Every pair of their glowing eyes stared at me.
For several long seconds, nobody spoke.
Finally, the leader stepped forward.
“What is a human doing in Larvana?” he said softly.
His voice was calm and that somehow made him even scarier.
“I mean no harm. I am just a lost girl who wants to go home,” I said.
He continued staring at me without blinking and he slowly walked closer.
A rotten smell surrounded him.
His breath hit my face, making my stomach turn.
I wanted to step back, but my legs refused to move.
Without warning, his hand moved forward.
My feet left the ground.
I gasped as his fingers wrapped tightly around my neck.
Air refused to enter my lungs.
I clawed at his arm, but it was like trying to move solid rock.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
I struggled to breathe as everything around me blurred and my vision began to darken.
For some reason, only one name came to my mind.
“Cross.”
The leader’s eyes narrowed, before he could say anything, the gates behind us creaked loudly.
Everyone turned.
The massive doors slowly began opening by themselves.
One of the demons immediately stepped back.
“Cross’s men are here. We have to go.”
The leader clicked his tongue in annoyance.
He released me.
I crashed onto the ground and immediately began coughing.
Air rushed back into my lungs so quickly it hurt.
I bent over and threw up, tears streaming down my face as I struggled to breathe again.
Before I could recover, the demons dissolved into black shadows and within seconds, they disappeared.
I stayed on the ground for several moments, trying to steady my breathing.
Not long after, footsteps echoed through the ruins.
Slow, calm and well coordinated.
I slowly lifted my head.
Several figures entered through the gates.
Unlike the creatures that had just left, these men stood tall with confidence.
Dark armor covered their bodies.
Long black cloaks moved gently behind them as they walked.
Small curved horns rose from their heads, much like Cross’s, but their faces carried none of the savage cruelty I had just witnessed.
Their presence was powerful.
The man leading them stopped the moment he saw me.
His black eyes narrowed slightly.
“A human.”
He walked toward me.
I instinctively crawled backward and he noticed.
Immediately, he stopped walking.
His expression softened.
“Why are you here?” he asked.
“How did you get here?”
I opened my mouth but no words came out.
He studied me carefully, then his eyes suddenly changed.
He frowned.
“Why do you have King Cross’s scent?” he muttered.
My heart skipped a beat.
Before I could react, he reached for my wrist.
I flinched.
He paused for the briefest moment before gently taking my hand.
With the tip of one claw, he made a tiny cut across my wrist.
I gasped as blood rolled down my skin.
The moment it touched the air, tiny black particles rose from it like smoke.
The demon’s eyes widened.
“How did you and King Cross meet?” he asked.
His voice became much more serious.
“You carry his essence.”
I stared at him in complete confusion.
His companions exchanged uneasy glances.
One of them stepped closer.
“We have to go before the third siren sounds. I don’t think King Cross was here. If he was, we would have seen him.”
The leader remained silent for several seconds.
He looked back at me.
I wanted to tell them Cross was alive and he had disappeared, but after everything that had happened, I didn’t know who to trust anymore.
So I stayed quiet.
The demon finally looked at two of his soldiers.
“Take her to the perimeter.”
Without another word, they stepped forward.
One tied my hands with a thick rope while the other gently but firmly pulled me to my feet.
I didn’t resist.
I simply looked back at the empty ruins one last time.
Cross, where are you?
If I ever escape this, I’m really going to have his head for dinner.
I held back my tears.
The ropes dug into my wrists as the two demons escorted me away from the ruins.
Neither of them spoke.
Their grip wasn’t cruel, but it was firm enough to tell me escaping wasn’t an option.
I glanced over my shoulder one last time and quietly followed them.
Immediately we got to the bridge, one of them held me tightly and they made a huge jump over it, I screamed so loud as the distance was insane, how could they do that.
After walking for what felt like half an hour, the scenery slowly began to change.
The endless ruins gave way to a settlement built from whatever its people had managed to salvage.
Broken pillars had been stacked together to form walls.
Pieces of old buildings had been fitted together into homes.
Cracked stone slabs served as roofs, while long wooden beams held everything upright.
It looked fragile.
As if one strong storm could tear it all apart.
Yet despite that, they lived there.
Demons moved quietly between the buildings carrying water, repairing walls and helping one another.
Children chased each other through the narrow paths before stopping the moment they noticed me.
Their curious eyes followed me as I was dragged past them.
Whispers quickly spread through the settlement.
“A human”
“Why is there a human here?”
“Has the King returned?”
I lowered my gaze.
Every stare made me more uncomfortable.
The demons led me deeper into the settlement until we reached a large stone building that looked much older than the others.
Unlike the houses outside, this one had thick walls reinforced with iron.
Two guards stood outside the entrance.
The demon beside me nodded toward them.
“Open it.”
The heavy metal door creaked open and a foul smell immediately drifted out.
I instinctively wrinkled my nose.
The place smelled damp.
Old straw covered the floor, while rusted iron bars divided the room into several small cells.
One of the soldiers untied the rope around my wrists only to push me gently into the nearest cell.
