Hell’s Consort

New Chapter for Highest Tier May 2021

*****************************

Archdemon Empress Luna

*****************************

'There must be something wrong with her, Apollyon. I didn't  know what I did to evoke such strong aversion in her to whatever I say.' Luna projected to him, and she could feel quiet violence swirling at the back of her mind, and it wasn't hers. 'Or at least, I have an idea but I'm not sure if that reason was valid.'

My mother isn't right in the head, wife. Let's leave it at that.' Apollyon ordered.

Luna felt hopeless, but she still wouldn't give up on her wish to mediate between Apollyon and his mother's relationship. 'But it's your mother.'

'She is an estranged mother and my beloved wife is a priority.' Her husband's tone might be emotionless, but his words cut like a knife. 'We must leave her alone.' 

As she unclenched her fists, Luna placed the spoon and her fork gently on the table and began, "Queen Titania. I don't know if I have played a part in this for you and Princess Ourania, to create a scene but I—"

"My wife will not apologize." Luna couldn't have turned her head fast enough as she let out a small gasp.

Apollyon knew since he cut her off immediately. "Please keep my mother in line, Queen Titania. She must  think my wife is an easy target. She is getting comfortable with insulting her own daugter-in-law. I will not hesitate to fight back to regain my wife's honor and dignity if I have your permission that you wouldn't come after us if I punished her."

Queen Titania had already returned to her seat, casually taking a sip of her tea after pouring herself a new one. "I didn't expect Princess Ourania's mental anguish to lead unto this."

Fair folk from the Summer Courts, known for their fiery and intense nature, were prone to outbursts of anger and aggression as their way of dealing with negative emotions.

Apollyon and Luna's presence might cause Princess Ourania's negative emotions to rise from the surface.

Queen Titania's eyes were focused on her feline's fur.

Brushing them with her comb, the Summer Queen spoke to them, "When Princess Ourania returned from the Vampire Realm alone after decades, we were wondering why she hadn't brought King Gwythyr and you. Your grandfather and I thought that your family were visiting for the first time in a long while. She only told us that something terrible had happened in the Vampire Realm. We even offered send the Summer Militia for a rescue attempt as the Vampire King's ally but she said that there is no use. That both of you were already dead. She stated that the entire Vampire Realm was completely wiped out by a fire-breathing monster and that's it. Princess Ourania said she didn't plan to return because there was nothing there for her to return to." 

'I am not sure whether she prayed that the Vampire Realm to be destroyed or she didn't like to keep her hopes up that it would still be there.' Luna thought.

  "All she does was paint all day and all night with a good two to three hours of sleep." Queen Titania continued. "She wouldn't talk that much to me or to her father regarding her problems. It felt like she had shut herself mentally from the world, contented on surrounding herself with her art. In the past, this mental anguish of hers have caused her to hallucinate. I caught her having a conversation with herself once, talking to someone beside her while she painted, laughing to herself—"

"—or laughing to someone's jokes nobody else could see aside from her?" Luna interrupted.

Had Princess Ourania gone mad?

Apollyon inclined his head in sudden interest. "How about invisibility magic?"

"We can see through glamor, King Apollyon." Princess Sapphire answered. "That simple magic is reserved for humans and other weaker creatures."

Luna regarded the Princess with a squint. "Spirits? Ghosts? Demons?"

The young Fae might be eating her food heartily, but she hadn't missed a single thing in this discussion.

"Does she have a new blood mate after the death of King Gwythyr?" Apollyon asked. "If the blood bond is strong and open, they can communicate their thoughts despite the distance." Like Luna and Apollyon. "We haven't seen any masculine creature around my daughter and she rarely goes out from her room."

Luna realized after a few seconds. "Maybe, it was Princess Sapphire's father." 

"Mother always implied that Father was gone." Princess Sapphire watched Luna with twin light brown orbs as she chewed. "Perhaps, he was dead. I have never seen my father not even once."

Queen Titania exhaled a sigh."I have watched Princess Ourania carefully and from what I have witnessed she simply didn't care about anyone, not even for Princess Sapphire. I  am not familiar with how her brain works. If she was even angry at me for taking Xerxes under my wing after he saved my Princess Sapphire--"

"Mother is doing better as the time passes, grandma. We must give her a chance.  She must be in a bad mood because King Apollyon or the Empress must have said something which triggered her." Princess Sapphire replied. 

King Oberon finally spoke, "Well, my daughter needs to learn how to manage her emotions without letting it devour her from the inside out. It's not somebody else's responsibility to regulate themselves to avoid her triggers." He turned towards Queen Titania and added icily, "Wife, you must teach our daughter that. She is a grown woman who already have her own child to take care of. She should be mature enough to know that not anyone would take her side in an argument especially if she is unreasonable. Princess Ourania craved a sense of control. That she must get exactly what she wanted."

A pause.

The Summer Monarchs continued eating while the vampires watched.

The subject about Princess Ourania might have ended in a suspended note, and Apollyon had to leave it at that so he could finally ask the real reason why they were sent here.

And this wasn't about Apollyon's mother.