Adrian stood on Northwatch's northern wall long after his father left, staring into the darkness where demon territory lay.
The conversation echoed in his mind. Options. Freedom. Choice. Words that should have brought relief but instead stirred conflict he'd spent sixteen years carefully avoiding.
Three hundred years as Azrael Bloodrend, Demon Prince who'd carved path through demon lands with brutal efficiency. Sixteen years as Adrian Blackthorn, human warrior born to family that killed demons. Two lives, two identities, one soul carrying the weight of both.
The irony had never escaped him. Betrayed and murdered by demons he'd tried to unite through fear and strength, reborn into the very family that dedicated itself to demon eradication. Some might call it justice. Adrian called it opportunity.
Northwatch provided perfect foundation for revenge. Training from birth in demon combat, access to border where demons gathered, family legacy that made hunting demons not just acceptable but expected. He'd been handed the tools for vengeance wrapped in noble purpose.
For sixteen years, that had been enough. Wake, train, kill demons, sleep, repeat. Simple existence with clear goal—eradicate the creatures who'd betrayed him, ensure Azrael Bloodrend's legacy ended in demon extinction rather than failed unification.
Then the trials happened. Then Alice happened. Then everything became complicated.
Adrian closed his eyes, remembering his first life with clarity that never faded. The constant fighting, the brutality required to survive demon politics, the slow transformation from merely cruel to genuinely monstrous. He'd justified everything—the violence, the fear tactics, the ruthless elimination of rivals—as necessary for unification.
But he'd become the thing he claimed to fight against. Became tyrant ruling through terror, Demon Prince so feared that even his closest allies plotted his death. And when those blades found his back, when his own power couldn't save him from coordinated betrayal, his final thought hadn't been regret.
It had been rage that he'd failed.
"That's who you were," he whispered to the darkness. "Azrael Bloodrend. The Demon Prince who ruled through fear and died through hate."
The name felt foreign now. Three hundred years of that identity, sixteen years of this one, and increasingly he felt more Adrian than Azrael. The human life was overwriting demon memories, human connections replacing demon isolation.
Alice's laughter. Finn's easy friendship. Edric's quiet loyalty. Brann's straightforward honesty. His mother's warmth. His father's understanding. These weren't things Azrael Bloodrend had known. Azrael had allies, subordinates, rivals—never friends. Never family. Never anything approaching what Alice had become.
What was she becoming? That was the question keeping him on this wall.
"Three hundred years planning demon extinction," Adrian muttered. "Sixteen years executing that plan. And now..."
Now he stood on Northwatch's wall wondering if he should let it all go.
The thought terrified him. Revenge had been constant through both lives—first seeking vengeance for his mortality, then for his murder, now for his lost power and betrayal. Without that driving purpose, what was he?
But maybe Adrian Blackthorn didn't need Azrael Bloodrend's purpose. Maybe sixteen years of human life had taught him something three hundred years of demon existence never could—that some things mattered more than revenge.
Family. Friendship. Connection. Love.
"You're overthinking," came quiet voice behind him.
Adrian turned to find Alice approaching along the wall, wrapped in cloak against the night chill.
"I could say the same," he replied. "It's late. You should be sleeping."
"Couldn't settle. Kept thinking about training, progress." She joined him at the wall, following his gaze toward demon territory. "You come here often?"
"When I need to think."
"About what?"
Adrian considered deflecting, maintaining the careful distance he'd preserved through sixteen years. But something about the moment made honesty feel possible.
"About who I am," he said finally. "About what I want beyond what I've always assumed I must be."
Alice was quiet, processing. "Your father talked to you about options. About not being bound to Northwatch."
"You heard that?"
"No. But I've seen how he looks at you lately. How he watches us together. A father who loves his son enough to give him freedom to choose—that conversation was inevitable."
"And what do you think I should choose?"
Alice turned to face him. "That's not my decision. But I'll tell you what I see—someone caught between duty and desire, between what they've always planned and what they're discovering they actually want. Someone who's changing but fighting that change because it means letting go of old certainties."
Adrian felt exposed by how accurately she'd read him. "What if the old certainties are all I know?"
"Then you discover who that new person is and decide if you like them better." Alice's expression was gentle. "Growth means change, Adrian. That's not loss—that's evolution."
"What if the old version had purposes the new version can't maintain?"
"Then you evaluate whether those goals still serve you or if they're chains keeping you from something better."
Adrian looked back toward demon territory, wrestling with truths he couldn't voice. That his old purpose was demon extinction driven by vengeful Demon Prince. That his new purpose was increasingly just... being here, with her, becoming someone capable of connection rather than just destruction.
"Before I left for the trials, everything was clear," Adrian said. "I knew who I was—Adrian Blackthorn, border warrior. I knew what I wanted—to fight demons, to defend the kingdom, to serve at Northwatch like my family has for generations. I knew where I was going—border command, endless demon warfare, until the threat was eliminated or I was dead."
