Hell’s Consort

Newest Chapter for Highest Tier (October 2021)

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Archdemon Empress Luna

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Was it a good idea for the Autumn Queen to entrust them with this room, considering that her Archdemon Familiars were also here?

Maybe, the Council Members had already deemed them half-innocent after the truth elixir had approved of them.

"Queen Morgan seldom leads the War itself but today's events required her to be there---" The Faerie Elder explained  as if the inevitability of it all was expressed with his grimace, "--to strengthen a specific part of the barriers where it was constantly attacked with the aid of her Cadres whom she stored, shared with, and siphoned her energy from."

"So, those three Faeries were vessels for her power, hm?" The sparkle in Sloth's forest-green eyes remained. Yet, in that split second, his pupils had bled to black when he focused his gaze on the black mirror… or was it a mere reflection of it?

Was there something demonic about it, or was it influenced by other kinds of dark magic?

He raked his hand over his short blond hair, damp from  the rain, and  nodded slowly, "That's interesting."

As  Ravin rubbed his chin in contemplation, he drawled in perfect cadence. "Are you sure it is safe for you to share this with us?"

There was an underlying threat hidden between the lines.

Honestly, she didn't have to turn her head to see the bastard smirking at the Elders. 

"Ravin," Luna said in a warning.

She gripped the solid muscle of his forearm, giving it a painful squeeze.

The Archdemon showed no visible reaction.

It was either she hadn't dug her claws on his skin enough, or Apollyon was correct, and she was losing her powers the longer she carried Luxen's offspring in her womb. 

"I apologize on behalf of the Archdemon." Luna clutched her dress as she attempted to give the Faerie Elders a curtsy, but Ravin thwarted that by putting a palm underneath her chin that she was forced to raise her head back up.

Luna huffed in annoyance, released the heavy fabric of her skirts, and glared at him.

Ravin didn't say a thing, but she knew that he hated her paying respects to the Members of the Council because of her status as the Empress and their Master.

In their eyes, dropping to a curtsy meant that the Archdemons were subservient to the Fall Courts, diminishing their pride and notoriety of the Demonkind.

Nevertheless, she had no strength to deal with this.

Exhausted from all that walking and climbing the stairs, she didn't ask permission from the masked Council Members and proceeded to sit in the nearest comfortable chair.

Sloth took five full steps before he took his seat on the other side of the glass table, which strangely looked like an aquarium.

The chessboard pieces were properly arranged in their respective squares, waiting for the second player to sit across Luna and challenge her to a game.

"There is even a chessboard here?" Sloth clapped his hands in excitement and said,  "Niiiceee~." 

All the furniture in the War Room was made of ebony wood which made it so unique.

Yellow and orange goldfishes were swimming underneath the glass.

It was a mystery how Queen Morgan enclosed all of these living creatures in a glass table without them dying from lack of suffocation.

What are the other things the Autumn Queen's Fae Magic was capable of?

Luna didn't stop staring at their swimming motions——

A muscular hand appeared in front of her face and snapped his fingers, making Luna flinch from the abrupt sound.

It sounded loud to her ears, giving her the sensation that she had woken up from a strange dream.

It took her half a minute to realize that Ravin had just jolted her out from a subtle trance these unassuming creatures had created.

Glancing up, she met those bright golden eyes and saw the concern sharpening his handsome features.

She quickly averted her gaze, grimacing at her carelessness, but she was grateful for Ravin's quick thinking.

At least, her Archdemon Familiars were looking out for her as they should.

Ravin settled his large body on the couch and stretched his long legs, taking up the entire space.

Why did this Archdemon suddenly feel so large when he slid one foot of his underneath the lacy trimmings of her gown? 

He picked up the 'Knight' piece on the chessboard and formed an L to the left, landing on the dark square of the checkerboard. "Have you heard, Lune, that Ravin and Luxen  had played in a game of chess using their respective Legion to decide where you will stay next after you visited the Seventh Circle?"

Luna's eyebrows were raised, and she frowned. Hmm, that definitely sounded familiar, though. Sloth added, "The Archdemon of Lust took you from my bed which means—"

Ravin interrupted him before Luna could protest about her being in Sloth's bed, "I lost on purpose because I had another plans in mind—"

"—to steal her away afterward, isn't that right?" Sloth finished for Ravin paired with an evil grin. 

The Archdemon of Gluttony looked away, and he didn't bite at his brother's bait.

Ravin didn't respond to Sloth's accusations which made Luna assume that it contained truth.

If Ravin was so obsessed with her and given a chance, would he try to shapeshift into Apollyon and fool her as Luxen did?

Instead, Ravin casually picked a small blanket hanging at the back of her seat and carefully dried her damp silver hair with it.

Next, he settled the scarlet fabric around her shoulders like a shawl to keep her warm. 

The bastard must have sensed that she was trembling a little from the cold.

Nevertheless, Luna thanked the Archdemon for the kind gesture.

  It was so unexpected that it had sent chills down her spine.

