CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
The kitchen was already alive long before the sun fully rose.
Fire crackled beneath iron pots. Knives struck rhythmically against wooden boards. Demons moved in practiced patterns, shoulders brushing, wings tucked tight, voices low. It was another day of service—another day of pretending yesterday had not happened.
But whispers slid through the steam like poison.
"Did you hear the screams from the dungeons?"
"They say it sounded terrifying."
"I couldn't sleep last night, the screams kept me awake."
Reyna stood near the far counter, listening without meaning to. Her injured leg throbbed faintly, a dull ache instead of the sharp pain from before. It was healing—slowly—but healing nonetheless. She shifted her weight carefully, mindful not to strain it.
Prince Damiel had told her not to prepare his bath, or bother attending,
So her leg wouldn't get wet, and so she would strain the injured leg.
The thought startled her every time it returned.
He remembered.
He had cared enough to remember.
Reyna swallowed and adjusted the tray she'd been preparing, for his .eal, Inez had voluteered to go in her stead, she knew the others would be too terrified of going there. Reyna fingers fidgeted nervously at the edge of the table as her eyes drifted, unconsciously, toward the door, she hadn't seen vaelith and the other demon servants, they were usually punctual.
That was when the door burst open.
The sound cracked through the kitchen like a whip.
Three demon servants stumbled inside.
Conversation died instantly.
They looked… wrong.
Their clothes were clean, but they hung awkwardly, as though the bodies beneath them no longer fit properly. Their hair had been combed, yet it stuck out in places, rough and careless. Dark circles bruised the skin beneath their eyes. Their gazes were too wide. Too alert.
Like prey that had learned what teeth felt like.
Reyna's breath caught.
What did he do to them? she wondered, her heart pounding.
They didn't speak. They didn't even look around. They simply moved to their stations with stiff, jerky motions, flinching at every sound—the clatter of a pot, the scrape of a chair.
Then, minutes later, the door opened again.
This time, the kitchen gasped, pot lid fell to the ground, the sound of the knives hitting the wooden board stopped, hands hung midair, mouth opened wide in shock, the whole kitchen seemed to hold it's breath, except for the sound of bubbling water, and fire eating up the woods.
Vaelith stepped inside.
Or what was left of her.
For a heartbeat, no one recognized her.
One side of her face was burned—raw red skin stretched tight and shiny, already healing but unmistakably fresh. Demons healed quickly, but this… this didn't look like what would heal soon, the scar seemed to run deeper than flesh,
It was humiliation made permanent.
A white cloth wrapped partially around her head, failing to hide the damage. Her posture had changed too. Shoulders hunched. Chin lowered. Gone was the sharp, arrogant tilt of her head, the satisfied smirk.
Reyna stared, shock freezing her in place.
This was too brutal, it wasn't what she had expected at all.
Had Vaelith done something other than hurting her?
Or—
Her stomach twisted.
—had Damiel done this for her?
The thought made her dizzy.
The bell rang sharply, cutting through the stunned silence.
As Inez picked the tray and walked towards the door, she didn't seem surprised, nor did she feel any pity towards them, Prince Damiel had always been particulate about what was his even as a child, he didn't like people touching what he owed.
Reyna flinched instinctively.
Across the kitchen, a girl looked up.
Selis.
She had always been quiet. Observant. Before the execution, she had watched Reyna without staring—curious, thoughtful. And when Damiel had come to punish Vaelith the first time, Selis had smiled. Just a little. No cruelty. Just relief, that they would stop the bullying towards Reyna.
Now, her gaze moved between Reyna and Vaelith.
Her expression was blank.
But inside Selis, everything was shifting.
Selis remembered the day Queen Alvira had saved her brother.
The palace guards had been ready to drag him away for stealing a loaf of bread—accused, condemned, forgotten. Queen Alvira had intervened with a single word. A flick of her hand. Mercy wrapped in power.
A debt was born that day.
Then Queen Alvira placed Selis in Prince Damiel's castle, she called it opportunity. Protection. Employment.
But truly it was Observation.
"Watch him," the Queen had said. "Learn about him. His weakness—just one—and you will be free."
At first, Selis had been terrified.
Damiel was worse than the rumors. Colder. Sharper. Watching like a blade deciding where to fall.
When he came to the kitchen to fish out the traitor Serapha, Selis had nearly fled the kitchen in fear.
When he returned for the second time, she was so scared, but when she saw it was to punish Vaelith…
Selis had been relieved, for two reasons
One, he didn't come for her,
Two, Vaelith deserved it.
She had seen how cruel they were to Reyna—how they pushed, mocked, hurt her when no one was watching. Selis had liked Reyna from the moment she arrived. There was something calming about her. Something gentle. Her beauty wasn't loud—it was quiet, like moonlight.
But Selis had a mission.
And missions didn't care about liking someone.
When she saw Vaelith the next day, her face wrapped in white cloth, Selis knew two things at once.
Her debt was about to be paid.
And Reyna was the prey on both sides.
Vaelith would never forgive this, and Queen Alvira will use this for her benefits.
That night, Selis left the castle.
She walked through shadows, tall trees, wet grasses, heart racing, every step feeling like betrayal and survival all at once.
The Queen's chamber was lit when she arrived.
Candles flickered against black marble. Queen Alvira sat with her sons, Vaelor, and Arkes nearby, wine untouched, eyes already waiting.
Selis knelt.
She spoke carefully. Clearly. She told them everything.
The punishment. The disfigurement. The reason.
A human.
Reyna.
Queen Alvira's lips curved—not wide, but satisfied.
Prince Vaelor stilled. Prince Arkes leaned forward.
Selis finished, her voice steady despite the weight in her chest.
"My debt has been paid!." Selis said more of a question than a statement.
Alvira studied her for a long moment.
Then she nodded.
"Yes," she said softly. "It has."
Selis rose and left without looking back.
As Selis stood on the balcony, her chest heaving, slowly and deeply, she silently wished that Prince Damiel would never find out about this day.
And whatever Queen Alvira intended to do with this knowledge—
It would not be good.
Selis returned to the castle before dawn.
She stayed, back at Prince Damiel Castle.
She had to.
The pay was good. The money kept her brother and mother fed, safe, no longer drowning in, debt, bitterness and hunger. Leaving now would paint a target on all of them.
And as she passed through the kitchen again, watching Reyna move carefully, still gentle despite everything—
Selis felt dread curl in her stomach.
Vaelith would not forget.
And hatred, once born, did not need beauty to survive.