Aric’s heart leaped in his chest as he turned towards the other cell. Malekith’s form was a shadow in the darkness, but his presence was a steady, reassuring weight in Aric’s mind. He was here. He was all right.

Aric moved to the bars, his hand outstretched. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It will only bring more guards.”

Time passed slowly, marked only by the rhythmic drip of water and the occasional shuffle of guard’s footsteps. Aric leaned against the bars separating him from Malekith, speaking in a low, careful tone.

“This isn’t right. Zaxos promised me three trials. I bested them all. Why are we here?”

His voice was tight with anger, but Malekith only shook his head, his face hidden in the shadows.

It is not me you must convince.

Aric’s jaw clenched, his frustration simmering just below the surface.

“I did what he asked. I proved myself. Why won’t he just let us go?”

Malekith’s hand closed around the bars, the tips of his black claws pressing into Aric’s flesh.

Because it is never that simple. Not in the demon court.

Aric looked up at the guards, but they were resolutely ignoring him, their leathery wings rustling as they shifted. With a huff of breath, he turned back to Malekith.

“Why? What aren’t you telling me?”

But before Malekith could answer, the heavy door at the end of the corridor creaked open, and a new figure appeared in the dim torchlight.

Aric. Malekith’s voice was a gentle touch on his mind, and Aric’s heart clenched at the undercurrents of worry and fear that ran through it. The Sovereign is frightened of something.

Aric’s eyes widened, his mind racing to connect the dots. The magical anomaly. The emergency council meeting. The uneasy tension that had been hanging in the air ever since the failed attack on the human town. “The weapon,” Aric said, the words tasting like ashes. “It’s the weapon, isn’t it?”

It is possible. But we must focus on the threat at hand. The magical anomaly is growing, and we are no closer to understanding its cause. Sylthris has been working to uncover the truth, but even she has hit a dead end.

Sylthris. The demon spymaster had been tracking down the source of the anomaly, but so far, her efforts had been in vain. Aric thought back to their encounter in the darkened corridors of the Wrathforge, the secrets and lies that had hung between them, and then the way she always seemed to be at Zaxos’s elbow when he made these horrible choices. And yet when she’d visited Aric before, she seemed almost . . . sympathetic to his aims. Was she working against them, or was she a potential ally in this dangerous game?

“What about Sylthris?” he asked. “Do you trust her?”

Carefully, cautiously, Malekith said, I believe she is doing everything in her power to uncover the truth. But her loyalties lie with the Sovereign, and she will not hesitate to act in the demon realm’s best interests. Even if it means endangering your people.

It was a warning, a reminder of where Aric’s true loyalties should lie. But even knowing the stakes, even knowing that he was putting his people at risk, Aric couldn’t bring himself to regret his choice. The bond that was forming between him and Malekith was unlike anything he had ever experienced, a connection that transcended magic and reason. He would do anything to protect Malekith, even if it meant risking his own life and the safety of his people.

I don’t know, Aric. I’ll do everything in my power to keep you safe. But there are no guarantees in the demon court. They are fickle and capricious, and even I cannot always predict their whims.

Aric’s heart ached at the uncertainty in Malekith’s voice, the raw vulnerability that shone through his usual mask of confidence. He was willing to move mountains for Aric, of that much he was certain. But even the mighty Prince of House Ixion had his limits, his hands tied by the demands of his people and his duty to his realm.

It wasn’t fair. Malekith deserved so much more than a life of bloodshed and sacrifice. He deserved a chance to be happy, to follow his own path, free from the chains of duty that bound him to the demon court. And if Aric had any say in the matter, he would do everything in his power to make that a reality.

“What happened to you?” he asked, his voice a soft, soothing caress. “Why do they treat your house like a curse? It can’t just be the general of old you told me of. There’s more to it, isn’t there?”

Malekith was silent for a long moment, and Aric feared he had overstepped, that Malekith’s walls were closing in once more. But then, with a slow, steadying breath, Malekith’s voice returned to Aric’s mind.

There was a time when I thought my older brother was invincible.

He was everything I was not—charming, idealistic, with a smile that could light up the darkest corners of our realm. He was set to inherit both our house and the Sovereign’s seat, a responsibility that would have crushed me, but that he wore with a grace and ease that seemed to defy the burden it carried. I adored him, even as I resented living in his shadow. I longed to be the kind of demon he was, but I was too cold, too ruthless, too calculating. I was better suited to the role I carved out for myself, the one who did the dirty work that he could not.

