Time's ticking out.
They had just over a month. Just over a month before Meg declared war on the heavens, bringing the fight straight up to Nadine.
And Claudio had been right. Their moments of alone time had been sparse since the last. Their time together was fleeting. With Meg constantly training, Claudio had thrown himself into research, full throttle.
His warlock page was a worst-case scenario—a soon to be reality.
Tired and disappointed, he made it back to his castle after another failed lead, eager to bury himself in bed and sleep it off. Right until the moment he scented her in the throne room.
An empty, dark throne room.
Frowning, he backtracked. And there she was. Dressed up all fancy in a long trailing dress, his mate sat slumped upon his throne, inspecting her nails as she sighed dramatically. She glanced up at the sound of footsteps and rolled her eyes.
Voice booming, she called to him. "It is I, the mighty King Claudio, here for all of you to behold. Bow before my feet, measly peasant, and see what punishment awaits you."
His mouth fell open.
King Claudio? And then he smirked. His exhaustion dissipated. She's pretending to be me. Measly peasant?
He cleared his throat. "You're a lot smaller than I'm used to seeing you, King Claudio."
Her nails rapped against the armrest of the throne. "Is that any way to address your mighty ruler?"
"Of course not. I apologise my liege. King Claudio, have you lost weight? And when did you get so fucking sexy?"
"You dare to enquire into your King's sizeable appetite?"
Now she was pushing it.
Evil little vixen.
"Sizeab—" She gave him a dark look. "My apologies, again, though I couldn't help but notice you've shed a good ninety pounds since I saw you last, King Claudio."
She tutted and scoffed. "Your attitude displeases me. It's good cause to have you hanged."
"Is that right?"
He made his way closer. Close enough to get a good look at her face. At the slightly irritated set to her expression.
"And now you dare to question me? You're only adding to your punishment."
"Punishment—is that supposed to sound like me?"
She looked him up and down as though she were sizing him up. He could play along. It felt like ages since he'd seen her. The highlight of his day.
"I'm not angry with you, peasant. Merely disappointed. I expected better from one such as you."
"Disappointed, love?" She gave him another one of those unimpressed looks, prompting a smile. "Excuse me, King Claudio." He looked her up and down in turn. At the tight red dress that hugged her curves and breasts. At the long slit in the right leg revealing all that heavenly skin. A leg he'd gotten used to having thrown across his shoulder as he languidly—
"Will you tell me what's the occasion?" He asked. "Please?"
"Show your King the appropriate respect and I might consider it."
Milking me for all I'm worth. Gods he'd been missing her attitude. Heavy armour clanking, he lowered himself to one knee in front of her, idly grabbing a hold of her heel-clad foot. "Then here I am, your lowly, humble demon slave at your feet."
She watched him through narrow, slitted eyes as he lowered his head to kiss along her calf.
"Exactly where you belong, peasant."
He smirked against her skin. "Tell me about your day."
"I've been tending to my Kingly duties, ploughing through the battlefield, rubbing one out on my horns and skipping out on date nights."
Trailing up and down her leg, his lips froze.
Skipping. Out. On. Date. Night.
Oh fuck. The dress. The hair. The sheer beauty of her.
And he'd missed it.
He was supposed to be here two hours ago.
"Oh Megan."
Snatching her leg back, she crossed it over her other. "Punishment is in order, of course. Shall we start by listing your discrepancies? You left bed this morning without so much as a note. You've been a no show all day. Not a single letter to tell a certain someone you'd cancelled. Did you even remember the date night you personally insisted upon having?"
"Shit."
"Shit indeed. Well, I suppose it's too late to mourn your tardiness now. I gave up waiting on you an hour ago." He swallowed through the dryness. "Now onto your punishment."
He deserved her anger. Her irritation.
He'd left her waiting.
"Punish away love."
Her eye twitched, fingers continuing to rap.
Attitude, attitude, attitude.
"First, I want to know what you were so busy doing. I know you're not the forgetful type. I've been having withdrawals from your coddling today—so what's been taking up your time?"
"I've been researching."
"Researching what?"
"Answers."
"Answers to what?" She exhaled, not letting up. "The vaguer your answers, the worse your punishment."
"I'm looking for a way to get you up to the heavens."
"The ultimate coddle. This is what you've been running off to do for months now, yes?"
"Guilty."
"Interesting," She murmured. "Very interesting indeed. As King, I say you're to cease your research immediately."
Her tone left no room for argument. Her sitting in his throne like this really hammered the point in.
Megan was not impressed, to say the least.
"Is that so?"
"I have a solution already," She reminded him. Ah, of course. Ares. A bitter lump formed in his throat. It's not happening. "There is no need for you, peasant, to stress over an issue I have already resolved."
"As your lowly demon slave, I've no choice but to disagree with you. Under no circumstance, love—"
"Ah, ah, ah."
"King Claudio. Under no circumstance will I allow you to make an open-ended deal. I will take any punishment you have in store for me, but I'm putting my foot down."
