LOGINWhen I brought you back to the Empire, after your journey through time and space, one of the first things you were interested in was being able to make your way.You needed some type of income, and you requested your first booth. It was selling art.Soon after you requested another booth, you opened a sweets shop. So, you wanted to be independent and did this on every return, and every time you added another booth or a few. Your entrepreneurial spirit and desire for self-sufficiency drove you to expand your business empire. To this day, with all the additions throughout the centuries, they have begun to add up and are all still up and running.This is why you now own approximately 90% of the Stygian Market, a bustling hub of commerce and culture in the Empire.Demarion said his tone was filled with awe and pride.He loved that she was resourceful and could take care of herself; it just made him want to give her the world. He wants to show her what it was truly like to be loved and t
But she needed to say something to appease her mother's thirst for details, and she knew they would believe the explanation she gave, which, to Aakifahlynn, was the truth.Because she was looking for answers, wanting to know what was real and what was not.So yes, she did not lie, and now she knew that Demarion was not an enemy. But she would not say that to her parents, nor would she with Demarion standing right there, watching her intently.Maybe he was looking to see if she so much as broke a fingernail, recalling what Demarion had told that guard back in 1405. Aakifahlynn could not help but jest inwardly as her eyes met his at her mischievous thought. But she also felt guilt for what 1405 Aakifahlynn had done, leaving him to scour the earth in search of her or to learn the horrible truth of their shared past in that fateful year, a truth that could shatter their present.Nevertheless, at least Demarion was not the enemy right now, but people can change, Aakifahlynn thought. After
Her jealousy was not malicious, but a yearning for the happiness she had seen in her past, a desire that surprised her more than her other discoveries. She longed for that carefree joy, that sense of being loved the way she deserves, the way anyone deserves, and it pained her to see it in her past self, knowing things could never return to that time. Her heart was a battlefield of conflicting emotions, each one a sharp thorn in her side. 1805 Aakifahlynn felt deep sorrow for 1405 Aakifahlynn, knowing she was forever trapped in the past and would never return to her time to live out this life and experience true love until the end.And in 1405, she would be missing, never to be found again. Ever.It was indeed tragic. And she was increasingly beginning to understand Demarion's fear of telling her things earlier or his obsession with keeping her safe if these were the decisions she had made in the past.The fear that she would always do something reckless. Goddess, that must be crippl
Taisiya went on to explain that men had been so cruel to her that she did not know whom she could trust in the world and that she felt utterly alone.She poured out her heart, confessing the cruelty she had endured from men, her profound loneliness, and her struggle to trust anyone in this world.Young Jiarus expressed his disbelief, stating that he could not understand how someone as beautiful as she could be treated so poorly.And you could see the protectiveness coming over him, 1805 Aakifahlynn watched on in horror. Jairus was now a young man who had developed strong feelings for Taisiya and was now in a vulnerable position. Goddess, was Jairus making it easy for Taisiya; he was already a goner, and Taisiya did nothing yet.1805 Aakifahlynn knew that because it was now, she saw it happening. It was swift, and Jairus did not see it coming.And if she had not been staring at the pair, she would have missed it. For a brief moment, Jairus stayed unmoving, and Taisiya blew something i
The more time Aakifahlynn spent observing the pair, the more she realized Demarion could be telling the truth.After a few moments, 1805, Aakifahlynn could finally snap out of her shock and surprise at what she had just witnessed and finally move from her spot.She caught up to Demarion while he was conversing with a guard. He had made it down the hall and was approaching the staircase.Demarion ensured that enough guards were on duty for today's events: "If we need extra men, call out those on leave. I won't take any chances with my Empress. I just got her back, and I won't lose her. I cannot lose her. Do you understand me?"The guard, visibly nervous, stammered, "Yes, Emperor Dracul, I understand." "Good because if she so much as breaks a fingernail, it's your head." There was almost a cold chill in the air, and 1805 Aakifahlynn swore the place got darker as Demarion ended the conversation.Then she suddenly recalled her first time at the Stygian Market back home. The first time sh
Aakifahlynn angrily cleared her bed of the books that were there, picking them up and throwing them across the room in frustration. They were books she had kept close to her since Alpha Jared gave them to her, each one a reminder of her past and her relationship with Alpha Jairus.They were books about ace wolves and also of Taisiya's kind.Four books were splattered on the floor, one by one, but what caught her eyes was a parched paper that gracefully fell out of one of the books. It floated in the air as it descended.It was folded and flattened over the years; she could only imagine how long it had been there.Curious, Aakifahlynn stomped toward the mess she had just made and picked up the parchment. She opened it and found that it was a black-and-white photo of herself or someone who looked exactly like her sitting on a throne in the throne room as Queen with her King next to her.Only the King in this photo was Emperor Demarion Dracul, the Empire's leader, and not her mate, Alpha







