The midnight air still held its thick, salty tang and peculiar sweetness, but the fear of the abyss felt distant, buffered by sheer opulence. Daniela and Jasper walked along a path that was anything but perilous. It was a luxurious, winding boulevard, wide enough for four people to stroll abreast, its surface meticulously paved with large, flat stones that felt solid and eternal beneath their feet.
The sheer, gleaming height of the castle wall beside them reinforced a sense of limitless ancient wealth. Its stone, the color of polished, brilliant white marble by day, now absorbed the moonlight, making the massive facade appear an imposing, velvety black. No expense had been spared; every surface screamed of an ancient civilization's boundless resources.
Daniela thought this world was something exceptional. For a woman who had lived so many lives, this was the only one that felt like it stirred her, that it brought to life emotions that had been long since forgotten. She felt the breath in her chest still, knowing this was her final chance—her last life. She couldn't imagine a more beautiful place to die. Not that she planned to, but if it happened, what a way to go. In a place of magic and fantasy so utterly spectacular, she wasn't sure where she would want her eyes to point when she died. There was nothing that wasn't worth looking at in this new life.
They passed under monumental arches, where the stone itself spoke of meticulous care and ornate artistry. While the base color remained a dull gray, its texture wasn't crumbly but was instead intricately carved with swirling, fantastic patterns. The fluorescent, vibrant blue markings were not just etched, but filled with a shimmering material that looked like liquid starlight—pure, glowing opulence. Every few meters, another of these dazzling, blue-pulsing arches swept over the path, making their walk feel like a ceremonial procession.
Daniela's eyes were wide, alight with fascination. Every sight was a revelation. She had never seen the ocean in this life, and the distant, resonant crash of the waves against the cliffs to her left felt profound and magnificent, not threatening. She reached toward the grass on the right—the patch that was green at its base but shockingly stained red with a dark, blood-like pigment at its tips. It was unsettling, yes, but its vibrant color in the dim light was simply another piece of the exquisite, macabre fantasy.
With his hands clasped behind his back, Jasper watched her. The way she looked at everything was as if she'd never seen it before. She was new to the castle, but he knew this world wasn't so splendidly pristine. Yet, she looked at it as a child would, with a light in her eyes that screamed of fascination. For someone as unrestrained as Daniela, he found her girly delight hard to reconcile with the sexual temptress she usually portrayed herself as.
The stars above were still impossibly close, the enormous birds still cut through the sky with their deep calls, and in the midst of this opulent, haunting, and deeply mysterious setting, the intimate silence of the evening was unceremoniously interrupted by Daniela.
"Is this supposed to be a garden?" She distinctly remembered being told that she would be walked around the garden. But she saw archways that glowed and grass that looked covered in blood. "It looks much different during the day!"
"You know what I noticed—" she began, placing her hands behind her back as he had, trying to look studious. She wasn't trying to be sexy or tempting; she was genuinely just enjoying his company. For the first time in a long time, they were mostly alone. Taking a quick glance over her shoulder, she could still see Eric and Jaden trailing behind them by a significant distance. But they were noticed.
Jasper paused, turning his body to face her fully, his movements economical and precise. A thin, oily plume of midnight-black smoke, the color of a starless void, silently snaked from his fingertips. The tendrils of darkness unfurled and rose, expanding outward until they formed an invisible, sound-dampening wall around their immediate vicinity. He gave her a slight, cold smile. "Do not worry about them. I put up a barrier. They cannot hear us. Tell me what you noticed, Daniela." He always had the habit of creating a barrier with his magic—nothing complicated, just something to keep unwanted ears away. Vampires, he thought, were just the nosiest creatures ever.
"For an aristocrat, you really lack a lot of chivalry. It's rather fascinating." She couldn't quite understand that about him. She was raised in this life to be a queen, a debutante, a proper lady, and a princess. She was taught exactly how to eat, how to sit, how to talk. She knew exactly what her posture should be, and at what specific angle she should bow. Yet, he seemed far removed from the world he was born into.
"Perhaps I am still too young to grasp the concept," he smirked, knowing she wouldn't quite understand.
"But are you not older than me—significantly?"