"You can leave us, Fae Elders." Luna finally said when he noticed that the Fae Elders were as still as statues and blocking  their views from  the black mirror, "We can manage to help the Autumn Militia from here." 

"Two of us will remain to watch over the three of you, Empress." One of the Council Members informed them, and the three of them glanced at the news,  "If that's alright with you?" 

'Can we say, no?' Luna bristled at the thought of them hearing their private conversations.

These old Autumn Faeries might jump to the wrong conclusions.

She was relieved when Sloth told them what was already on her mind. "We don't like to share our secrets you know that? Don't be a masochist, old man." Sloth's soul was so black that he felt the need to add emphasis on the word 'old men,' rubbing  the salt to the wound,  "If  you stay here, I will rip off that mask on your face and then, I would peel the skin of your wrinkled—"

"Sloth." Luna cut him off before he could finish with his threat.

They weren't here to alienate themselves from their allies.

"It would be so easy for me. That way you wouldn't betray your Queen." He continued as he shrugged with lethargic nonchalance,  "You wouldn't reveal your face from creatures who didn't belong from the Fall Courts if you didn't have a face anymore."

As their knees trembled with fear, all their lips were pressed in a tight line as they scowled at the three of them, "We will leave." Hopefully, these Faerie Elders wouldn't tell on Queen Morgan about kicking them out of her War Room, "We will leave, Archdemons! "

One of the Fae Elders let out a sigh of surrender, "We will fulfill your requests, Empress."

Sloth grinned smugly. "That's better." 

Ravin shared a long stare with Luna before he showed the Council Members the door as if Queen Morgan's War Room belonged to them now.

+++

Apollyon must have wondered what Luna and her Archdemon Familiars were supposed to be doing.

Well, her husband had expected her to summon their army of evil spirits in the Autumn Realm that she could command to aid the Autumn Realm from the siege, but she hadn't done anything of the sort.

Not yet.

  Ravin and Sloth suggest spying on Luxen using Queen Morgan's black mirror in her War Room.

Half of her brain told her that such a desire would lead to something dangerous and might require her to take a risk that she couldn't turn her back on while the daredevil in her told her that she should do it.

Surely, it wouldn't take long to know why Luxen wasn't here to lead his Legion.

Where was his president to command that winged-dragon serpent?

She had to think this through, but the more she twisted her fingers together and stalled—-

What else could go wrong?

It wasn't like this black mirror would suck the three of them into a vortex back to Hell.

It wasn't like  Luxen could see them back if sh, Ravin and Sloth watched what he was up to from this magical device.

This was just a short test of this magical object's capabilities.

They were going to see what he was up to, that's all, and then, the three of them would start summoning spirits.

"It wouldn't be that hard, wife," Ravin murmured and replicated what he did earlier by raising her chin with his palm. 

It triggered something inside her because only her husband, Apollyon, was allowed to call her that. 

The bastard felt like he now had the freedom to touch him just because her husband wasn't around.

"Stop, Ravin." Luna moved her head back when he grazed her skin.

She hated it when her nerves began to tingle and expressed that with a glower.

He was testing her patience. "If you say that one more time, I will have this belief that you hate yourself so much that you wanted to be him."

"I don't want to be him but I want you." Ravin's hand fell away and rested on  the glass table, "Yet, I never attempted shapeshifting into Apollyon to impregnate you and ruin your life with him."

Luna bristled at the past she tried so hard to forget, but she  tried not to show it, "Am I supposed to thank you for it, then, Ravin?"

"I never said that, Amare. I would never do that to you if it was me." He corrected her and matched her scowl,  "You stayed in my Kingdom—"

"Ravin, admit it." Sloth let out a sigh as he lifted his hands, placed them behind his head, and leaned back to his chair, "You would do the same later on if Luxen didn't shapeshift into the Vampire King first and have his wicked way with her."

Ravin aimed his angry outburst at Sloth, whose attention was now fixated on the chessboard. "I want to win Amare's affection fair and square—"

"—but that also means you will not allow me to leave and trap me in the First Circle of Hell!" Luna pointed out.

He didn't miss a beat and replied bluntly, "Yes." 

His admission made Luna's eyes widen in surprise.

  "At first, I was frustrated at what happened with  you and Luxen. My brother made that choice to fool you  and you fell hook, line and sinker. I had done nothing to protect you when the bastard visited you in the Pleasure Room." His golden gaze wandered over her face as he continued, "I was supposed to sleep in the same room with you but I valued your request of privacy. I already accepted that fact.  I will only responsible for the things I did."

"—but, those Moirie said Lune's going to die from childbirth, anyway." Sloth licked his lips nervously as he reminded them.  He couldn't even manage to say the Three Fates' names correctly."If her physical vessel turned into dust..." He shook his head in denial, "I don't want to return to Hell. I like it here."

"We will find those magic fruits for you," Ravin promised.. "Now, let us see where Luxen is when he is not here to accompany his Legion."