And yet, even as I reveled in my own power and influence, there was a part of me that envied him, that longed to believe in the impossible dreams he wove. I watched from the shadows as he worked tirelessly to broker a peace with the humans, a fragile truce that might one day blossom into something more. I saw the way the other members of the demon court sneered and mocked him for his efforts, calling him weak, a fool, a traitor in the making.

But he never wavered, not even in the face of their cruelty. He believed with all his heart that it was possible for our kind to coexist with the humans, that the endless cycle of bloodshed and betrayal could be broken. And for a time, I allowed myself to believe in his vision, too.

But then the humans showed us just how little they thought of our lives, and my brother’s dream was shattered, the fragile pieces scattering to the wind. He was broken in a way I had never seen, his light snuffed out, his smile turned to ash. He blamed himself for the lives that had been lost, for the hopes that had been crushed. And in his grief, he became something else—a darkness, a cruelty that I could not condone.

I tried to stand by his side, to offer him what comfort I could, but the distance between us only grew. He saw my loyalty to our realm as a betrayal, a rejection of everything he had once stood for. And I could not bring myself to condone the path of vengeance and destruction he had chosen.

It was the final fracture in a bond that had been strained for far too long, and we parted ways, each of us finding our own place in the demon realm. I threw myself into the life of a warrior, honing my skills on the battlefield, while he continued to search for a path to peace, a way to make amends for the sins of our kind.

We lost touch over the long centuries that followed, our lives taking us in vastly different directions. But even as I became the feared and respected general I am today, his shadow never quite left me. I carried it with me, a reminder of the demon I once aspired to be, and the dreams that had been torn away.

Malekith’s grip on the bars tightened, the metal groaning in protest.

Then the humans slaughtered a group of demon refugees who had fled the realm during a particularly brutal campaign. My brother had been leading the diplomatic efforts to secure their safe passage, but he was unable to prevent the massacre. It was a devastating blow, not only to the refugees and their families, but to the fragile hope he had been nurturing for so long.

He was broken, Aric. Desperate. And in his desperation, he made a choice that would ultimately cost him his life.

He struck a bargain with the human mages, a dangerous and foolish gamble that he believed would save our people and end the war for good. But he had been deceived, as I knew he would be. The humans could not be trusted, and his actions only brought more suffering and death to our kind.

The shadows seemed to thicken around Malekith’s voice, his words a living thing that slithered through the darkness. Aric could feel the raw pain, the grief and betrayal that still festered in Malekith’s heart. It was a wound that had never fully healed, a weight that Malekith still carried with him, even after all this time.

“And what about you? What happened to you after that?”

Malekith’s gaze was distant, lost in the depths of memory.

It changed everything. The demon court was outraged at my brother’s actions, but they were equally horrified by the human betrayal. It was a time of great upheaval, the delicate balance between our realms shattered beyond repair.

My brother was exiled, stripped of his titles and lands, his name erased from our family’s history. He became a pariah, a symbol of everything the demon court despised. But he was unrepentant, even as he retreated from the public eye.

It was years before I saw him again, and by then, I was so consumed by my own path that I barely recognized the demon he had become. He had turned his back on everything that once defined him, and for what? To save the life of a human who had tried to kill him?

Malekith’s voice softened, a thread of wonder and pain running through it.

She had been a border guard, one of the humans tasked with keeping watch for any signs of demon incursions. He had been on a scouting mission, and she had spotted him, called for help. He could have killed her, but he chose to spare her life instead. I do not know what passed between them in the time that followed, but it was enough to make him question everything he had once believed.

He saw in her the capacity for goodness, for understanding, that he had longed to believe all humans possessed. And in his desperation to prove her worth, he made choices that he could never take back.

She was a healer, a midwife, and a protector of her people. A leader in all but name. But she was a human, and no matter how much my brother loved her, the demon court would never accept her. To them, she was a stain on our family’s honor, a reminder of the pain and suffering the humans had caused us. They could not forgive my brother for his weakness, for daring to believe in a future that could never be.

He was exiled, cast out of the demon realm to live among the humans he had tried so hard to protect. But even in his absence, the damage had been done. Our family’s reputation was in tatters, our lands and titles stripped away. I was left to carry the burden of our name, to prove to the demon court that we were still worthy of their respect.

Malekith’s voice was heavy with regret, with a weariness that went bone-deep.