Jasper didn't respond. He didn't intend to tell Daniela every little detail about himself. Not yet. He was younger than her by five years. The way demons were born versus other creatures or even women was vastly different. The circumstances around a demon's birth were quite intimate and personal—not something that anybody could just know. It signified something deep and resounding, a level of trust. To tell someone about your birth was to give them leverage over you, and Jasper had no reason to do such a thing.
She found herself no longer wanting to engage in their simple, yet comfortable, irrelevant conversations. She still needed to keep in mind that she had an ultimate goal.
"Do you intend to make me your queen?" There were a million other ways to ask that weren't as forward, direct, and unyielding, but she didn't care for a single one of them. She wanted to know if her time was being wasted.
"It is a bold question, is it not?" Jasper undoubtedly intended to make Daniela his queen. But at present, she was more likely to be killed in the demon realm. As she was now, she was prey—simple and easy to hunt. The perfect kind of delicate flower that anybody would love to pick and crush. Not only would he need to bring back a potent, lethal Queen that his kingdom wouldn't immediately turn on, but also one his parents wouldn't turn on. He could picture his mother with her Earth magic sending a poisonous spike through her heart, only in the guise of protecting her son and his ultimate happiness.
"So, should I refocus my attention on more interested princes?" She wasn't worried about his lack of a definitive response. She could feel it—there was something between them. Not love, lust for sure, but something else. She wasn't sure if it was mutual respect or some other unnamed bond. But she felt a bridge forming. Partly, in her own view, it had to be fate. Jasper was faithless. The more she thought of him, the more she realized that in every lifetime his story was different but always written by himself. She wanted to step into his orbit and shake off the stain of fate.
"You won't do that," his words were spoken in complete confidence, as if he knew exactly what she would do next.
Stopping, she walked toward the left side of the path. Resting her hand on one of the glowing arches, she let her nails scrape on the delicate design. Looking at him in challenge. "Really, and why is that?"
Jasper reached his arm out, his palm facing upwards. A heavy, onyx-black smoke, thick and swirling like a gathering storm in a teacup, started to pool just above his outstretched palm. The air around his hand became noticeably cooler, crackling with suppressed energy. When the ball looked to be as big as a tennis ball, his hand jutted outwards just the slightest amount, and the vibrating pulse of energy on his palm burst upwards in a silent, violent eruption. The black smoke tendrils shot skyward, spinning and weaving with impossible speed, coalescing into a shimmering, opaque dome of moving shadow that enveloped them completely.
Daniela pressed her hand against the dome. She felt nothing. No barrier, as if he was trapping her in a magical prison. It was just a dome of moving smoke that looked to be nothing. She glided her hand through the smoke, watching as the shadows slithered through her fingers, a cool sensation climbing up her wrist.
"What is it?" she wondered.
"True privacy."
"Was the previous barrier not enough?" She wondered, looking back over towards Eric, only to notice how his blood-red eyes narrowed. His body moved at an impossible speed. It seemed as if he had entered the dome, but he hadn't. His form looked saturated in a way that seemed as if he was on the other side of something and they were completely hidden. His eyes seemed to scan every single blade of grass and rock, trying to locate them. A confused Jaden hurried to catch up with him.
She couldn't hear anything he was saying, but it was clear he was looking for them. "You've hidden us completely. Because of him?"
"Not quite."
Stepping towards him so they met at the center of the dome, she looked up at him, wondering what was so private that he wanted to hide it from everyone. "Are you going to threaten me?" The only reason for this level of privacy was a threat. Anything else could be done in the open. Relative privacy was more than enough.
"Only a little." His pale pink lips curved ever so slightly.
Daniella didn't falter. Her head still tilted back to look up at him. She nodded for him to continue. Life was not something easy, and a threat was like air to Daniela at this point. What was a threat amongst lovers and friends?
"You will stay at my side. I will keep you as I see fit. Whether it's a queen, a whore, or a slave shouldn't matter to you."
Daniela felt the smile on her lips widen. He did not know who he was dealing with. She was not a flower that would wilt easily. "And why would I agree?"
"Because I know your secrets."
The tension between them buzzed. Jasper felt the hunger that had been suppressed start to grow inside of him again. That gnawing sensation begging him for sex and blood and violence and fear and malice. It wanted it all together. It seemed as if she had the ability to awaken this hunger within him, and that alone made him feel alive, yet furious. To spend his entire life in complete control, only to have it fray at the edges because of a little woman with dark green hair and no magic that she could wield.