He'd slaughter every God in sight to make certain of it.
Only Meg wasn't done playing with him yet. In that same displeased tone, she pressed, "Against your high and mighty King?"
"Yes. Against you."
Not the answer she was looking for.
"I won't allow you to sacrifice yourself," He said stubbornly. "You are the most important thing in my life. You're precious, Megan. And you're mad if you think I'll let anybody—including you—put you in danger."
"I'm prepared to make these sacrifices," She insisted.
"And I'm not. It's bad enough you're going to war in the first place. I won't let you make shady deals on top of that. Not if I can help it."
"I have a means of getting up there already."
"And I don't like those means. Now punish me already."
"I'm not done talking about this yet."
"Bank it for later?" He asked, tone hopeful. To his relief, she pursed her lips and looked away. A victory for now. A victory he'd take. A chance to distract her too. "I have a date night to rectify. Let me take you out for a drink."
Morio's bar in the Common World was by no means his first choice. In fact, on the list of places he wanted to take his mate to, the infamous bar was right near the bottom. But he had a forgotten date to make up for and he knew this would make her happy, even if it irked him.
Megan wanted to experience the Other World. To get to know a world she was technically apart of but had never been exposed to.
Annoyingly, there was no better place for that exposure than Morio's bar.
Escorting her through the swinging door, he ignored how recently he'd been in the place. He ignored what he'd came here to do and the knowledge of how his angel would react when she found out about it.
Instead, he scanned the area for threats.
Unlike the last time he'd paid the bar a visit, the pub was crowded with immortals of all species. It was a Friday night, after all.
The bar was flooded, booths and tables were full, and old friends milled about the place catching up over a pint.
His mate's curiosity was instantly teased. Her eyes were darting from left to right, taking as much in as she could.
Gods he hated this place.
His hand fell to the small of her back protectively.
Possessively.
He'd clocked onto the wandering gazes already.
Anyone with eyes could see that his fallen angel was devastatingly beautiful. From her long, wavy brown hair to the green depths of her eyes. He wouldn't delve into her smile. He'd stand there simmering with rage all night.
"Welcome to Morio's bar love," He whispered at her ear, still hating that he was there. But he could force himself through it to get more of that look on her face. The look of wonder as she eyed up everything unfamiliar. "A key haunt of Caspian's, so don't get your hopes up too high about the standards."
And like the last time he'd ventured into this place, his presence didn't go unnoticed.
Immortals from all corners of the room were casting subtle looks in their direction, double-taking at the enormous armour-clad figure they saw.
"This is where Cas comes for his side-hustle?"
Claudio nodded, pointing to the far wall. "That over there is the famous bounty board. It updates itself every Sunday morning with new bounties for the week. This is where Caspian comes when he's not moping around the castle."
Yes, when Caspian wasn't playing General of the Inferno armies, he spent his time chasing bounties, making a name for himself.
"So not that often," Meg joked.
She wasn't too far off the mark there.
Caspian spent the vast majority of his time in the castle. Be it for research on his mercenary job or dedication to his other responsibilities.
"Don't be fooled though love. This isn't just the hunter's haunt. This is one of the liveliest places in all of the Common World for immortals to come and mingle. Members of all species are welcome here. It's made it quite the supernatural hotspot."
"I take it you're the biggest deal here?"
The looks shot in their direction hadn't gone unnoticed by her either.
"One would think so, but Chronos has something of a permanent residence here. You remember him? The werewolf Prince married to Annaliese."
"The wolf with the ill temper."
"You're learning already. You'll be a supernatural almanac in no time."
He led her over towards one of the few free tables still remaining, having no trouble meandering through the crowds. Respectfully, immortals parted way for them.
"You stir up quite the fuss don't you big guy?"
"Not everyone is as used to seeing me as you are," He answered. "Not everyone gets the same peaceable side either."
"So that's reserved for me."
"Along with other parts of me." He smiled wickedly.
"Then I must be a lucky girl." A lucky girl indeed. Very few people got to see the chill side of him. The side that was more than just a demon King. Nodding to a group of horned individuals watching them in awe, Meg lowered her voice to a whisper. "Are they—?"
"Inferno demons? Yes, love. Your future subjects."
"Can you tell if they like me or not?"
"It's impossible not to like you. Relax." He gave her shoulders a soft, comforting squeeze, guiding her down into her chair. "We're not here for you to prove any points. We're here because I'm a terrible mate who forgot about date night."
Her cheeks reddened. "I can think of more than one way for you to make up for it."
"I'll start by getting you a drink. But hold onto that thought love. I look forward to you telling me."
"Oh of course."
As the demon talked her through the menu, describing the kinds of drinks, what he recommended and what he thought she'd like, her eyes flittered to the space just over his shoulder.
For a second there, Meg could've sworn she'd seen a flash of someone familiar. A face she already knew.
But that couldn't be right.
She'd spent her entire life locked away in the heavens. Beyond the few people Claudio had introduced her to, she knew no one.
So what was that tight feeling forming in her chest?