Chapter 35 #2
“You died,” I whisper. The truth of it still feels unreal. Silence stretches between us, thick and filled with things neither of us knows how to carry. “I had to survive. For them. For the kingdom. I couldn’t stay who I was and still stand.”
He lets out a weak, humourless laugh and shakes his head. “I couldn’t stay who I was, either.”
The pain in those words is unbearable. I step closer and reach out but hesitate at the last second, my hand suspended in the air as he watches me. He notices instantly and lets out a soft sigh.
“You feel it too,” he says. “The difference.”
I nod, unable to force words through the knot in my throat.
His jaw tightens. “I watched everything. Cinderspine. Marta. Theodus. Aurora’s Veil.”
My breath catches, tears stinging my eyes as memories flash through me of the broken little boy, of Marta and her glasses. Of all the blood and grief and loss stacked so high, I stopped knowing where one ended, and the other began.
“I was there,” he continues, voice cracking wide open. “Every time he touched you. Every time you cried. Knowing I couldn’t stop it. That I couldn’t tear him apart with my own hands.” His fingers curl into the stone flooring, his nails turning white. “It fucking broke me.”
A raw sound leaves him, half-laugh, half-sob, entirely wrecked. He bows his head, shoulders shaking, water and tears dripping from his face and onto the floor.
“I heard you call for me,” he whispers. “And I couldn’t come.”
I reach forwards without thinking and shut the water off, the sudden silence ringing in my ears. I grab a towel and hold it out for him, but he doesn’t move. So I sit. Right there on the wet stone beside him, my shoulder brushing his. I wrap the towel around his shoulders carefully, taking him in.
“I felt you,” I whisper. “In Aurora’s Veil. I heard you before, but there… I felt you. You gave me the strength to survive.”
He leans forwards, forehead pressing to his knees. “It wasn’t enough.”
I shake my head fiercely. “It was enough, Korithax.”
He turns to me then, eyes blazing with grief. “Watching you kill him was the first time I laughed in months,” he admits. “Seeing you splattered in his blood… gods, Daisy. You were magnificent. Terrifying. I just wish I’d been there to hold him down while you destroyed him.”
He swallows hard, tears shining in his obsidian eyes. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” I say softly, placing my hand atop his.
He huffs, his head dropping back to the stone wall. “You said it yourself: I left.”
I quiet for a long moment, idly stroking my thumb across his knuckles. “I was hurting. I was angry, Korithax. But never at you. Never.”
Something in him finally gives. He pulls me into his arms, water-soaked and shaking, burying his face into my shoulder. I hold him there until his breathing evens out, until exhaustion finally pulls at him enough.
Later, he sleeps curled around me in bed, heavy and warm and real, one arm banded tightly around my waist, like even in sleep he’s afraid I’ll vanish. His breath fans softly against the back of my neck, steady and deep, but mine refuses to match it.
I stare into the dark for what feels like hours, my thoughts too loud to let me rest. The palace bells chime twice when I slip free of his hold. I pause, watching him stir faintly before settling again, then pull on my silk robe and pad quietly down the halls.
I nervously bite at the side of my thumb as I gently tap on the door twice. I wait. Nothing. Heat creeps into my cheeks. This is stupid. I should go back to bed. I turn to leave just as the door swings open.
Maelkar stands there with messy hair, shirtless, and looking thoroughly ruined, a wicked smirk already curving his mouth.
“Oh… sorry,” I giggle softly, instantly embarrassed. “I can come back later.”
“What is it?” he asks, the smirk fading as concern sharpens his voice.
“It’s fine—”
He grabs my wrist and hauls me inside before I can protest. Lucifer is sprawled near the fire, gloriously and offensively naked, his blood-red eyes lighting with delight the second he sees me.
“Gods above!” I shriek, slapping both hands over my eyes.
“Oh,” Lucifer drawls. “Not here for a threesome then?”
“I would rather be back in Kaelith’s dungeon,” I gag, peeking through my fingers at Maelkar.
“Ouch,” Maelkar gasps, pressing a hand to his chest like I’ve mortally wounded him.
“That was hurtful to both of us, really,” Lucifer adds. “And I’m wounded enough already thanks to the Shadowtongue.”
I groan into my palms. “Please, stop talking.”
“I have pants on now, you can look,” Lucifer adds with a laugh a second later.
I peek through my fingers to find him lounging against the mantle like a smug menace. “I’m sorry for interrupting. Aran’s grieving, so I didn’t want to bother him.”
Maelkar snorts. “It’s alright, I think I’ve satisfied L enough for tonight.”
“Seriously?” I groan louder.
Lucifer laughs, sauntering over to kiss Maelkar hard enough that I make a choking noise. He grins against Maelkar’s mouth before pulling away. “Consider the threesome, queenie.”
I shudder dramatically. “You’re both insufferable. I see why you make the perfect match.”
“And yet,” Maelkar says, climbing into bed and patting the spot beside him. “Here you are.”
Lucifer points at me as he heads for the door. “If you steal my side of the bed, I will declare war.”
“You don’t have a side,” Maelkar calls after him.
“Tell that to the ruined sheets covered in my scent and sweat.” The door slams behind him.
Silence falls for half a heartbeat. Then Maelkar and I both burst out laughing.
I crawl into bed beside him, clutching the covers to my chest. His room smells like dark cedar, smoke, and something rich and spiced that is entirely him, layered with traces of Lucifer’s expensive cologne.
The scent is strangely comforting, warm, and grounding, wrapping around me as I settle against him.
“What’s wrong, Hellflower?” he asks softly.
“He feels wrong,” I mutter, getting straight to the point.
He tilts his head. “Korithax?”
I nod, letting my head fall against the headboard. “I don’t understand it. He just feels—”
“Void,” Maelkar says, cutting me off.
My breath leaves me. “What is it?”
He takes my hand, squeezing gently, his thumb brushing slow circles over my knuckles. “Literally, The Void. It’s in him now, it lives inside. But he’s still Korithax.”
My heart thuds in my chest. I rest my head on Maelkar’s shoulder, tears slipping free before I can stop them. “What does it do?”
Maelkar hushes me gentle, stroking a hand through my hair as he eases us both down onto the pillows. His shadows curl lazily around the bedposts.
“We’ll speak about properly when we’re all together. We’re researching. But don’t let fear ruin this,” he murmurs, tucking me closer to his side. “You have your man back, Hellflower. V sacrificed herself for this. Don’t let change poison what she gave you.
I nod against his chest, the steady beat of his heart beneath my cheek slowly untangling the panic inside me.
At some point in all of this, Maelkar became my safe space.
He started out as some scary otherworldly creature who fed off others’ pain.
And now he’s become my soul person. Not in the way Korithax and I are.
But in a way that feels like we were always meant to be the bestest of friends.
He feels like the brother I always wanted.
Wrapped in Maelkar’s warmth and safety, exhaustion finally drags me under, the scent of cedar and smoke, and the comfort of being held as the storm inside me quiets at last.
The doors explode open.