Hell’s Consort

New Chapter for the Highest Tier (June 2021)

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Archdemon Empress Luna

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The Summer King was dead serious when he decreed that all the guests in the Great Hall weren't allowed to leave.

King Oberon and Queen Titania conducted their interrogations while they sat on their elevated golden thrones.

Meanwhile, the remaining attendants of the engagement party, like Apollyon and Luna, found their own seats among the long tables at the farthest side of the Great Hall.

There wasn't so much noise in the tables except for low nervous chatters from the aristocrats, making the eerie atmosphere quite tense from the obvious smell of death and trapped smoke inside the building. 

The Summer Monarchs called the aristocrats one by one to stand in front of them just below the few flights of stairs, asking them questions as if they were potential criminals while they look down at them with their haughty chins.

From the look of the intense focus of the Summer King and Queen, Luna could tell that they hanged unto every word of the lady or gentleman they called over.

Unfortunately, Luna had no idea when she and her husband would be called when none of them knew the order of the interrogations. 

The Summer Faerie Sentinels hunted even the guests who had fluttered their faerie wings and flown away out of the blasted windows right now to bring them back here as per King Oberon's order.

The rest of the Summer Fae Aristocrats ate the untouched food, taking their time to chew every small bite without enjoying the pastries much.

]Their eyes were averted, avoiding eye contact.

They kept their eyes on the plate, wearing unreadable masks. 

The first time,  Luna almost warned the Summer Faeries, taking a slice out of their strawberry and vanilla cakes, not to eat them since it might be dangerous for them.

The sweet, soft and moist texture might feel like a delicious sponge melting in their mouth.

But they still had to be careful of random tiny shards of glass flying and landing unto their food mixing with the buttery icing due to the explosion earlier.

Otherwise, their bleeding tongue and blistered stomach might regret it. 

"Glass shouldn't be part of Fae diet." Luna muttered to the noblewomen in front of her, and those who heard her raised their heads and stared at her with wide, round eyes as if she had grown two heads.

Luna blinked as she pursed her lips as he regarded them with the same intensity.

After half a minute of silence, they looked away, and that was Luna's cue that she was dismissed.

It was clear that they don't understand where she came from. 

Face flushed with humiliation; she sighed with regret.

She should have minded her own business.

She shifted her attention to the gentlemen who were taking a sip of wine from their goblets absently, staring into space. 

Luna couldn't blame them.

Maybe, they were still in shock from the terrible events that have occurred. 

Their beautiful, elven faces were devoid of emotions, but she couldn't tell if they were mourning.

The burnt fumes of the victim's dead bodies stuck to every single thing in the room, reminding them of this horrible tragedy that can make someone wake up from nightmares until the wee hours of the night.

  Faeries might be known for being manipulative and ruthless to other Realms.

But that didn't mean all of them were immune when it came to witnessing their peer's demise with their own eyes, watching them with a helpless look on their face while their fellow aristocrats were burned to death. Anybody else can suffer as long as it wasn't them.

There was nothing they can do, and that would eat away the little conscience they have left.

Any attempts of saving them will also make them suffer the same fate.

Watching them die is a punishment in itself.

That was why Luna was ready to help the ones who had the potential to survive. 

The Fae Aristocrats weren't heroes, and Luna understood because it was their choice.

After witnessing that cataclysm, no one in here would probably sleep a wink until the morning, including her.

Not unless they were the psychopath who dropped the red stone and set the floor on fire.

Luna gave a sweep of a glance to the Summer Faeries around her, making sure to halt on each of their faces to check even the slightest curve of a smile as they hide their amusement.

Who in their right mind would smile? 

If the impostor was still here with them in this room, he must have thought he was quite lucky for using her husband's form in his glamour so that he could get away with it.

Luna clenched her fists as he gritted her teeth.

She couldn't stand sitting idle while she waited for the Summer Monarchs to release them.

They were supposed to search for the culprit right now.

They were waiting precious time. 

If Luna discovered who framed her husband up in this engagement party they didn't want to attend in the first place, she would make sure that he would suffer the pain of his victims.

Luna would have to strap him to an iron pole, summon her own Hellfire and slowly burn him alive in public while the Fae Aristocrats and his victims' families watch him die. 

"Everything alright, wife?" Apollyon turned his head to look at her weird as if he felt her hatred bleeding from her aura, "You look like you are about to murder someone."

'I would literally murder someone if someone would accuse you as the one who dropped the stone if someone had seen your impostor do it.' Luna answered in her thoughts as she picked the pastry knife and began twirling it around her fingers.

"Me as well." Similar to the gentlemen, Luna's husband tapped his foot on the ground with impatience as his sharp Prussian Blue eyes were fixed unto the King and Queen's thrones like lasers.  In their scarred heart and minds, they were probably counting the time when the investigation would end like her husband. "Fae Magic surrounded the throne. I can't pick up what they are saying despite my sensitive hearing. I think they are keeping a secret."