Hell’s Consort

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Archdemon Empress Luna

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  Eyes of Prussian Blue bore into hers. "I think he wanted to own you by trapping you into pregnancy and that silver-haired child could either be my daughter or his."

Luna's eyebrows knitted in confusion.

She averted her gaze from Apollyon's scrutiny to think for a moment.

"What are you talking about?" She asked, incredulous. It was impossible for the lass to be their child and she hadn't even seen her with her own eyes yet. "I don't know, husband. This is making me confused." Biting her lip, she scratched her forehead.  "Something might have happened between Luxen and I." Luna whispered, staring blankly at the deep wing of Apollyon's collarbone to take her mind off the gravity of her husband's suspicion. "I don't think I had the right to tell you this, husband, but I also have my speculations that he wanted me pregnant too the moment he found out that our blood bond was broken."

"Do you think he will be successful?" There was no need to glance up to see Apollyon's expression at that instant.

Breathing hard, his shoulders trembled from the force of his anger.

He growled, "What if he was successful  in inserting his seed inside you and that might kill our baby to replace it with his?"

  "No. No. No." Shaking her head, her composure shattered like glass in front of Apollyon. "This discussion wouldn't have happened if you didn't insist on claiming that ghost as ours." Feeling trapped and suffocated from that query, Luna's wish was to escape from Apollyon's arms and disappear.

When she attempted to shove at his chest, he brought her even closer.

"Calm down, beloved."Alarmed, Apollyon caressed her spine to quell her rising panic. "I know you hated to discuss the possibilities of this but we have to talk about it."

Breathing in gulps of air, Luna hoped that it would slow down the heartbeat thrashing in her ears.

"Let's face this once and for all and let's stop walking on eggshells."  Later on, she focused on Apollyon's rough voice as they wrapped around her cold skin. "We will stop sweeping our problems under the rug and pretend everything is alright. You and I." Her husband's words were controlled. "So that, we will know what to do if this misfortune happened."

It took a while for her to be as calm and sensible as she pulled herself together. "It's just a lost child with silver hair, Apollyon. Mistaking me as her mother was just a coincidence. It made sense that she would not recognize you as her father because you aren't the one. Just because she had blue eyes didn't mean  she was a spitting image of you and I. " 

"But she was." Apollyon insisted but as if he didn't want her to be anxious, the warmth of his palm wiped the rivulets of sweat on her spine against the fabric of her gown. "She just didn't recognize me as her father."

Luna exhaled a heavy sigh of sorrow.

"You told me that the lass had blue eyes and the Archdemon who deceived me had silver ones and I have green eyes."  She wouldn't let her stubborn husband believe in this hallucination. "So, no, Apollyon. That wouldn't happen. Not in this Realm."

"We will never know." Apollyon said. "I am talking about what-ifs." 

  Tracing his lower lip with the pad of her thumb, Luna explained. "Even if you suggest a theory that I could be pregnant with an Arch demon's baby, I would move heaven and earth so that it wouldn't happen. Besides, I'm already pregnant with Leo so that would be impossible."

"You were in the Realm of Hell!"

You can't impregnate an already expecting mother."

"This is messed up." Apollyon clenched his fists before he unclenched them, resting them on her arm. "We still don't know what kind of insidious things the Archdemons are capable of."

It felt like invisible spiders were crawling under her skin when Apollyon said that and her body shivered.

  Despite being an Archdemon, Luna still didn't know what she was capable of.

How much more if it was an Archdemon who was in the game long before her?

  "I'm just throwing that idea out  here so we can discuss this calmly without my rage getting in the way." Apollyon said grimly, his lips a thin, straight line.

It was a shock that Apollyon was level-headed about this compared to her.

This must be the effects of the alcohol he drank with Prince Aspen.

All his rage against the Archdemon of Lust was repleted after he killed the rape convicts in the Prison House, claiming those were the type of creatures the Archdemon of Lust would love to poison their mind and control them with his sin.

"We should stop looking back." The deep timbre of his voice was mellow as he held her chin and bent his head down his head to kiss her on the forehead with utmost reverence. "Whether it was beautiful memory to live in or an ugly one, we already overcame that and learned a difficult lesson."

"I know." She met Apollyon's gaze. "It was a bitter medicine which is hard to swallow."

"Luna. It's time to leave this regret and nostalgia behind us." He responded as he tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear. She could feel the sincerity in his gaze. "It's a heavy burden we carry at all times which we no longer needed. It will just slow down from my schemes of revenge. But, there is something I want to ask of you and I expect you to  rise to the occasion."

She blinked. "What is it?"

"I already told you that I don't like it when you abruptly hide your thoughts from me just like what you did earlier." Apollyon didn't meet her eyes as if he was uncomfortable showing his vulnerable side. 

Luna admitted that it was her fault.

She replied, contrite.  "I apologize, husband." 

A shadow crossed his face as his blue eyes darkened, smoldered. "It drives me a little crazy when you suddenly do that in the middle of an important conversation."