PATREA."Adora?" I asked as the tears finally trickled down my face at the exact moment the figure came into the light, revealing the girl I was so longing to see.She still looked the same as the last time I saw her, and despite the tears that were threatening to fall from her eyes, she looked happier."Am I dead? Why am I seeing you? Where are we?" I asked. "We are in between realms, Mama?""What do you mean? Are you stuck in between realms?"She shook her head as she sat at the end of my bed. "I am with the spirits. I only came here for you — to ask you if you want to come with me to the spirit world.""Am I dead?""Lucius bit you."I shook my head. "He didn’t mean to."A spark in the darkness flashed before my eyes, and my arms instinctively covered my eyes. After a while, I slowly lowered my arms to see another female standing beside Adora.Her eyes were pure black, as was her long hair. And from the runes that were covering her body, I already knew who she was. I was now fully

LUCIUS. I didn’t know it was possible to feel this happy despite the fact that my kingdom was under attack. I was so used to taking pride and being boastful of my accomplishments, but this happiness Patrea was giving me was beyond me. For the first time, I got something because it wanted me, not out of force or rebellion. Patrea was alive, and she survived my mark because of one thing: she loved me. And I knew at this point that I could do everything, anything, to make sure she wouldn’t regret braving the darkness that came along with loving me. "Welcome to Kalmerus, my queen," I told her as I stared directly into her amber eyes before they blazed red. And it just made me excited. My hand gripped her jaw tightly as I crushed my lips against her, kissing her brutally hard, and my queen just accepted my kiss wholeheartedly before she snaked her arms around me. But I knew I should stop kissing her, or this might lead to other things, and we had a kingdom to protect. I pulled away

PATREA. I gasped for air as my throat continued to burn, but it didn’t feel painful at all. In fact, the warmth in my throat was soothing. I let my hand trail down my neck as I softly moaned, only to realize that my whole body was burning. My body jolted up, and I sat down. I was floating while the battle continued below me. It took a while before everything registered as to where I was and what was happening. Earlier, I was riding Angel, Lucy’s winged wolf. While Lucy was communicating with me about different ways I could use my new power, something suddenly hit my back. I knew Lucy had placed a protective spell around us, but it looked like the one who fired it used a bigger power than Lucy had, so whatever she used was not enough. Everything happened so fast. Angel’s wings were also hit by fire, and we came crashing down. I tried to put a spell on to protect us from falling, but everything suddenly went dark, and I had no idea what happened next. But here I am now. I tilted

KINGDOM OF ATHWART LUCIUS. After the commotion had died down, all of Athwart’s demons on the battlefield were sent to Kalmerus, where my demon guards briefed them on the way I was running my kingdom. While Patrea and I, together with Lucija and Stone, headed back to the tower to check on Althea at Patrea’s request. The two talked alone before Althea agreed to be sent back to the human realm, as Patrea didn’t want her to stay here. And now that Patrea was connected to me, and demon blood was already running in her veins, she would be able to transport back and forth to the human world any time she wanted. It would make it easier for her to visit Althea. After we had said goodbye to everyone and Patrea thanked them for their help, Lucija took everyone back to their territory, while Patrea and I headed to Athwart. If I had my choice, I would be spending the next hours with Patrea alone, but there were things that we couldn’t delay at the moment, and it made me happy that my queen wa

PATREA. After the visit from the God of the Underworld, Lucius and I checked on the Athwart demons that were brought to Kalmerus. He spoke with all of them for a while, with him holding my hand the whole time. It felt natural to me, but I could see some demons who kept glancing at our entwined hands. They were not used to affection. I’d been in this realm for many decades, and I had yet to see demons holding hands. The closest I saw to affection was during sexual interaction, but after that, they would act as if nothing intimate had transpired. But it was as expected of them. So this was totally something new for them. And for Lucius. But he looked like he was comfortable holding my hand, and I reveled in it, enjoying the gentle squeeze he would give me from time to time. The next few hours were spent going back and forth everywhere in the tower and to what I refer to as the barracks of demons. By the time Lucius was satisfied with checking everything, I was already exhausted.