Her tongue poked out between her lips, wetting her lower lip as she stared at him, wondering which secrets he would try to brandish against her. "I have so many."
"You want to kill the prince." He watched her every move, wanting to see if she would look back at Eric, if she would buckle, admit it, or lie.
"That's irrelevant! Besides, who would believe you? As a cripple, what would it matter if I wanted to kill a Prince or decimated a town? Even though you are a Prince, no one would take you seriously." She wasn't worried about anyone discovering that she held great rage completely centered and directed at Eric. It didn't matter at all. It wasn't as if she was trying to be overly subtle. It wasn't a secret worth anything to her.
"You're good on your feet. But what is most damning is what lies beneath those perky, full breasts." His fingers reached out, following the valley between her breasts before stopping. His fingers pressed at a spot just a bit lower than her heart. "You have a God's gift in your chest."
This was not so simple. Now she understood why he was always staring at her chest. It wasn't because of the reincarnation boob job, but the bead of divinity in her chest.
"How do you know?" she asked, pushing his wandering fingers away from her chest that he seemed to now be more focused on than the treasure beneath her skin.
"Did they not tell you what kind of magic I possess?"
Making her way back to the arch, she leaned against it, her hip pressed against the glowing stone. She stared at him, thinking back to when she'd asked her maids to tell her about the princes, only to realize the second later: Soul magic. It wasn't the full extent of his power, but it was a part of his power—the ability to see souls. Meaning that he could see past the flesh.
"I've always been able to see it. That's why I know that you are mine. Because I want what's in your chest, and you are going to give it to me one way or another."
Daniela chuckled. It was comical. She wouldn't become anybody's plaything or puppet. If this was her last life, she intended to live it on her feet. Kicking, screaming, fighting. Whatever it took. But she would not go easy or quiet. She wasn't some fainting female.
"It cannot be taken by force," she reminded him. She didn't care about the Divinity in her chest. She'd give it away to anybody. But she required a few things. "I propose an alliance. You need something from me, and I need something from you. Make me your queen. You get what's in my chest."
"You aren't in a position to negotiate. I can convince you today to generously hand it over." His mind went through a myriad of ways that he could convince her: torturing her parents, innocent children, torturing her.
The list was long. Even if he did torture her, he still intended to make her his wife. Daniela was pleasant, and it was more than he could say for any other woman he had spent time with. If not her, then who? She was as good a woman as any.
"You know nothing at all! I don't care about anything in this life. You could tear me apart and still wouldn't get what's inside of me. Kill my family, and I still won't budge. Murder the innocent, I could care less. I would let the world burn to spite anyone who got in my way. You want what I have—"
Jasper felt the uncomfortable pressure of the bulge in his pants pressing against the buttons holding his cock hostage. There was something enticing about a woman that spoke of murdering the innocent. A lack of fragility around morality and bloodshed. Her words were not only invigorating but deeply sexually satisfying to the core of his demon blood. "You underestimate how well versed I am in blood and persuasion."
Scoffing, she turned, standing at the very edge of the cliff, looking down at the waves. Before turning back to face him. "Have I told you that I'm extremely petty?" Her voice left her lips as an airy whisper, only for the latter half of her words to sound dripping in passion and desire. Her tonality completely at odds with her words. "If I cannot have my revenge. If I don't get what I want. Then I would rather die."
"You really do lean toward the dramatics." He raised his eyebrow as if he was daring her. The edge was right there. Was she as petty as she claimed?
In that moment, green crashed against black. Her eyes, like the darkest forest, and his, like the dark abyss, challenged each other. A dare hung in the air. Could she do it? Would she do it? It was as if two people were testing each other's limits. To see if one would eventually buckle. Or would they see this to the end? To blood, to broken bones, to death, to murder. What was the line?
Daniela didn't care. She didn't have a reverence for life, a desperate desire to survive. She had been reborn four times. She had lived longer than any person was supposed to. Was this really her last life? She would see. She would test it. She would chance death. Even if it was to prove a point that ultimately meant that she was wrong. At least no one got to use her.
Without blinking, or hoping for him to stop her, she didn't even give him the chance. Her face was the picture of serenity as she took the final, irrevocable step back, off the cliff's edge. Her eyes never left his as she fell.