He paused, the words feeling inadequate for the deeper truth he couldn't voice. "That clarity lasted sixteen years. Then I left Northwatch for the first time. Met Finn, Edric, and Brann. Competed at the trials. Got to know you during our journey here. Experienced life beyond constant demon focus. And without realizing it, everything started changing. The certainty I'd carried since birth began... eroding."
"When did you realize it was changing?" Alice asked gently.
"Now. Tonight. When my father offered me freedom and I didn't immediately refuse. When the idea of leaving Northwatch—of choosing something different—didn't feel like betrayal but like..." he struggled for the word, "possibility."
Adrian turned to face her fully. "For sixteen years, demon warfare was all that mattered. Fight them. Eliminate the threat. Defend the border. Every decision, every action, every moment centered on that goal. Then I left Northwatch, and the world was bigger than I'd known. People were more complex than warriors or civilians. And you—"
He stopped, the admission caught in his throat.
"Me?" Alice prompted softly.
"You made me question whether a single purpose—no matter how noble—was worth sacrificing everything else. Whether the person I was becoming—cold, focused solely on demon combat, incapable of connection beyond tactical necessity—whether that person was who I actually wanted to be." Adrian's voice was raw. "The most important person to me right now is standing here asking me what I want, and I realize that for the first time in my life, the answer isn't just 'border defense and demon warfare.'"
Alice's expression softened with understanding. "What is the answer?"
"I don't know yet. That's what terrifies me. Border duty was simple. Clear. Demons threaten the kingdom. I defend against them. Endless cycle that gave my existence purpose." He looked at their joined hands. "But you've shown me there are other purposes. Other reasons to exist beyond warfare. And those reasons are... complicated. Uncertain. But also somehow more real than anything I've felt before."
They stood in silence, hands joined, the weight of unspoken feelings pressing between them.
"We've only known each other a short while," Alice said quietly. "Weeks, really. But it feels like... like we're meant to be together. Like we fit in ways I can't fully explain. You challenge me. I challenge you. We complement each other—your tactical mind and my strategic thinking, your combat expertise and my determination to learn, your..." she paused, searching for words, "your intensity and my... I don't know. Whatever it is that makes you less intense."
Adrian felt something warm bloom in his chest. "We are compatible," he agreed softly. "Frighteningly so. You understand parts of me I didn't think anyone could reach. Make me want to be better than I am. Make me question whether the path I've walked is the path I should continue walking."
"And what path do you want to walk?"
"I think..." Adrian started, then stopped, vulnerability catching the words. "I think I want to walk whatever path has you in it. Even if that's terrifying. Even if it means letting go of old certainties. Even if—"
Alice kissed him.
Stepped forward and closed the distance between them, her lips meeting his with gentle certainty that left Adrian completely frozen in shock. His first instinct was tactical assessment—ambush, unexpected attack, respond appropriately—but that dissolved instantly into something far more overwhelming.
This wasn't attack. This was connection. Warmth and softness and care all compressed into single perfect moment.
Adrian's hands moved of their own accord, one settling at her waist, the other cupping her face gently as he returned the kiss. All the conflict, all the revenge, all the demon prince memories—everything faded beneath the simple human reality of Alice's lips against his, her warmth in his arms, the certainty that this was what he'd been unconsciously seeking through both lives.
When they finally separated, Alice looked slightly breathless but completely certain of her action. Adrian just stared, processing what had happened.
"I—" he started.
"Don't overthink it," Alice said softly. "Sometimes the answer is just 'yes' without complicated analysis."
Adrian couldn't help the slight smile that crossed his face. "Second unexpected ambush I've faced," he muttered under his breath, too quiet for her to hear. The first had ended in his death. This one felt like the opposite—like coming alive for the first time in three hundred years.
"What was that?" Alice asked.
"Nothing. Just..." Adrian pulled her closer, resting his forehead against hers, "just realizing that some surprises are worth being caught off guard for."
They stood like that, wrapped in each other, the fortress wall cold beneath their feet but warmth shared between them. Adrian felt Azrael's revenge whisper protest—this was weakness, distraction from purpose, connection that could be exploited. But Adrian Blackthorn didn't care.
Let the demon prince rage. Let the old purpose scream objection. For the first time in three hundred years, Adrian chose something for himself rather than letting vengeance choose for him.
He chose this. Chose her. Chose uncertain future over predetermined path.
"I don't know what happens next," Adrian said quietly. "Academy letters might come. I might stay at Northwatch. I might choose something else entirely. But whatever I decide—"
"We'll figure it out together," Alice finished. "That's what this means, right? Choosing to walk the same path even when that path isn't clear yet?"
"Yes," Adrian agreed, the word feeling like promise and revelation both. "Together."
Alice smiled, reaching up to kiss him again—softer this time, briefer, but no less significant. "Good answer."
They stood together as night deepened, occasional kisses punctuating comfortable silence. Eventually they'd need to return to their quarters, face morning training, continue the routines that defined Northwatch life.
But for now, they existed in perfect moment—two people on fortress wall, old certainties abandoned, new possibilities embraced.
Azrael Bloodrend whispered for revenge.
Adrian Blackthorn chose love.
And the choice was easier than he'd ever imagined.