The rest of the day was a blur of "Demon Politics." Which mostly meant sitting in a big hall while scary men yelled at each other about borders.
"She has no wings," a voice boomed.
I looked up. A Lord with purple skin and glass-like horns was pointing at me. Lord Varkas. He looked mean.
"Athan, we are going to war, and you bring a wingless girl to the table?" Varkas sneered.
He didn't even look at me. He looked at Athan like I was a broken toy. "She's a defect. A hole in our armor. How can she lead anyone?"
I felt that old, cold shame. The shame from the sky kingdom. I gripped my dress. My fingers found the hilt of the dagger on my thigh.
Athan didn't move. He was drinking wine. He looked bored. But I saw his wings flick.
"Lord Varkas," Athan said. He sounded way too calm. "I don't remember asking for your opinion on my wife."
"I am thinking of the realm!" Varkas yelled, hitting the table. "A wingless queen is a joke! The Angels will laugh at us!"
CRACK.
The stone table shattered. Athan was across the room before I could blink. He grabbed Varkas by the throat and slammed him onto the floor.
"You think she is weak?" Athan growled. It was a sound that made the chandeliers rattle. He dragged Varkas across the floor until he was right in front of me.
Athan pinned him down. "Apologize."
"Athan... I..." Varkas wheezed.
"To her feet," Athan snarled. He stepped on the Lord's back. "Apologize for being blind. Tell her you're sorry you didn't notice the fire in her eyes because you were looking for feathers."
Varkas was shaking. I looked down at him. I felt… powerful. Nobody had ever done this for me….except Athan
"I... I am sorry," Varkas gasped. His head touched my shoes. "My Queen. Forgive me."
Athan looked at me. His eyes were glowing. "Is that enough? Or should I take his tongue?"
"It's enough," I said. My voice was surprisingly loud. "Let him go."
Athan waited a second, then threw the man away like trash. "Get out. All of you. Meeting's over."
The Lords ran out. They didn't look back.
By the time we got back to our room, I felt weird. My skin started to itch. Not a normal itch. It felt like it was coming from inside my bones. My head was spinning.
"Celeste?" Athan's voice sounded far away.
"I'm just… tired," I said. I reached for the bed, but I missed.
Athan caught me. His hands felt like hot coals against my skin. "You're burning up," he said. He sounded panicked.
He laid me on the bed. I was shivering, but I was sweating through the silk. My back…where the scars were,felt like someone was pressing a hot iron against it.
"Argenta!" Athan yelled. "Get the healer! Now!"
I looked at my hands. I was glowing. Faint silver lines were pulsing under my skin. Like lightning.
"It hurts," I whispered. I grabbed Athan's hand. "Athan, it hurts."
He looked at me, and I saw something I never expected. Fear. The Demon King was scared. He couldn't stab a fever.
The door burst open. Argenta was there, and a small, four-eyed demon pushed past her. The Grand Healer.
"Is she dying?" Athan demanded. He had his hand on his sword. "If she dies, I will burn this city down."
"She isn't dying," the healer said. He didn't even touch me. He just watched the light under my skin. "But she's changing. The magic… it's too much. The training? It triggered an Awakening."
Athan froze. "What?"
"The witch blood," the healer said. He pointed at my back. "It's trying to break through the Angel seals. She isn't sick, Sire. She's… hatching."
I let out a scream as a sharp pain ripped through my spine. Athan pushed the healer away and climbed onto the bed. He pulled me into his lap. He didn't care about the heat. He wrapped his wings around us both.
"I've got you," he hissed into my ear. His voice was deep. "I've got you, Little Bird. Don't go."
I buried my face in his chest. The smell of him..iron and smoke,was the only thing keeping me sane as the silver light inside me started to turn a deep, dark black.
The black light didn't stay inside. It started to bleed out of my pores like ink in water. It felt like my skin was being unzipped from the inside out. I gripped Athan's forearms, my nails digging into his leather bracers, as another wave of heat crashed over me.
"Do something!" Athan roared at the healer. "She's screaming! Fix it!"
The four-eyed demon backed away, his hands raised. "I cannot fix a birth, Devil King! Her magic has been suppressed by those Aetherian seals for eighteen years. It's like a dam breaking. If I try to stop it, the pressure will liquefy her organs. You must let it pass."
