Chapter 349: The Demon Who Definitely Wasn’t Missing (And the King Who Definitely Was Lying)

Elyn’s POV

Zorathys gave me a look.

"What?" he asked.

I stared at him.

"Dracolthar is missing," I said slowly, as if he hadn’t heard me the first time.

Zorathys blinked at me with that same sleepy expression he always wore.

"And what exactly is that, firefly?" he asked.

I recoiled.

Surely he was joking. Surely he wasn’t actually asking me what Dracolthar was. There was no way he had already forgotten about the massive four-eyed dragon-like creature that had joined us on this outing.

"Dracolthar," I repeated. "Your pet. The one with four eyes. The one you summoned to prove you weren’t lying about the emergency."

Zorathys tilted his head, his earrings swaying with the movement.

"It’s a creature," he said slowly, "not a thing."

I stared at him.

"He’s a demon," I said. "A Dracolthar demon. Named Dracolthar. Your pet. The one you—"

I stopped.

Something was wrong.

Either Zorathys was playing some kind of elaborate joke on me—which was entirely possible given his personality—or there was something going on that I didn’t understand.

I studied his face carefully. His ruby eyes were half-lidded, his expression calm and unreadable. His shadows curled lazily around his feet, completely still. Nothing about his posture suggested he was lying.

But I knew better.

I had learned to read him. Maybe not perfectly, but enough to know when he was being deliberately difficult.

"Zorathys," I said carefully. "Are you serious right now? Do you actually not remember Dracolthar?"

He looked at me with an expression of perfect innocence.

"I have no idea what you mean," he said. "I’ve never heard of any Dracolthar at all."

I paused.

I narrowed my eyes at him.

At first, I thought maybe he had forgotten. Perhaps something had affected him—something I couldn’t understand because this was the demon realm and I clearly didn’t understand many things—and he had genuinely forgotten about the massive creature that had literally flown across the sky to meet us.

But then I shook my head.

Because I was certain of one thing now.

Zorathys fucking knew who Dracolthar was.

And he was avoiding talking about him.

"Zorathys," I said, my voice dropping into that dangerous calm I had perfected. "Where is Dracolthar?"

He didn’t answer.

Instead, he clapped his hands together.

"Pests," he announced loudly. "Gather around."

The children immediately stopped whatever they were doing. Aziren looked up from where he was still playing with Veylthar. Azerion paused mid-chew. Velira turned away from the stones she had been examining. They all hurried toward Zorathys, their eyes bright with curiosity.

"Your Majesty?" Aziren asked.

Zorathys didn’t explain. His shadows rose from the ground, curling around all of us, and before I could even protest, we were somewhere else.

I blinked.

The air was different here. Warmer. Filled with the scent of food cooking—spices, roasting meat, something sweet that made my stomach rumble despite myself. We were standing in what looked like a restaurant, though it was unlike any restaurant I had ever seen.

The walls were made of dark stone, polished to a shine, and the tables were carved from massive slabs of what looked like obsidian. Lanterns hung from the ceiling, casting warm golden light across the space. And everywhere I looked, there were demons.

Demons at tables.

Demons behind counters.

Demons carrying trays piled high with dishes I couldn’t even identify.

They had all frozen in place, staring at us with wide eyes.

I turned to Zorathys.

"You brought us to a restaurant," I said flatly.

He smiled at me, that lazy, infuriating smile.

"I was hungry," he said.

I raised an eyebrow.

"You were hungry."

"Yes."

"Zorathys."

"Hm?"

"You’re avoiding me."

His eyes widened slightly.

"Me?" he asked, his voice carrying a note of genuine shock. "I’m not avoiding anyone. I’m just hungry. The pests must be hungry too."

"I’m not hungry," Retheris said immediately.

"Well, I am," Azerion said.

"I’m hungry too," Aziren said with a chuckle.

"Oh, we all are except Retheris," Velira added.

Retheris looked offended.

"I didn’t say I wasn’t hungry. I said I wasn’t hungry enough to follow His Majesty around like a starving animal."

Azerion looked at him.

"That’s exactly what a starving animal would say."

"How would you know?"

"Because I’m hungry."

I sighed.

I was beginning to suspect that bringing these children anywhere was an invitation for chaos to follow us.

"See, firefly?" Zorathys asked me. "The pests are hungry. I’m hungry too."

"That’s not the point."

"What is the point?"

"The point is that you just conveniently changed the subject."

"I did no such thing."

"You absolutely did."

"I merely recognized that food was necessary."

I crossed my arms.

"You are incredibly suspicious."

"Thank you."

"That wasn’t a compliment."

"I know."

He looked far too pleased with himself.

Before I could question him again, one of the demons behind the counter finally seemed to recover from the shock of having the King suddenly appear in their establishment.

He hurried toward us and bowed so quickly that I thought he might hit his forehead against the floor.

"Your Majesty," he stammered.

Zorathys barely glanced at him.

"Bring in every delicacy you have," he announced rather lazily, his voice wasn’t even loud, but I was certain everyone could hear him. The demons who were rooted to the floor were staring at him like he had just grown a second head. "Everything. All of it. I want the best food this establishment has to offer."

The demon nearly stumbled over his own feet.

"Everything, Your Majesty?"

"Yes."

"Of course, Your Majesty!"

He immediately turned around and began shouting orders.

Within moments, the entire restaurant erupted into movement.

Demons rushed through doors. Others hurried toward kitchens. Plates clattered. Pots rattled. Someone shouted that the finest meat needed to be brought out immediately, while another demon yelled that the rarest fruits had to be prepared.

The children watched everything with growing excitement.

Azerion’s eyes practically sparkled.

"I like this place."

"Of course you do," Rin muttered.

I looked back at Zorathys.

He was watching the chaos with an expression of complete satisfaction.

Something still wasn’t right.

If anything, it was more suspicious now.

"You’re really hungry?" I asked again.

He glanced at me.

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Very."

I narrowed my eyes.

He stared back.

Neither of us spoke for a moment.

Then his lips curved into that infuriating smile.

"Are you going to continue staring at me, firefly?"

"Yes."

Something about this entire situation was strange. Zorathys had gone out of his way to avoid answering me, then teleported us to a restaurant without warning, and now he was ordering enough food to feed half the Demon Realm.

There was definitely something he didn’t want me to know.

I watched him carefully as he leaned against the table, looking as though nothing in the world concerned him.

But that was the problem.

Zorathys always looked like nothing concerned him.

Even when everything was going wrong.

Even when he was lying.

And especially when he was hiding something.

I watched the servants hurry toward us with the first trays of food.

Zorathys’s expression didn’t change.

But I noticed something.

He didn’t look particularly interested in the food.

Not even a little.

And that was when I became even more certain.

There was no way Zorathys was hungry because for one, he was an extremely picky eater, and one thing I knew from Ketthra was the massive list she gave me about the foods Zorathys disliked. A good majority were from this territory. Zorathys only liked one drink, and now he claimed he was hungry.

I turned my eyes back to him.

Zorathys met my gaze.

I smiled sweetly.

He stared at me for a moment before his eyes narrowed slightly.

I smiled wider.