PIPER:You make it sound like I’m fragile.
SLADE:You are precious. That’s worse.
Her reply is a single heart emoji and a threat to send me a picture of Newt sitting in my tuxedo bag when it arrives at the apartment. I smile—actually smile—as I step into the Ninth Realm.
My estate sits at the edge of the Ninth, built across obsidian cliffs and waterfalls of molten light. Most beings think the Ninth Realm is fire and brimstone, but that is only what Lucifer shows outsiders. The truth is far older—lush, radiant, balanced by creation and destruction both.
And my home reflects that.
White stone veined in black gold. Balconies that overlook star-fed rivers. Windows framed in iron roses that bloom in moonlight. Rooms full of art and ancient scrolls and relics collected over lifetimes.
I’ve never cared for any of it. Never needed it. Or intended to share it.
But today?
I walk through each room imagining Piper in it.
Her laughter in the atrium. Her curls spilling across my pillows. Her magic weaving itself through the hallways like warm, wandering light. Her tiny, judgmental cat claiming the marble sun lounge as his throne.
The thought does something strange to my chest.
I make arrangements with my staff—wardens and housekeepers who manage the estate in my absence.
“Prepare the east wing,” I tell them. “And the gardens. And refresh the wards around the balcony. Not defensive—harmonic.”
They blink, then bow. “Yes, my lord.”
“And put flowers in the master suite,” I add before I can stop myself. “Something fragrant. She likes soft scents.”
Rhea would call it adorable. Draven would call it pathetic. I call it… necessary.
If Piper says yes—if she allows the bond to settle into something that is not just magic but devotion—I want her to step into a home prepared for her. A realm that has been waiting for her. A future built with her in mind.
A place she can choose for herself.
I walk through the garden last.
Glowing vines twine up marble columns. White blossoms shaped like crescent moons open as I pass. The night sky here mirrors the mortal one but deeper, sharper, starfields layered uponstarfields.
This is where I’ll bring her someday.
To show her the realm she unknowingly runs through my blood every time she breathes my name.
And tomorrow… Tomorrow begins that path.
If the Yule Ball doesn’t fall into chaos first.
I glance toward the horizon—a sweep of molten silver and aurora fire. A good omen, some would say. I reach for the ring box again, thumb brushing the velvet. “Yes,” I murmur quietly into the warm Ninth Realm wind. “She’ll say yes.”
And for the first time in centuries, I let myself imagine a future.
A real one—withher.
Chapter 29
Piper
The Yule Ball arrives wrapped in frost and gold.