Athan's jaw tightened so hard I thought his teeth might break. He didn't look like a king right now. He looked like a man watching his world catch fire. He ignored the healer and pulled me tighter against his chest.
"Argenta, get out. Everyone out," Athan commanded.
"But Athan—" Argenta started, her voice uncharacteristically soft.
"OUT!"
The room cleared in seconds. The heavy doors slammed shut, leaving only the sound of my ragged breathing and the crackle of the fireplace.
Athan started stripping off his armor with one hand while holding me with the other. He kicked his chest plate across the floor. He needed to be closer. He needed to be skin-to-skin. He shed his shirt and lay back on the pillows, pulling me on top of him so my burning chest was pressed against his cool, hard muscle.
"Breathe, Celeste," he whispered. His hands were in my hair, soothing me. "Focus on my heartbeat. Ignore the rest."
I tried. I really tried. But the silver lightning under my skin was turning into black thorns. I felt a sharp pop in my shoulders, and I shrieked into his neck.
"It's okay," he hissed, his own wings trembling behind him. "I'm right here. I'm not letting go."
He started to hum. It wasn't a song; it was a low, vibrating drone that seemed to come from his very soul. It was demon magic..dark, heavy, and grounding. I felt the vibration in his chest go through my own ribs, like he was trying to anchor my soul to his so I wouldn't drift away in the pain.
Slowly, the screaming in my blood began to dull to a low throb. The black light stopped leaking out and started to settle, sinking deep into my bones. My muscles went limp. The fever was still there, but the "tearing" feeling was gone for now.
"That's it," Athan whispered. He was covered in my sweat, his skin slick and hot where I touched him. "That's my girl."
I was too exhausted to speak. I just drifted. I felt him shift us until we were tucked under the heavy furs. The room was dark now, the orange embers of the fire casting long, dancing shadows on the walls.
I must have fallen asleep for a while, because when I opened my eyes again, the room was silent. The pain was a dull ache in my back, like a massive bruise. I moved slightly, realizing I was still sprawled over Athan.
He wasn't sleeping.
He was propped up on one elbow, his massive black wings draped over the side of the bed like a tent. He was watching me. His golden eyes were dim, glowing with a soft, tired light. He looked... haunted.
I tried to sit up, but my arms felt like jelly. "Athan?"
"Don't move," he said. His voice was a rasp. He reached out and traced the line of my jaw with a clawed thumb. He was being so careful, like I was made of glass. "You almost broke the bed, Little Bird. The floor is scorched where your hand touched it."
I looked at the rug. There was a black, charred handprint right where I had reached out in my pain. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..."
"Don't apologize for being powerful," he interrupted. He sounded almost angry, but his hand was gentle as it slid down to my neck, feeling my pulse. "I should have known. I shouldn't have let you push yourself so hard in the library."
I looked at him, my vision a bit blurry.
"You stayed up? The whole time?"
"I'm a demon, Celeste. I told you, I don't sleep much." He lied. I knew he was exhausted. I could see the strain in the corners of his eyes.
He stayed silent for a long time, just watching me breathe. It was weird. Back in the sky kingdom, people only watched me to see if I was doing something wrong. Athan was watching me like I was a puzzle he was desperate to solve.
"Varkas was right about one thing," he muttered, his voice so low I almost missed it.
I flinched. "What?"
"You're not a prisoner," he said, looking at the silver lightning scars on my back that were now glowing with a faint, permanent black hue. "But you're not a princess either. You're a weapon, Celeste."
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead. It wasn't sexual, It was a promise but my perverted self started thinking sideways…
"Sleep," he commanded.
I closed my eyes, my head resting on his chest. I listened to the steady thump-thump of his heart. I thought about the dagger on my thigh, the black magic in my blood, and the way he looked at me when he thought I wasn't looking.
I was scared. I was confused. I didn't know what I was becoming. But as I drifted back into a dreamless sleep, I realized one thing: for the first time in eighteen years, I wasn't alone in the dark.
Athan watched her until her breathing went deep and even. He didn't move his arm, even when it went numb under her weight. He just sat there in the dark, his eyes fixed on the girl who was turning his world upside down, wondering what would happen when she finally realized just how much power was hiding behind those green eyes.