The metal door slammed shut behind me.
I quickly rushed toward the bars.
“Wait!”
Neither of them turned around.
Within moments, their footsteps disappeared into the distance.
Silence filled the dungeon once again.
I slowly leaned against the cold wall and slid down until I was sitting on the floor.
“This is all that devil’s fault.”
The words came out much less convincing than I wanted.
Instead of anger, I just felt tired.
Everything had happened too quickly.
Yesterday, I had been living a completely normal life.
Now I was trapped inside another world, surrounded by demons, searching for a crown I had never seen before.
I buried my face against my knees.
“When did my life become this complicated?”
My heavy eyelids refused to stay open any longer.
Before I realized it, sleep claimed me.
Suddenly, a loud crash jerked me awake and my eyes flew open.
For a second, I forgot where I was.
The guards outside shouted in panic.
“What was that?”
“Someone’s here!”
I quickly crawled toward the bars and heavy footsteps echoed from the corridor.
One of the guards was suddenly thrown through the air.
His body slammed into the stone wall with a loud crack before collapsing onto the floor.
The second guard barely had time to react.
A shadow flashed past him.
He crashed through another wall, disappearing beneath a pile of broken stones.
My breathing stopped.
Someone slowly stepped out from the darkness.
Black shadows curled around his boots before spreading across the floor like smoke.
His long black coat swayed gently behind him.
Those red eyes burned brighter than before.
Every step carried a pressure that seemed to fill the entire dungeon.
I didn’t need anyone to tell me who it was.
It was Cross.
For a moment, I simply stared at him.
I had thought he was gone and he had abandoned me.
His expression was darker than I had ever seen and the air around him felt heavy as black shadows rolled off his body like waves.
Without slowing down, he walked toward my cell.
With one hand, he grabbed the thick iron bars.
The entire cell door tore away as though it had been made of paper.
The metal crashed onto the floor with a loud bang.
Cross stepped inside.
Only then did the anger in his eyes soften.
He looked at me quietly.
“Imogen, I’m sorry I disappeared on you. This is all my fault.” His voice was low and gentle.
For the first time since he vanished, the fear inside my chest finally began to fade.
Cross stepped toward me.
His eyes slowly scanned my face as though making sure I wasn’t hurt.
I felt strangely safe under his gaze and after everything that had happened, seeing him again made the fear inside me ease.
“Where did you go?” I asked softly.
Cross lowered his gaze.
“I’ll explain later. Who locked you up?”
“Some demons… they look like you.” I said.
His expression immediately darkened then his eyes wandered to my wrist.
The small cut was still there.
He gently took my hand and stared at it.
The moment he saw the wound, something inside him snapped.The shadows around his feet spread farther across the floor.
“Who touched you?” he asked quietly
“Did they do this?”
I nodded.
Before I could say another word, several demons rushed into the dungeon.
The moment they saw Cross, every single one of them froze.
Fear flashed across their faces, then, without hesitation, they all dropped to their knees.
“Welcome back, King of Larvana.”
Their voices echoed through the dungeon.
I stood there in complete shock and looked at Cross.
None of them dared raise their heads.
The entire dungeon had become so quiet that I could hear my own heartbeat.
Cross slowly looked around the room.
“Who touched you among them?” he asked without taking his eyes off the kneeling demons.
I followed his gaze and saw the demon who had cut my wrist was trembling.
I slowly raised my hand and pointed at him.
“Him.”
The demon’s eyes widened.
“My Ki….”
Before he could finish speaking, Cross moved so fast that my eyes couldn’t follow him.
The next thing I saw was his hand buried straight through the demon’s chest.
Cross pulled out his hand and a beating heart rested in his palm.
Black blood dripped onto the stone floor.
The demon looked down at the empty hole in his chest before his body slowly crumbled into black dust.
The heart in Cross’s hand turned to ash a second later and he let it fall to the floor.
“No one touches what is mine.” Cross growled.
The remaining demons lowered their heads even further.
Some of them were shaking.
None of them dared speak.
I couldn’t move.
My legs refused to listen to me.
I had just watched someone die right in front of me.
Cross turned around and walked back toward me as though nothing had happened.
His expression softened again and he gently held my uninjured hand.
He looked at everyone kneeling before him.
“Bow to Princess Imogen.” His deep voice echoed throughout the dungeon.
“My bride.”
Every demon immediately lowered their heads until they almost touched the ground.
“All hail the Devil’s Bride, Princess Imogen.”
Their voices echoed one after another.
I stood completely frozen.
I haven’t recovered from what had happened.
Cross looked at me with the faintest smile.
“How does it feel to be back home, my bride?” he asked.
I opened my mouth but no words came out.
Everything that had happened since yesterday flashed through my mind and my head suddenly became light.
The room began spinning.
Cross’s smile slowly faded.
“My bride?”
Darkness swallowed my vision.
The last thing I felt was my knees giving way beneath me.
I collapsed onto the cold stone floor with a loud thud.
Hey, my lovely readers!
I hope you’re enjoying the story so far!