took Hope’s answer as a blow to her pride. Nobody had said that word to her, ever. She always got what she wanted and more. So much more. Obviously, this woman knew who she was since she called her by name—and with conviction at that, but despite this, the woman still held her ground, clearly protecting Solene.“You have a death wish, maybe? I will oblige you here and now, bitch,” she said, her nails retracting.A slow grin formed on Hope’s face as she heard the words. She felt Solene hold her elbow as if saying to back out, but that wasn’t in her vocabulary. There never was.“Go ahead, Lilith, and make your movements count,” she encouraged in confidence. She stepped forward twice, doing a fighting stance, and then held Lilith’s gaze—one that was soul deep, literally.Lilith in response gasped. She saw something in this woman’s fierce eyes that she couldn’t deny.
Evening came, yet Hope still didn’t return. Solene had deemed her to be a good friend, so she couldn’t help but be worried for her. Dinner came also, brought by a female hotel staff. She tried to ask about Hope’s whereabouts, but the staff only shook her head.Despite not having an appetite, Solene ate the served meal on the table. One thing she learned while in Gehenna, it was the scarcity of food. It was a luxury here and to be served one in a cozy room, in a warm bed, was a miracle already.Once done eating, Solene contemplated going down and search for Hope herself but opted out of it in the end. Zaraat and his lackeys might still look for her, and there was no telling Lilith would pinpoint her location. Plus, it was already nighttime. Hope said so herself there were still monsters roaming around even in a pardoned place like this.The waiting time was long and lonely. Solene tried to be as determined as she could, but drowsin
Chapter 15 – The Queen in DistressThere it was. Finally. The answer to Solene’s many questions.The color of Hope’s hair—a silken shade of obsidian—and her gray-green eyes that stare right through her soul; her height and the way she behaved...these were all telltale signs that Solene was in fact mingling with her supernatural husband.They were all real and not a dream anymore.But Solene couldn’t help but question too, was this just another mind-twisting attempt by Gehenna? Make her believe of hope when there was actually none?Make her think her husband—Henri, the Rantzen Lord who was in fact the King of the Underworld—came to save her? It would make sense if he did. He was the ruler of this wretched land, after all.But why disguise as a woman? Why would he let them stay here any longer than they have now when he could have just whisked her away easily the mo
Chapter 16 – The Queen RegretsWith most of Hope’s powers locked up in exchange for entering Gehenna, it incapacitated her. She hated it. She cursed the arrangement. However, it was a necessary sacrifice in order to save Solene—or at least that was the original idea.Now, as the cyclops beast pulled her away, she gritted her teeth and retaliated by summoning lightning bolts around her. At the contact, this made the cyclops growl in pain. Its hold loosened. Hope used this to her advantage and wiggled down.Finally, she escaped from the enclosure and landed with ease on the rubble-covered ground. In haste, she directed her attention to Solene who was just in time captured by a humanoid, scaly monster. Its snake-like hand coiled around Solene, making her look exactly like its meal.Solene opened her mouth in a soundless shout. She stretched her arm toward Hope as if begging for help. Her eyes were wide with fear. With distr
Chapter 17 – The Queen in PrisonHard ground hit Solene’s feet as soon as the portal’s light disappeared. She adjusted her eyes, blinked it many times, until her vision was clearer. A grand room welcomed her then. A room that was larger, fancier and expensive-looking than the one she and Hope shared.Solene didn’t expect such a place existed in Gehenna, but then again, it had given her surprises for the past day with Hope’s existence and the hotel that housed repentant souls.A four-poster bed stood in front of her, draped with offending red curtains and lined with black velvet bedsheets, and pillowcases covered with gray linen. Across it was a fireplace that was already lit and gave the room warmth. Her skin was cold earlier with the night’s wind, but now, it warmed up, much to her satisfaction.There were no windows in the room or a balcony to view the outside. In fact, the walls looked like it
Chapter 18 – The Queen PlansSolene remained in her spot against the door for the next two hours. Her tears had stopped, her wet cheeks had dried from the salty liquid, but her will to stand and place herself in a better, comfortable area—a chair perhaps near the fireplace or the mattress—was lost. It didn’t matter if she was in a better situation now. She preferred to be inside a cave, in a hard ground and free than to be in a warm and cozy room and have her freedom taken away. More so, be separated by Hope.Now that she remembers her husband and his position as the ruler of the Underworld, her next task was to remember her real identity, and how she died. These were the kind of memories she needed to learn in order to understand her situation in Gehenna better.The masked demon—Caym—called her a conjurer. He wanted to learn more about her, but how could she share that when she didn’t even know he