“Thank you,” I whispered before I could stop myself.
Rheon didn’t answer.
But his eyes flicked to mine — and in that fleeting second, I saw it.
Not a demon.
Not a prince.
But a man in love.
A man who would burn the world to find her.
And maybe, just maybe… this cursed place wasn’t ready for what was coming.
Rheon
The shadow crown
The land twisted beneath our feet like it remembered my blood. Each step we took sent black dust spiraling into the air, and the sky churned overhead with a storm that had no end. The girls — Yuna and Minji — stayed close behind me, their steps still shaky. The barrier of shadows pulsed at my back, shielding them from the miasma’s poison.
I could feel her. Seori.
Faint — like a candle flickering through the void — but she was here. And she was in pain.
My jaw clenched.
Faster.
We crested a ridge, and that’s when they came.
Three demons. Low-bloods by the look of them — warped, hungry things dressed in bone and scavenged armor. They reeked of rot and dust, and the moment they saw us, their snarls split the silence.
One lunged.
Minji raised her dagger. Yuna flared with fae light, but I stepped forward first — and the moment my boot hit the stone, I let the power break free.
My voice was not human when I spoke.
“Stop.”
It wasn’t a command.
It was law.
The demons froze mid-lunge, their limbs locking, eyes widening with instinctive terror. One fell to his knees. The other two followed seconds later, trembling as the truth registered.
Shadow rose around me like smoke, like flame, like fury. My father’s blood, my mother’s will.
“You dare raise a blade before your Crown Prince?” I growled; my voice layered with something ancient something that had once leveled cities.
The leader whimpered.
“W-We didn’t know… Forgive us…”
I stalked forward. My power made the ground quake.
“Then prove your loyalty.”
