Bound to the Demon Lord ✔️

Chapter Twenty-Four

"You can join me, if you want to," she said. "Though I guess you don't want to be involved in all the gossip?"

"No, that's not..." Vivienne shook her head furiously. Then, taking a deep breath, she sat down next to Phoebe. "I'm just worried about you."

"I'm fine, Vivi." While she was anything but fine, it had nothing to do with all of the gossiping. Her anxieties were on much more pressing matters. Ones that Vivienne wouldn't be able to understand or believe. And even if she could, she didn't want to burden the young woman with them. "Could do without all the rumors though."

"... How much is actually true?"

She spared a glance at her friend. Vivienne wasn't looking at her, her eyes casted down at the pond. Her hands were clenched into fists in her lap. Her hair covered her face, so she couldn't fully see her expression. But she knew Vivienne well. This wasn't about what Vesper had declared or about the Demon Lord coming to kill them out.

Phoebe sighed and turned back to the water. "You're asking about Krios."

"He killed Father Ellis. And all those people-! I thought he had killed you too!"

"I know."

"Then-!" She stopped to calm herself down. A few deep breaths, and Vivienne finally turned to face her, her expression wrapped in confusion and anger. "How could you come to be his follower? His... His pet?!"

"I'm not a follower or a pet." Those were far too simple labels compared to what their actual relationship was like.

"But you still defended him! After he killed all of those people! And you-!" Vivienne's voice caught in her throat. She had to look away again, this time turning her head fully to the side. Her shoulders shook as she curled into herself. "I thought he had killed you."

She could still remember that night too. She honestly thought she was as good as dead. But then it had been revealed she was Seraphine's reincarnation. And the only thing that had been on his mind was to violently make love to her on the altar, thinking she was Seraphine and had returned to him.

"I know that, but..." She took a deep breath to stall. "But Krios had believed his life was in danger. So he defended himself."

"Is that supposed to excuse-?!"

"But were we not trying to kill him?"

Vivienne opened her mouth to protest, but it died in her throat. Phoebe looked at her face, not surprised to see the confliction in her eyes. "I get it. We were afraid. We... didn't know the truth, so we thought we had to fight back. I don't think anyone is to blame; he also thought wrongly."

"Father Ellis and the others died... because of a misunderstanding?"

Phoebe nodded.

Vivienne's breath hitched, but she didn't cry. Her shoulders tensed up though, and her hands balled into fists. "So why didn't he kill you?"

She hesitated. She wasn't sure that Vivienne wouldn't have been able to handle that truth. Or even accept it. So she would have to talk around it. "We both heard Lady Seraphine speak to us."

Her friend's eyes widened. "You... spoke to the Goddess?"

"When I ran away from him, I ended up in a room that had a statue of Lady Seraphine. I prayed to her before Krios found me. Before he could kill me, we both heard her voice. She... asserted that we were not enemies. That there was no reason to fight."

It was complete bullshit, but it was true that Seraphine had interfered, in a way. Other than Vesper, no one would believe her if she said she was Seraphine's reincarnation. And if she said that Krios was her soulmate, that likely would have just made things so much worse. People would either believe she was a lunatic or a heretic, and she might even be imprisoned for it.